By Maureen Okon
Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has described the late Queen of England, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, officially Elizabeth II as an icon of the British greatness.
Dabiri-Erewa said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
She was reacting to the passing of the British Queen on Thursday at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the age of 96 years.
“The legacy of Queen Elizabeth II will forever live in our hearts. May her soul rest in perfect peace,” she said.
At the time of her death, the queen was the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch.
Born on April 21, 1926, she was coronated in 1953 and in 2015 she surpassed Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
Three years after her coronation, the queen visited Nigeria in 1956 and stayed in the country for two weeks.
She returned to Nigeria in 2003 to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting form Dec. 3 to Dec. 6. during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
In the year 2020, she congratulated Nigeria on its 60 years independence anniversary.
In her congratulatory message to Nigeria, she spoke of a stronger bond between Britain and Nigeria.
Elizabeth was the elder daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
As the child of a younger son of King George V, the young Elizabeth had little prospect of acceding to the throne until her uncle, Edward VIII (afterward Duke of Windsor), abdicated in her father’s favour on Dec. 11, 1936.
At that time, her father became King George VI and she became heir presumptive. (NAN)
