Senator Gbemisola Saraki Shares Childhood Pictures As She Turns 50

Senator Gbemi Saraki turns 50 yesterday, 2 May 2015. To celebrate her 50th birthday she released much younger pictures of herself and a open letter to herself. She was a cute little girl, and she's still cute today.

I just was not feeling her when their father, the then godfather of Kwara State politics, Olusola Saraki, wanted her brother, Bukola Saraki, the then governor of the State to hand over power to her when he leaves office. Bukola Saraki being the statesman that he is didn't agree. He made it clear to his father that the governor's office isn't their family's property. The candidate that Bukola Saraki endorsed for the position eventually won as suppose to his father's choice. That incident significantly ruined his relationship with his dad, I think they sorted it out before his dad died in 2012.


 If you care to read her letter is below. More pictures.

A PRAYER ON MY 50TH BIRTHDAY

Oh Allah,

Here it is, my 50th birthday. 18,263 days on Earth. Wow!! While I’m not having a full-blown mid-life crisis, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this birthday. It’s reminding me how short life is, and how little I have accomplished. When I look at all the youthful dreams I had of what I wanted to do for You, I wonder if I ever will do anything really significant in the time I have left on this earth. Why does all this matter? Well, I guess I just want, somehow, to pay you back in some small way for all you’ve done for me. Love needs a response, and I’m so aware of how much You have loved me. I want to love You back, and I don’t know how to do that except to love Your people and do good things in this world. Yet, my love for You is so small, my expressions so inadequate, and I always fall so short of what I intend to do for You. This love is so much about Your giving and my taking. What else can I say but thank You.

Thank You for making me. Thank You that I was created to live here and to know the experience of human life. Thank You for letting me know You from an early age so that I wouldn’t spend most of my life running away from You in fear, as so many people do. I can only imagine what that must be like. Thank You for being there during the saddest and loneliest times of my life, and for letting me know in small, yet personal ways, that You were there for me and heard my prayers. Thank You for being a God who always listens.

Thank You for giving me sight, hearing, a mind to think clearly, the ability to move freely, and days that are mostly so free of pain that I take my body for granted. Thank You for the freedom from disease that allows me to serve You with more opportunity than a lot of people have known.

Thank You for the people You’ve given me to live with. Thank You for good parents. They are people who love and respect You, and who gave me a wonderful heritage of their wisdom and strength. Thank You for the gift of children. Loving them throughout their lives has been so completely satisfying. You’ve taught me more about Yourself through the experience of parenthood, for You are the Great Parent. Thank You that despite all my failures as a mother, these children have turned out well. Thank You for being all they needed and all I wasn’t. Thank You for my wonderful siblings, relatives and friends who have graced my life through the years, whose presence seen and unseen, has been a source of joy and comfort.

And so Lord, what about the future? I don’t know how many years or days You plan to leave me here. I know I still have dreams of doing a lot of good things–things I hope will please you. If the past is any indication though, I’ll fall far short of what I hope to do. What can I say, Lord, but take me and use me. Since You always do the lion’s share of whatever we accomplish together, then You please pick what we will do. I realize there’s going to be four of us in whatever You plan, for You are always thinking about my dear children, and making plans for us as a family. I want to say yes to all of it, Lord. Use us Lord, and let me serve, for all the days You grant us together.

I know some things will change in the future. If I live long enough here, my body will wear out. I dread that Lord, and I dread losing, one by one, my abilities to serve You in this world. Help me to face my limitations with courage. Help me depend on You. You have things to teach me, even in my physical weaknesses. Help me to focus on what I can do for you, not on what I can’t do. Help me to realize that my weaknesses are blessings, if they force me to depend on you more.

Thank you for all the experiences of all past years; for times of success which will always be happy memories, for times of failure which reminded me of my own weakness and of my need for You, for times of joy when the sun was shining, for times of sadness which drove me to You. Forgive me for the hours I wasted, for the chances I failed to take, for the opportunities I missed these past years. Help me in the days ahead to make this the best year yet, and through it to bring good credit to myself, happiness and pride to my loved ones, and joy to You.

What can I say now Lord, except You are truly the beginning and end of everything. You are the Love behind all that is good. Help me complete all I lack in loving You.

Amen.