By Akinwale Kasali
President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with the Nelson family on the demise of frontline politician and advocate of the womenfolk, Chief Kemi Nelson.
The president, in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, on Sunday in Abuja condoled with the government and people of Lagos State, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, and the Lagos APC family on the loss of the frontline politician.
Buhari described the deceased as “a consistent and faithful party member who devoted so much to the evolution, development, sustenance and relevance of the party in Lagos and around the country.”
He noted the contributions of Nelson as a former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in Lagos State, the State Women Leader, National Deputy Women Leader of APC, and former Executive Director of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund.
The president further remarked that the deceased was such a grassroots mobiliser and an achiever who left her footprints wherever she served.
“As the only female member of the Lagos State Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), Kemi Nelson continued to be part of the governance structure that led to the transformation of Lagos State into the Centre of Excellence it has become,” he said.
The president prayed for the repose of her soul, that almighty God would grant the husband, Adeyemi Nelson and the family, friends and associates of the deceased, the fortitude to bear the loss.
Similarly, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, said that Lagos State has lost an icon and women champion.
The Late former South-West Women Leader of the APC, died on Sunday at the age of 66 after a brief illness.
Obasa, in a statement on Monday by his Chief Press Secretary, Eromosele Ebhomele, described the death of the politician as a huge loss to Lagos state, the party she served with so much passion and enthusiasm, members of the party and Nigeria.
“The shock is indescribable. It is so huge and painful, one that will be difficult to heal for a long time. Indeed, we lost a very bright light that had always brought the desired radiance to our party.
“Chief Kemi Nelson was a coordinator of women and she carried out her tasks with so much ease, enthusiasm and effectiveness to the admiration of everyone of us.
“She never hid her passion for a better Lagos and Nigeria through democratic governance. She was dilligent and excelled in every position or committee she found herself.
“While I, like many others she held in high esteem, will personally miss her, I pray that God would strengthen every member of her family, her friends, associates, those she mentored, the GAC and our party,” Obasa prayed.
Chief Kemi Nelson, former Executive Director of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF and influential politician, was a senatorial candidate in 1992. She lost to Tinubu, now presidential candidate of the APC ahead of the 2023 election.
In 1999, she pitched tents with the Alliance for Democracy, AD and served in the administration of Asiwaju Tinubu as Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
