Shettima Hails Tinubu’s Late Mother, Abibatu Mogaji, Says Her Values Shape National Leadership

Vice President Kashim Shettima has paid glowing tribute to the late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, mother of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing her as a woman whose legacy continues to shape national leadership through the values she instilled in her son.

Shettima made the remarks on Sunday in Abuja during the Annual Grand Prayer Session held in her honour at the National Mosque, where he represented President Tinubu.

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.”

Extoling the late Alhaja Mogaji’s leadership qualities, VP 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 giving 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 VP 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.”

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.