Maryam's Death: General Babangida’s Statement
Sun Dec, 27 2009
Maryam Babangida passes on at 61 in US
With total submission to the Will of Allah, we humbly announce the passing
away of our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and amiable friend
Hajiya Maryam Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
A statement from General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s family announced today
that Maryam passed on early this morning at the age of 61, after a
protracted illness.
The former chairperson of the Better Life for Rural Women during her
husband's years in office had been hospitalised at University of California
Los Angele's (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Los Angeles,
United States.
She died beside her husband, General Babangida who has been at her bedside
in the US hospital till her death. Mrs. Babangida's condition worsened
months ago.
Born on November 1, 1948, she had fairly humble beginnings in her hometown
of Asaba where she received part of her early education before moving up
North to Queen Amina College, Kaduna for her Secondary education. She went
on to graduate as a Secretary at the Federal Training Centre, Kaduna and
later obtained a diploma in secretaryship from Laselle University, Chicago,
USA as well as a Certificate in Computer Science from the NCR Institute,
Lagos.
On September 6, 1969, two months before her 21st Birthday, she got married
to Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (then a Major). Their marriage has been
blessed with four children: 2 boys, Mohammed and Aminu and two girls, Aisha
and Halima.
Apart from a brief stop at a career in her line of training, before and
shortly after marriage, Mrs. Babangida remained a full time housewife,
establishing and nurturing the home front until her youngest child had
fairly come of age.
Considered to be one of the greatest women in Africa today, Maryam made that
significant sacrifice in her staunch belief that the family unit is the most
crucial factor in the quality of society and of mankind and that the woman
is the central anchor of the unit.
By 1983, she however was again ready for an active career, beyond the
confines of the home front when her husband became the Chief of Army Staff
on December 31st that year. She became the President of the Nigerian Army
Officers Wives Association (NAOWA). It was during her twenty-month
presidency that her leadership qualities were first unfolded to the public
as she mobilised her colleagues to embark aggressively on public spirited
ventures which included building schools, clinics, women's multipurpose
training centres and child day care centres.
An incisive thinker and passionate lover of nature, gardening, birds and
home decorations, she is "a poet's dream" and with disarming charm and an
admirable deft blend of winning wit, quiet confidence and child-like grace,
she has brought the institution of first-ladyship out of the closet to
active participation in nation building.
Signed:
(For and on Behalf of the General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Family)
Malam Ibrahim Ismaila
Special Assistant to General I.B. Babangida
December 27, 2009
Another Design of GAA Gbenga Adetunji Adeoba
