The news of the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Wednesday night evoked memories of his predecessors who died as incumbents in Nigeria, the United States from whom the country copied her presidential system of government, Britain her former colonial master, and in other parts of Africa. The first Nigerian head of government to die in office was Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who was the first post-independent prime minister. He was killed on January 15, 1966, less than six years after assuming office. He was killed in the first military coup in the country led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu. The man who succeeded Balewa, Major General Johnson Thomas Umunakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi was similarly killed in another military coup on July 29, 1966. Ironsi who was the first indigenous head of the army had become head of the Federal Military Government after the army took over power following the death of the prime minister and other key political office holders in the first coup. Another military head of state, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed was murdered on February 13, 1976 in a failed military coup led by Lt. Col. Bukar Sukar Dimka. The last Nigerian head of government to die in office before late Yar’Adua was General Sani Abacha who died on June 8, 1998. Unlike the first three who died violently in coup detats, Abacha who had suffered from liver-related diseases for some years died from complications arising from the ailment. On Wednesday, Yar’Adua who had suffered from pericarditis, a heart related-disease, became the fifth Nigerian head of government to die in office. The US Too… In the United States, eight of the 44 men who had governed the country had died in office. They are William Henry Harrison (April 4, 1841), Zachary Taylor (July 9, 1850), Abraham Lincoln (April 15, 1865), James Abraham Garfield (September 19, 1881), William McKinley Jnr. (September 14, 1901), Warren Gamaliel Harding (August 2, 1923), Franklin Delano Roosevelt (April 12, 1923) and John Fitzgerald Kennedy (November 22, 1963). And 7 British PMs Died in Office... Seven prime ministers of Britain died in office. They were Spencer Compton, the first Earl of Wilmington who died on July 2, 1743, Henry Pelham (March 6, 1754), Charles Watson-Wentworth, the second Marques of Rockingham (July 1, 1782), William Pitt, the younger, (January 23, 1806) and Spencer Perceval who was the only one assassinated. He was shot by John Bellingham on May 11, 1812. Other prime ministers who died as incumbent were George Canning (August 8, 1827) and Henry Temple, the third Viscount of Palmerston (October 18, 1865). Other Parts of Africa… In Egypt, the last two presidents before the incumbent, Gammal Abdul Nasser and Anwar Saddat died in office. The latter was murdered by soldiers while he was inspecting a military parade in 1981. President William Tubman of Liberia, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba of Congo, President Sylvio Olympio of Togo, Felix Houphoet-Boigny of Cote d’Ivoire, Omar Bongo of Gabon, Levy Nwanawasa of Zambia, all died in office. Credit: Yusuph Olaniyonu Source: Thisdayonline.com