Former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki celebrated his mother, Madam Florence Morenike Saraki on her 86th birthday, which came up on Sunday, August 8, 2021.

Saraki, his wife, Toyin and his siblings – Senator Gbemisola, Tope (and her husband, Koye Edu) and Laolu, treated the “birthday girl” to a memorable celebration. 

While extolling the virtues of his beloved mother on his various social media handles, the former Kwara governor said that the family is blessed to have her around.

“Happy 86th birthday to my extraordinary mother, Chief (Mrs) Florence Morenike Saraki. I love you Mum!,” he wrote.

The celebrant’s daughter-in-law, Erelu Toyin Saraki was more effusive in her tribute. She write: “Iya mi, Iya Oko mi, Iya Ololufe mi, Atofarati. I wish my Mother-In-Law, Mama, Chief Mrs Florence Morenike Saraki a very happy 86th Birthday today! Beloved Mother, Adorable Grandmother, Cherished and Grace-filled Great-Grandmother, Iya Rere, I appreciate your warmheartedness and kindness always, may Almighty God continue to fill your blessed life and times with joy, love and grace! Amen.”

Last month, Mama Saraki who is from the illustrious Ibidapo family of Owo, Ondo state, became a great-grandmother for the second time when her granddaughter, Oluwatosin Halimat Olukoya (the first daughter of Bukola and Toyin Saraki) was delivered of a son in London. 

Saraki’s father Olusola, who died in Ikoyi, Lagos on November 14, 2012 at the age of 79, served as a senator in the Second Republic. He got married to his only wife, Flirence Morenike, a Christian in 1962 in the United Kingdom. The couple had their first child, Abubakar Bukola Saraki in London in December 1962, while the senior Saraki was doing his house job as a medical doctor. They both returned to Nigeria and gave birth to their second child, Gbemisola Ruqayyah, a senator and the current Minister of State for Transportation two years later. Their other children are Tope Edu, a lawyer and Interior architectural and design specialist; and Laolu Saraki, a businessman.