The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has described the late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, mother of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a woman whose love went far beyond her family and shaped Nigeria’s moral imagination.
Speaking on Sunday in Abuja during the Annual Grand Prayer Session in honour of the late Alhaja Mogaji at the National Mosque, Abuja, Senator Shettima, who represented the President, noted that the late matriarch of the Tinubu family ran her race, finished her course and left behind a legacy that will instruct generations yet unborn.
The late Iyaloja-General of Nigeria died on June 15, 2013, at the age of 96.
The Vice President noted that the late Alhaja Mogaji shaped President Tinubu into a leader and that she continues to serve Nigeria through the values she instilled in her son, the incumbent Nigerian leader.
He said: “It should surprise no one, then, that the son she raised carries the same fire into the highest office in our land. His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, learned at her side that public life is a trust and that leadership is owed first to the ordinary and the unheard.
“The instinct to fight for democracy when it was dangerous to do so, the willingness to stand for the common good when comfort counselled silence, the conviction that the citizen deserves a government that works for them — all of this was first kindled in a home where service was the daily example. A mother shaped a leader, and through that leader her values now serve the whole of Nigeria.”
Extolling the late Alhaja Mogaji’s leadership qualities, Vice President Shettima said she belonged to the rare class of Nigerians who knew that “commerce is a service to humanity and that the marketplace is a meeting point of human need and human dignity.”
He recalled that the President’s late mother spent the greater part of her life dedicating herself “to the welfare of traders, to the protection of ordinary women who built their livelihoods stall by stall, and to the organisation of a community that the powerful had too often overlooked.
“She turned scattered effort into collective strength, and she taught a generation of market women that their work mattered, that their voices carried weight, and that their toil deserved respect,” he added.
Alhaja Mogaji, the Vice President noted, earned her people’s affection because “she served before she sought to be served”, feeding where there was hunger, mediating where there was discord, and standing “between the weak and those who would exploit them.”
Senator Shettima prayed fervently for the President’s late mother, committing her to the mercy of God, just as he asked Almighty Allah to “make her legacy an enduring source of good for this nation she loved.”
The Vice President also expressed confidence that Nigeria will surmount its current security and economic challenges through fervent prayers, unity and the collective commitment of its citizens.
He assured that President Tinubu remains fully committed to addressing the nation’s pressing challenges, noting that the administration is implementing policies and programmes aimed at strengthening security, stimulating economic growth and improving the welfare of Nigerians.
Earlier, the Convener of the prayer session and Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs and Other Matters, Alhaji Ibrahim Kabir Masari, described the late Abibatu Mogaji as a woman whose life was dedicated to the service of others.
Masari disclosed that more than 250 hand-pump boreholes have been constructed across nine states in Northern Nigeria in memory of the late matriarch, providing access to clean water for thousands of residents.
He further announced plans to establish the Abibatu Mogaji Islamic Centre in Abuja to promote Islamic scholarship, leadership development, science and technology education.
The presidential aide also revealed that a modern Juma’at Mosque, complete with residential quarters for the Imam and supporting staff, would be constructed in Rigasa, Kaduna State, in honour of the late Abibatu Mogaji.
Among the dignitaries who attended the event were the Governors of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum; Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni; and Jigawa State, Umar Namadi, as well as former Governors Usman Sa’idu Nasamu Dakingari and Tanko Al-Makura.
Others included the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, represented by Yahaya Abubakar; the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Muttaqha Rabe Darma; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; and the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children, Dr Mohammed Sani Idris, among other top government officials and traditional leaders.
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