From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Former President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday in Kano, offered prayers to God for the soul of the mother of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the late Hajiya Abibatu M. Tinubu.
The prayer was contained in a letter delivered to the conveners of a Quranic Recitation Competition in honour of the President’s mother.
The competition, which began on April 21, 2025, was concluded in the state yesterday.
Buhari, who lauded the administration and wished the President well, regretted his inability to be physically present at the Quranic competition as was earlier scheduled, but remained assured from what he had gathered, that the occasion would go well.
The former president, whose letter was signed by Lawal Abdullahi Kazaure, explained that his absence was largely due to his scheduled medical check-up abroad, which coincided with the date of the closing ceremony of the Quranic competition.
In his remarks at the opening ceremony of the competition, the convener, Senator Basheer Lado, said the Islamic exercise was purely in honour of the President’s late mother, whom he described as a towering figure in Nigeria’ s commerce and in Islamic devotion.
According to him, the competition drew a total of 4,400 male and female Quranic reciters from the 44 LGAs of the state, adding that 10 exceptional reciters were eventually selected from each LGA to arrive at the 440 participants in the final round of the competition.
Lado, a Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, added that renowned Islamic scholars from Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt, served as judges, noting that their presence and participation spoke volumes about the credibility of the competition.