To her loved ones, Maryam Abacha is rare gem. There is no such thing in nature or humankind that measures up to her fairness and grace. If you ask them, her children, in- laws and grandchildren would earnestly tell you that she is that rare icon fate invents to stun mortality. By her industry, lofty politics and compassion, Maryam excites uncommon adulation which remains the treasure of icons and Africa’s most revered Amazons.
Thus as the former first lady and widow of late military president, Gen. Sani Abacha, turned 70 few days ago, March 4 to be precise, the Abacha clan came together to celebrate her in a ceremony befitting of a matriarch, at her residence in Kano. Predictably, Maryam looked resplendent in her dazzling attire and expensive jewelry thus making nonsense of speculations that she had lost the dash and élan that defined her back when she was Nigeria’s first lady. For an ordinary person, the hurdles she had been forced to cross would have been both daunting and disastrous but she survived and subsequently gave the social scene a wide berth for many years. Today, Hajia Maryam Abacha is back with a bang and has launched herself back into the buzz of Nigeria’s high society. No one is known to have paid for a space in the newspaper to congratulate her; many of the men and women who rode on her goodwill to societal acclaim conveniently forgot to place congratulatory messages for her in prominent national dailies as they did in those days when her husband held sway as President.