The death of Mrs. Florence Morenikeji Saraki, the mother of a former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has been described as “shocking” to the people of the Ilorin community in Kwara state, and indeed Nigeria as a whole.
The management and central working committee of the Ilorin Central Juma’at Mosque (ICJM) said this in a statement released in Ilorin on Friday by its spokesperson, Alhaji Mas’ud Adebimpe.
The statement particularly commiserated with the former Senate President, who is also the Wazirin Geri Ilorin, as well as a former Minister of State for Transport, Senator Rukayat Gbemisola Saraki, and siblings over the passage of their matriarch.
“We received with shock the demise of Mama Florence Morenikeji Saraki who passed on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Lagos. She was a mother to all and one who consistently showered love on the Ilorin community.
“As a mother, she was a model who demonstrated good motherliness in the care of her children, including Distinguished Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, a former Senate President, and Distinguished Senator Rukayat Gbemisola Saraki, the immediate past Minister of State for Transport, both of whom remain assets to the Ilorin community, Kwara state and Nigeria as a whole.
“Without doubt, it is indeed a painful loss, but we urge the family to take solace in the life of service to humanity, lived by the matriarch of the Saraki dynasty.
“We urge the children to sustain the family legacies of Mama Saraki and her departed husband, His Eminence, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki (Olooye). We also pray to Almighty Allah to comfort the family and give the children the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss,” the statement read in part.
