Former Senator and Human activist, Comrade Shehu Sani ha urged Nigerians to always appreciate God-endowed talents who has contributed their quota in unity and development of the country.
He stated this when he visited the family of the late Northern Nigerian poet, Alhaji Abubakar Ladan at his residence in Kwarbai, Zaria.
Late Abubakar Ladan was born in 1935 . He was a popular Hausa poet/singer from Northern Nigeria. He is best known for "Wakar Hada Kan Al'ummar Afirka", a collection of poems published in 1976.
Ladan's poems were famous for promoting African unity and integration, and for championing African independence and progress.
Since their publication, several of his poems have been sampled in the analysis of the metrical structure of Hausa prosodic poetry.
Late Ladan was awarded MON during the administration of President Shehu Shagari and in September 2014, he was awarded OON by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He died in his residence at Zaria city after protracted illness on 23 December 2014.
Senator Sani said "it's high time Nigerians should start to appreciate the sacrifices of fallen heroes who dedicated their lives to the unity and stability of the country.
"Such people had used their talents since independence for the continued existence of Nigerian citizens as a single entity.
"But it's unfortunate despite their great contributions, their families were neglected and abandoned without any assistance from either government or individuals." He said.
The Human activist described late Abubakar Ladan as a poet who championed the unity and independence of not only Nigeria but the entire African countries through his numerous poets.
He noted that people like Wole Soyinka of South, Chinua Achebe of the East and Abubakar Ladan from the North should be properly taken care of, considering their talented contributions to the nation.
Comrade Sani enjoined well meaning Nigerian to imbibe the culture of glorifying the families of such individuals as a way of showing appreciation to the deceased legends.
