Alhaji Lawal Bakori, Media Assistant to Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua, spoke on the personality of his boss
Q: As somebody who has been working with Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua for some time, how would you describe her?
A: This is my second year of having the privilege of working with the first lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua. I can tell you that within that short period, I have seen a very simple person, very approachable, and going by her track record of being the first lady of Katsina State for eight years before coming here, it was public knowledge, particularly in the state, that the needy, the underprivileged who need assistance constituted her constituency. That was what she did for eight years, using her energy, her time, her resources and she has been able to touch the lives of a lot of people. I am talking about the downtrodden, the poor, the needy in hospitals, in VVF centres, in psychiatric hospitals, in prisons. In fact, she has extended it to this level because only recently, she constructed a cell and equipped it with training facilities for female prison inmates in Suleja. What she is doing in the fight against HIV/AIDS is also very glaring. She has established the National Women Coalition Against HIV/AIDS and has encouraged wives of governors to establish their own. As we are talking now, not less that 26 states of the federation and Abuja have established their own and the fight is on. She is succeeding greatly and even assisting the victims that need assistance with her own money. I think she is doing a lot because she has actually covered the nation with her campaign. This is in addition to the fight against breast cancer, on which you are aware she visited United States of America and met with the Management of MD Anderson Cancer Centre. And they have agreed to come and establish a Cancer Centre here in Nigeria. As a result of her campaign and advocacy in the area of child mortality she has been appointed as goodwill ambassador on Child Mortality in Nigeria. She is into many things, particularly, health and humanitarian services and she is doing most of these things from her own pocket. This is what she has been doing for close to ten years now. When I came a little bit closer to her, I discovered that what I used to hear in Katsina is actually her personality. She is very simple, honest and humble.
Q: What do you think influenced her personality as you have described it?
A: Background is very important. She is from a very good background and you know background plays a very important role in how people behave. She came from a very learned and distinguished background. Her father was a judge; her parents are very well known, just like those of her husband. I think that is a factor. And she has gone to school as well. She is a graduate. She has been teaching. That is the only profession that she knew–teaching in secondary schools. I think that is a good background for moulding a personality. If you are a teacher and you come into a position in which you begin to mingle with thousands of people, the tendency is that you will take what you have been imparting to children to the society at large. And I think she is doing a lot. From what I have seen, she has a very humble personality. She is a mother and she is behaving like a mother, carrying everybody along, particularly the needy, and that is primarily her constituency, even before she came in here. The needy, the poor, the less privileged, wherever they are, she not only assists but meets with them. So when you have somebody like that, the best you can do is to assist her, give her support, appreciate what she is doing so that she can do more. And I think every human being needs encouragement, assistance, not just in terms of cash, but even in prayers. I think she should be encouraged.
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