By ‘Dotun Akintomide
Her Excellency, Mrs Toyin Ojora Saraki, has congratulated Mrs Hafsat Abiola-Costello on her new appointment as the executive President of the Women in Africa (WIA) Initiative.
The Women in Africa (WIA) Initiative is the first international platform dedicated to the economic development and support of leading and high potential African women.
In her remarks, Founder-President, Wellbeing Foundation Africa ((WBFA) Mrs Saraki also felicitated with Mrs Hafsat Abiola-Costello and her family for the posthumous recognition of her father, late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the June 12, 1993 election.
“I congratulate Mrs Hafsat Abiola-Costello on her appointment as the Executive President of the Women in Africa (WIA) Initiative. Her appointment is a testament to her resilience and dedication to the advancement of women, and her passion for the continent’s development.
“I also congratulate her and the entire MKO Abiola family for the posthumous recognition of your father and patriarch, the Late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the 1993 election and his posthumous honour with the title of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR). Knowing how she and her siblings fought long and hard to see this day, I commend her tenacity and dedication to the course for which your parents lived and died for. Like many Nigerians, I am glad to see the efforts of Late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola recognized and his legacy to democracy immortalized.
“It goes without saying, that as a member of the United Nations-African Union’s African Women’s Leadership Initiative under the inspiration of Madame Bineta Diop, not only do I celebrate the efforts of MKO Abiola in seeking to defend his mandate, I also recognise the ultimate sacrifice of his wife, your dear mother of blessed memory, Kudirat Abiola, whose life was cut down as she strove doggedly to defend and support her husband and his mandate, emerging, and dying, as an unparalleled icon of women leadership, dedication and devotion to democratic suffrage”
President Muhammadu Buhari had on the 6th of June 2018, posthumously recognised Late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, as the duly elected President of the June 12th, 1993 election and declared June 12th as the new Democracy Day. The President also posthumously conferred the title of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic on Late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola.
