The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senator Smart Adeyemi yesterday described the demise of a former Senate Leader, Senator Olusola Saraki as a huge loss.

Adeyemi, who paid the tribute in a statement in Abuja, said the death of Saraki has left a big vacuum in the hearts of the poor people in the nation.

The statement reads: "The way he attended to people, his passion for the poor affected me and it made me to make up my mind to join politics.

"As a journalist, I once asked him how to succeed as a politician and he told me I must help the poor, the women and the youth. He said that when you help the poor, they write your matter in their hearts."

He also said that Saraki was a detribalized person, who remained faithful to his desire to uplift the poor.

"I recall that in the Second Republic, there was no community that wanted to set up a school in the old Kwara state that Saraki did not donate to. I do not know of any Nigerian that is as passionate about the poor people as Dr. Olusola Saraki. He believed in raising the standards of living of the poor people and that has influenced the way I do my politics.

"He was a wonderful man who contributed immensely to the socio-economic development of the old Kwara state. He did not know religion or tribe and as a Muslim, he sent people to Jerusalem more than many Christians. The power of Baba Saraki was that he helped many people. He was a great man."

Also, a former presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), ex-Governor Ibrahim Shekarau (Sardaunan Kano), in a statement through his Special Adviser on Media, Alhaji Yau Sule yesterday described the late Saraki as "a very rare politician, a gentleman, philanthropist and a community leader whose absence has created a vacuum difficult to fill. May Allah forgive his sins."