Former Fijian President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau died on Thursday, aged 84.
Ratu Epeli, a chief and former Fiji military commander, served as president from 2009 to 2015.
He also served as Speaker of Parliament from 2019 to 2022.
Local media reported Ratu Epeli died at the Suva Private Hospital after being admitted earlier on Thursday evening.
In Saturday’s frontpage story titled “Nailatikau is no longer with us”, The Fiji Times described the late president as “widely respected for his leadership and dedication to the people of Fiji”.
The Fiji Sun described him as a “respected chief, soldier, diplomat and statesman”.
A former opposition leader and high chief, Ro Teimumu Kepa, said Ratu Epeli’s death had left many people in shock.
“The flowing tributes on social media shows how his personality touched many lives that he came in contact with,” she wrote in a social media post.
The ‘people’s president’
Fiji’s former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum described Ratu Epeli as “the people’s president”.
“Ratu Epeli Nailatikau lived his life among his people, not above them. We see that in the countless stories coming in from across the country about his personal interactions with everyday people,” Sayed-Khaiyun said.
“He put his belief of the dignity of every Fijian into practice every day, including the day he promulgated our Fijian Constitution in 2013 which granted every citizen an equal voice in our democracy while concomitantly protecting everyone’s specific rights including the marginalised and the vulnerable.
“And as if God hadn’t given the man enough rare qualities — he had both a wonderful singing voice and the wits to know when to close out a long night in song and send us all home on a high note.”
The Fiji Labour Party said that as the great-great-grandson of Ratu Seru Cakobau — one of Fiji’s most significant figures — and the grandson of King George Tupou II of Tonga, “Ratu Epeli was undoubtedly a scion of royal lineage”.
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