Gbajabiamila Leads Presidential Team to Condole Shettima in Kano over Mother-in-law’s Demise

•Governors commiserate with VP 

•Shettima canvasses support for Tinubu’s policies

Deji Elumoye in Abuja and Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

 President Bola Tinubu has sent a presidential delegation to Kano State to commiserate with Vice President Kashim Shettima on the recent loss of his mother-in-law, Hajiya Maryam Albishir.

On arrival in Kano yesterday, the delegation led by Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, was received by Governor Abba Yusuf.

According to a statement issued by Media Assistant to the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, members of the delegation included Ministers for Budget and National Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu; Transport, Senator Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali; Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Alhaji Abdullahi  Gwarzo; Special Adviser on General Duties, Dr. Aliyu Moddibo; and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North West), Abdullahi Yakasai.

Delivering the president’s condolence message to the vice president, Gbajabiamila said Tinubu felt saddened about the passing of Shettima’s mother-in-law and sent his deepest sympathy and prayers.

According to the chief of staff, “The president has sent us to commiserate with you and your family. He sends his best wishes, his prayers, his thoughts to you and your wife and the entire family of the deceased.

“Mr. President has asked that we convey to you his deepest sympathy and his prayers that the Almighty Allah grant our mother Aljannah Firdaus and forgive her sins.

“It’s, indeed, saddening that she died. We commiserate with you on behalf of Mr President, on behalf of the government and on behalf of his cabinet and the whole Federal Government of Nigeria.”

Responding, Shettima expressed his deep gratitude, saying, “I want to register my sincere gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for sending such a high-level delegation to condole with us over the sad demise of our mother. That portrays the purity of heart and empathy of the president.”

The vice president reiterated the president’s genuine leadership, maintaining that Tinubu means well for the country.

He said, “I wish to call on all of us to rally round him and see to it that we salvage this nation together. It’s not a game of apportioning blame. It’s a game of making this country work and if Nigeria works, Africa works.

“No matter how long the night is; it must give way to the light of dawn. Granted, we are facing security challenges across this country, but the president is determined to redefine the meaning and concept of modern leadership and determined to address the problem of insecurity facing the entire nation.”

Shettima expressed gratitude to the government and people of Kano State for hosting him and members of his family for the past three days.

He added, “Everyone that has come here is welcomed by the governor. We have gone beyond politics. We are now in the phase of governance and what binds us together triumphs whatever that divides us.”

Those who came to sympathise with the vice president and his family included the Governor of Katsina State, Dr. Dikko Umar Radda; Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Aminu Abdullahi Alkali; Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Hon. Zaphaniah Bitrus Jisalo; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu  Abdullahi; and former Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema.

Others included some members of the National Assembly; Deputy Speaker of Borno State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Askira; a delegation from the All Progressives Congress (APC) headed by Alhaji Ali Bukar Dalori; Borno State APC Chairman, Hon. Bello Ayuba; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Police Affairs, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo; and Executive Directors of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited, among others.

Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) also commiserated with Shettima on the demise of his mother-in-law.

Chairman of the forum and Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, led other state governors on a condolence visit to the vice president upon his return to Abuja yesterday.

The governors, who were joined at the Akinola Aguda residence of the vice president by former Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan,  prayed for the peaceful repose of  late Hajiya Albishir.

They also prayed Almighty God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

The vice president thanked the governors for the show of empathy and support.

Shettima lauded the unity among the governors and the federal government and called for more cooperation and unflinching support for the president to achieve his set goals and objectives for the country.