The only surviving wife of former Nigeria’s Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Hajia Jummai Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, has died in Lagos aged 85.
She breathed her last at a private hospital on Sunday.
Her husband, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was Nigeria’s Prime Minister between October 1, 1960 when Nigeria gained independence from Britain and January 15, 1966, when he was killed in the first military coup.
According to reports, the late Hajia Jummai died in the early hours of Sunday after a protracted illness and will be flown to Bauchi on Monday for burial according to Muslim rites.
.Hajia Jummai, according to a report by Thisday newspaper, took ill recently and was flown to India where she was treated and discharged. She returned to Nigeria, last week, to recuperate.
Upon arrival in Nigeria, the departed octogenarian reportedly stopped over in Lagos to rest before coming back to Bauchi to continue her recuperation.
“Unfortunately, the illness relapsed in the early hours of Sunday and she went into coma; and died in the process,” a family source said.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the family of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the late Prime Minister of Nigeria on the loss of Hajiya Jummai Aishatu Abubakar, Balewa’s last surviving wife.
In a message sent through the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, on Sunday, Buhari said:
“It was with the deepest sense of sorrow that I have learnt of the tragic demise of Hajiya Jummai Tafawa Balewa. In her sad demise, Nigeria has lost an outstanding political figure, who was passionately committed to the cause of the family and the legacies of her late husband.
“I convey my heartfelt condolences to members of the bereaved family, the government and people of Bauchi State and the entire people of our dear country. May Allah repose her soul.”
According to a statement by Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Buhari has directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to release an aircraft from the Presidential fleet to evacuate Hajia Jummai’s remains to Bauchi where her burial rites will hold on Monday.