My shoulders weigh on me, a deep sadness overwhelms me, on this day when the entire Nation pays homage to one of its illustrious deceased sons, Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, My friend, My brother.
So, this is where your journey on planet earth ends. Allah has decided that it is you, who leaves this world before us, far too soon, and that your departure reminds us that here below, our life is a small thing.
To the eminent personalities present here, at their head the President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Bazoum, I express all the feelings of deep gratitude of his family, relatives and friends and thank you for the sincere compassion in this painful
circumstance.
Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, my brother, I am not pronouncing your bibliography here; the personalities present now, knew you and they will remember a Man of great value, always happy, proud, generous and courageous, that you were.
Born in 1956 in Kaoura Acha in the department of Illéla, Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, you have, during your young age, climbed the hills, crossed the valleys, surveyed the winding paths of our countryside and braved the bad weather to build your life to the point to raise you to a level of responsibility that we know, with the tenacious desire to always serve your country.
The late Souley Abdoulaye, you were a tireless worker who constantly had a passion for work. It is this tireless passion that allowed you to join the BDRN at the start of your career. During this brilliant career, you will rise through the ranks to occupy the position of Central Director of Commitments.
You knew everyone, from the highest executive to the most humble of your collaborators, and you knew how to treat everyone with civility and respect to the point where some called you a monument of simplicity and generosity.
These merits have earned you a most enriching experience.
As a result, you were Minister of Trade, Transport and Tourism, Minister of the Interior, then Prime Minister, Head of Government. A life full of merit. A life of honor and dignity. Throughout your life, Elhadji Souley, you have been able to put the best interests of the Nation before your own. Even at the height of your responsibilities, how complex sometimes, you knew how to maintain faith in our country and loyalty to the national authorities.
Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, true to yourself, you left, as you knew how to live modestly. We knew you were ill for several years, but true to your usual tenacity, you never cared regarding it, continuing with your urgent tasks for your country or your family.
Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye you were a man whose intelligence, modesty and strength of conviction were unanimously respected and brought honor to our dear country. You symbolized in the greatest courtesy what unites us and brings us together, beyond our differences.
I would like to praise before this audience your high personal qualities and professional merits in the service of the State. We unanimously recognize that you were a man of duty, an indefatigable, faithful and loyal servant of the State.
I testify that you have fulfilled your part of the mission and wherever you have served in Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Togo, you have done so with honor and dignity. The Nation and the Republic have lost, in you, a convinced patriot.
Through these words, I would like to show what you were, the excellent man whom we have just lost and whom all those who knew you loved.
Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, all these words spoken cannot alone express the depth of the pain and compassion we feel following your disappearance, towards your wives Hadjia Rabi and Charifa, your children Zalifatou, Ramatou, Zara, Karima, Ousmane, Habibou, Youssef and Amira, your parents, friends and loved ones that you leave behind.
In these moments of intense emotion, let us collect ourselves in silence and prayers while imploring that Allah the Omnipotent grants Elhadji Souley the Firdaous Paradise.
Goodbye Dear brother and friend, we all know here present that every soul will taste death, Allah prescribes it and we accept it…
Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, your family says goodbye to you!
Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, your country says goodbye to you!
Elhadji Souley Abdoulaye, may eternal Paradise be your last home!
