Family of Osinbajo’s late outrider Gomina gets house

…community gets classrooms

Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja  

The family of a police outrider attached to the Office of the Vice President, the late Inspector Ali Gomina, on Saturday received a gift of a three-bedroom bungalow and a store from the Federal Government.

The bungalow was built in his community, Gui, in the Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory. The community was also gifted with six blocks of classrooms.

Gomina, 45, died in a motorbike accident on March 13, 2020, while leading the Vice President’s motorcade enroute the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

According to a statement on Sunday by the Special Assistant to the President on Communication Projects, Arukaino Umukoro, the presentation of the building was in fulfilment of an idea conceived when Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo paid a condolence visit to the family of the deceased and the Gui community in March 2020.

The statement was titled “6 months after loss of VP’s escort rider, Gui community takes delivery of new classroom blocks.”

Umukoro said the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Ade Ipaye, presented the new house to the family of the deceased police officer.

He quoted Ipaye as saying that the family of the deceased suffered a great loss when the policeman died earlier in the year.

He said, “He left behind a large family. His Excellency, the Vice President was here to commiserate with them and during that occasion, the issue of a building for the family was mooted and His Excellency kept that in mind and ensured that it has become a reality.

“I see that the District Head, the family, and the community are happy with this. Not only does the family have a bungalow, they also have a shop where they can do some trading activities and be able to sustain themselves. We thank God that this has come to pass.”

According to the statement, the six blocks of classrooms constructed for the community was based on the request of the District Head, Alhaji Alhassan Yusuf.

The project was said to have been executed by the Presidency, through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals.

The statement quoted Yusuf as thanking the Presidency for the gesture.

He was quoted as saying, “I really appreciate our Vice President who has bailed this community out of the poverty of education.

“This community is 6 kilometres away from the only secondary school in this area, located at Sauka, along the main expressway, and the road is really bad. During the rainy season, our children find it difficult to go to school at Sauka because of the bad road.

“So, when we lost our son, Ali Gomina, and the Vice President came to condole with us, I raised the issue of a secondary school for our community, and a day after I made that request, the project was approved. Work started on the project barely six months ago and it has been completed already.

“What is left now is for the Ministry of Education to come and supervise the operation of this school. With the number of classrooms in this school, we hope to have both junior and senior secondary classes in this school.”

Photos of blocks of classrooms built in the community.