"I wish to call on all of us to rally around 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."
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday sent a high-powered presidential delegation to Kano to console his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, on the recent loss of his mother-in-law, Maryam Albishir.
On arrival in Kano, the delegation led by Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, was received by the Kano State Governor, Kabir Yusuf.
Members of the delegation were Minister for Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Minister for Transport, Sa'idu Ahmed Alkali; Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi Gwarzo; Special Adviser on General Duties, Aliyu Moddibo, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North-west), Abdullahi Yakasai.
Delivering the president's condolence message to the VP, Mr Gbajabiamila said President Tinubu felt saddened about the passing of Mr Shettima's mother-in-law and sent his deepest sympathy and prayers.
"The president has sent us to commiserate with you and your family. He sends his best wishes, his prayers, and 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 behalf of his cabinet and the whole federal government of Nigeria."
Responding, VP Shettima expressed his deep gratitude, saying, "I want to register my sincere gratitude to President Bola Ahmed 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 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu means well for the nation.
He said, "I wish to call on all of us to rally around 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."
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The VP further expressed what he described as his profound gratitude to the government and people of Kano State for hosting him and members of his family for the past three days.
"The governor welcomes everyone that has come here. We have gone beyond politics. We are now in the phase of governance, and what binds us together triumphs whatever that divides us," he added.
Visitors who came to sympathise with the vice president and his family included the Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Radda; Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Aminu Alkali; Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Zephaniah Jisalo; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi, and former Governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema.
Others were some members of the National Assembly; Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Abdullahi Askira; a delegation from the All Progressives Congress (APC) headed by Ali Dalori; Borno State APC Chairman, Bello Ayuba; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Police Affairs, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo and Executive Directors of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited, among others.
Stanley Nkwocha
Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media & Communications
(Office of The Vice President)
26th June, 2024
