First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu

Abubakar Hashim/Freetown

First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu, yesterday in Freetown, thrilled the Nigerian community at the Lumley Beach Atlantic Hotel, at a special dinner hosted by the Nigerian High Commission in Freetown.

She spoke extensively on the virtues of hard work, citing herself and her husband, as examples, during their long and hard struggle days, as the bedrock to development, be it at the personal, business or governmental levels. She further stated that at 63 and her husband at 71, they are both in politics with compassion for the benefit of the people.

She spoke on her pet project, “Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), that has empowered vulnerable families in the Nigerian Armed Forces, as the beginning of hope being renewed for a start.

She expressed freedom of the will of the people and unity as the epitome for rapid development, stating with delight of the unity she saw in the Nigerian community in Sierra Leone, under the able leadership of Engineer Abiodun Oyebola.

Nigerian Community members in Sierra Leone

She further praised the First Lady of Sierra Leone, HE Fatima Bio for her determined drive toward rehabilitating the health sector and early child abuses in her pet project, “Hands off our Girls”. Tinubu said she first met at the Organisation of First Ladies in Africa OFLA summit.

She further stated that this was second  visit to visit Sierra Leone, the first as a student, when she travelled by road, via Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Nigeria, she admitted, is on serious recovery state and callee on all to support her husband, to turn around the country. “I trust my husband can do it, from past precedence in Lagos, before 1999, leaving behind a lasting legacy, three successful administrations have embodied”.

Abubakar Hashim, left, and Chief Tony Chinyere

Speaking earlier, the Nigerian High Commissioner, Ambassador Henry Omaku, expressed delight on the unity of Nigerians in his host country and narrated the strong and rich historical ties between the two countries, through migration and intermarriages.

Nigerian community president, Oyebola extollee the quality of the First Lady and pleaded for support of his pet project of a medical center. Tinubu noted with admiration and gave her consent of support, with a call on the private sector in Sierra Leone, particularly the banks, to come on board.