President John Dramani Mahama has described the former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who passed away on Friday morning as a gentleman and a man of decorum.

The President who visited the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama last week on his sick bed at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital said, even though doctors told him he was in a critical state, “I had no expectation this is going to be the final outcome. My hope was that somehow he will pull through and be with us but unfortunately, the worst has occurred”.

He told the media the former Vice President would be given a befitting state burial. He is expected to be buried on Saturday, 17th November 2012 at the forecourt of the State House in Accra.

President Mahama who suspended his campaign in the Brong Ahafo region upon hearing the sad news said this about Aliu Mahama: “He was a gentleman, a man of tact, decorum, he was nice…we will all dearly miss him.”

He indicated that he would also miss the former Vice President, who served eight years under former President Kufuor’s regime, because of the “useful advice” he gave him when the President was the then Vice President under the Late President Mills.

President Mahama said he will return to Accra as soon as possible to bid farewell to a man he called “an elder brother”.

He also expressed his sincerest condolences to the widow and the bereaved family, and to the New Patriotic Party.

The president has declared a state of mourning for him.

Meanwhile, flag-bearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo who has also suspended his campaign in the Eastern Region described the sudden death as “a very bad news”.

He said he last visited Alhaji Aliu Mahama at the hospital on Sunday, and he “was unconscious”.

He said the country has “lost an outstanding Ghanaian”.