“She was the one who asked me to look at the face of three women who had challenge of paying their children’s West African Examination Council (WAEC) fee, which touched me. It isn’t the amount of money I pulled out of my pocket but as a Governor then, I began the policy of paying WAEC fees of pupils in Lagos state public schools. Those are the things that will fascinate anyone about my late mother. She taught everyone she came across contentment, love and the act of sharing especially to the needy” – TINUBU
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu
FORMER Governor of Lagos State Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not himself this afternoon when his mother Alhaja Abibat Mogaji(96), Iyaloja General of Nigeria was laid to rest in Ikoyi, Lagos. In a brief speech laden with sadness, Asiwaju managed to relieve last moments he had with his deer mother shortly after she was interred at the Vault and Garden, a private cemetery in the highbrow Ikoyi, Lagos.He said Mogaji had her usual lunch, took her drug and rested before death came to snatch her away.“On Saturday afternoon, she had her lunch. After that, she used her drugs and rested. While resting, death came and snatched my mother away. Well, immediately she died, I felt her void. One cannot but look at his mother being buried”.Clad in a white flowing lace and his usual cap Tinubu who said he would miss her motherly care, noted that he was glad she lived a successful life.
“I miss her lunch even when I am full. I am very happy that she is my mother. She is a very successful mother. She is a good leader. She didn’t put anyone in suffering before she departed from this world. She is so kind and God was also kind to her. She is a good thinker, passionate and compassionate. She has left a very good legacy for everyone.
“She was the one who asked me to look at the face of three women who had challenge of paying their children’s West African Examination Council (WAEC) fees, which touched me. It isn’t the amount of money I pulled out of my pocket but as a Governor then, I began the policy of paying WAEC fee of pupils in Lagos state public schools. Those are the things that will fascinate anyone about my late mother. She taught everyone she came across contentment, love and the act of sharing especially to the needy.
“There are many lessons women can learn from her. And one of the lesson is that they should learn to be resilient, commitment and industrious in other to help banish poverty in the country. She is a committed democrat. She believes in the one man one vote campaign. She will vote and mobilise others to do so. Women must continue to plan together and share issues, discuss together”, Tinubu said of her mother who was interred at exactly 12:15 PM.
The Asiwaju of Lagos was not alone in this dire moment. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, his counterpart in Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajumobi, Minority leader in the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and other close family members were there to share in his grief. Others are former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Femi Pedro, former gubernatorial candidate in Lagos, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba, Femi Okunnu, Niyi Adebayo, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and members of the Diplomatic Corps, amongst others.
In his tribute to the deceased, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal described late Alhaja Mogaji as a “great woman and a great mobiliser of women and an advocate of people’s right. Her socio-economic contribution to the nation will definitely be missed. She has left a vacuum in the nation. She was a special gift to this country”, he said.
Tambuwal urged other market women in the country to emulate the late Iyaloja, saying “they should be fair especially in the way they fixed price for their commodity.
“The older marketers should endeavour to encourage and mentor other young marketers in the state”, he said.
Governor Amosun of Ogun State described late Mogaji as one whose life affected the community positively, stressing that her legacy will continue to linger in the way and manner she coordinated her followers.
“Her death is a celebration of life, a woman who lived well and affected all those she came in contact with. No one wants to lose his or her mother, but mama’s legacy will never be forgotten. We will miss her”, Amosun said.
Aliko Dangote, said each and every one of us will die one day. “ One thing we can do is to pray for the repose of the soul and remember the good things she did while she was alive to her community, the state and to Nigeria in general, we pray Almighty Allah will grant her soul rest.
Former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Segun Osoba descried her as a great politician and one of the staunch supporters of Late Obafemi Awolowo. “I am glad that his grandson, Segun Awolowo is here today to represent Mama Awolowo and the rest of the family to show their love and appreciation”.Former Chief Press Secretary to Tinubu and Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan said her role as a grassroot mobiliser and a coordinator of market men and women in the last 50 years, stood her out among equals.
“We have a lot to learn from her. For someone to have a grip of the community of market women and men for over 50 years, means that she is always proactive, very flexible and she must always continue to renew that leadership in various ways. I think that is where I find her life of immense value to scholars of political science and politicians. We can see one of her products, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he tapped some of her innate knowledge and direction, that’s explains why Tinubu remains a phenomenon in Lagos state today”, he said.
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