From Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto

The Federal Government said yesterday that an offer for conditional release of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki (retd) to visit his sick father in an Abuja hospital was rejected.
Speaking with journalists shortly after a condolence visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Interior Minister, Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau (retd) said Col. Dasuki also declined another offer to be in Sokoto throughout the mourning period of his father, who died on Monday.
The minister was on the Federal Government delegation that attended the Sultan’s burial in Sokoto yesterday.
According to him, “we discussed with the Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS) yesterday. He told us that he (Sambo) was offered to visit his late father on his hospital bed in Abuja.
“He said he preferred to pray for him. He was also offered to be in Sokoto throughout the mourning period and also declined, preferring to pray for him.”
That was the true situation, the minister explained.
Leader of the delegation, Alhaji Abba Kyari, delivered President Muhammadu Buhari’s condolence letter to Alhaji Abubakar, describing the death of the late Sultan as a national loss.
Responding, Sultan Abubakar commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the gesture, saying his predecessor had lived a life worthy of emulation.