Is Maryam Babangida ill again?
07.18.2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009

Her record as Nigeria's most colourful first lady to date is yet to be assailed. It is still pretty fresh in our memories how Maryam, the dark-skinned beautiful wife of Nigeria's military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida took the role of First Ladyship beyond the shadow of the number one man. With a combination of panache, visibility where it mattered and a well-oiled publicity blitzkrieg, Maryam shone like porcelain in the sun. But beyond the beauty and glamour and the razzmatazz of her office, Maryam had a humane and compassionate side to her. In spite of her aristocratic posturing, she was not blinded to the sufferings of rural women. Thus, she established the Better Life for Rural Women programme which endeared her immensely to the generality of womenfolk across every stratum of the society. This ensured that she was courted by the high and mighty and adored by women with no visible halo.

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Despite IBB's 1993 historic 'Stepping aside', Maryam kept up her high profile lifestyle which was very well oiled by her husband's financial arsenal stockpiled over an eight-year period. However, in the last couple of years, Maryam, from Delta State, has remained only a blip on the social radar, no thanks to what some sources said is an age-long battle with cancer. Though there were reports that the ebony-hued beauty had been permanently cured after a visit to hospital in Paris, France, the news filtering out of the Babangidas' Hilltop mansion in Minna, Niger State is that the matriarch might have been flown out of the country yet again. Those who hold strong to this belief insist that Maryam has been less visible in Minna where she has a looming presence. Thus, her absence, they insist, might be due to a relapse in her ailment.