IHEANACHO NWOSU and RASHEED BISIRIYU

Chief Iwuanyanwu stated this just as more Nigerians paid tributes to the former First Lady at the lying-in-state held at Agbeloba House, Abeokuta.

Speaking with Daily Champion yesterday, Iwuanyanwu, who also expressed sadness over the crash of Bellview aircraft which claimed 117 lives, said the late Mrs Obasanjo was a nation builder, a home builder, and a mother.

"The woman was a leader, a mother, her role was more or less reconciliatory at all time," he recalled, maintaining that "she was a true mother and she spent all her life making peace."

He said: "Nigeria will miss the services of a stabilizer. She was a stabilizer in the system", explaining that "most cases when people have problem, they go to her. She made herself accessible to people, she was interacting with everybody".

Chief Iwuanyanwu, a one time Presidential aspirant wished that the First Lady had lived to see the ongoing socio-economic and political reforms by the President Olusegun Obasanjo government to the end.

"Like you know the husband is championing a reform. Any student of history knows how reformers are regarded. No reformer has ever been lived by the people, people always turn against them.

"If all these our reforms are fully implemented, they will completely change Nigeria. He needs somebody like Stella, who is a rare gift to him, stand by him. This is what she has been doing in the past six years", he said.

Likening the former lady to the late Princess Diana of the United Kingdom, the philanthropist said the hope Mrs Obasanjo had given to physically challenged children as well as her love for the oppressed and the downtrodden will remain indelible in the minds of Nigerians even with her absence.

According to him, "of course, for the physically challenged, they found a mother in her", adding that "the death of Stella is similar to that of Diana of Britain because the way Diana was regarded in Britain is more or less the way Stella is regarded here".

Elaborating, he said "she interacted with the poor, the underdog, the handicapped, physically challenged and the rich. Everybody was going to her for succour".

Counselling President Obasanjo on how to bear the loss, Chief Iwuanyanwu urged him to continually place his trust in God. He said: "the president has been somebody who has put his trust in God and God has been guiding him. God has used him to achieve a lot of things. He should remain with God".

On the crash of Bellview aircraft flight 210 last weekend, Chief Iwuanyanwu described the incident as a tragedy which will be difficult to forget.

Betraying emotion, he said: "it is a very said thing for Nigeria to lose such a galaxy of illustrious persons in such a painful manner".

Meanwhile, the lie-in-state of body of the First Lady, in Abeokuta yesterday provided an avenue for reconciliation between President Obasanjo and Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, as both embraced each other in public.

Professor Soyinka, an avowed critic of Obasanjo administration in the last six years was also one of the conveners of a parallel Sovereign National Conference along with elder statesman, Chief Anthony Enahoro.

Before the arrival of the President at Agbeloba House in Abeokuta, venue of the lie-in-state, Prof Soyinka was already in the hall with Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, with other dignitaries.

As soon as the news came that the President was around, the Nobel Laureate came out to receive him and they both embraced. This drew an applause from the crowd.

Prof. Soyinka prayed for the repose of the First Lady and commiserated with the President over her death.

Earlier, in his short speech, Governor Daniel had urged the first family to be invited and prayed for God to bless the soul of the departed.

Serving and former governors, Ministers, captain of industries and friends of the first family were at the place to pay their last respect to the First Lady.

The dignitaries later moved to Government House, Abeokuta for Christian wake which started at 6.00 pm.

Among those who attended the event are Governor Peter Odili and his wife, his Ondo State counterpart, Dr Olusegun Agagu , Lagos State Deputy Governor, Chief Olufemi Pedro, Minister of Power and Steel, Dr Lyel Imoke and his wife, Education Minister, Mrs Chinwe Obaji with her husband, and Housing and Urban Development Minister, Dr Olusegun Mimiko.

Others are former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu and factional National Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy, Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa former Chief of General Staff, Lt General Oladipo Diya, Chairman of Diamond Bank Pascal Dozie, former chairman Oodua Group of Investment, Otunba Jobi Fele, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Executive Chairman of Champion Newspapers Limited, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and President Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Mr. Ray Ekpu, the Secretary General, Mr Emma Agu, who is the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Champion Newspapers.

Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor (Mrs) Dora Akunyili, Newswatch editors, including Mr Dan Agbese and Mr Yakubu Mohammed.

Also at the venue were Chairman Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu and Chairman Daar Communication, Dr Raymond Dokpesi.