CNN’s Stephanie Busari pays tributes to mum on first death anniversary

Stephanie Busari

Bureau head of CNN Africa Stephanie Busari on Sunday night paid tributes to her mum Cecilia Olukoya-Busari who died last year.

Mrs Olukoya-Busari died of multiple illnesses, according to Busari, in the United Kingdom.

Recalling her mum’s last moments on the first anniversary of her death, Busari wrote on Instagram, “On March 31st last year. I received the devastating news that doctors had given my mother just a few hours to live. I jumped on the next flight out to London desperately praying that like the last time we received such a prognosis, they were wrong. I landed in London the next day and rushed to the hospital where she was unconscious and unresponsive.

“I spent hours praying by her side. I prayed fervently, calling all the prayer warriors I knew because I was so sure that she would win this battle like she had many times before.”

Busari said that while she prayed she saw tears roll down her mother’s eyes.

The 45-year-old added, “Apparently the hearing is one or the last things to go in a dying patient and it seemed she could hear my desperate attempts to keep her alive. In the end, God had to minister to me to let her go. I was keeping her from making the necessary transition.

“I knew it was time so I called everyone nearby who could make their way to the hospital. I also called my brother and Dad abroad on video and we started to sing her favourite songs and prayed as the breath ebbed away from her lifeless body.”

Busari noted that two months after her mum’s burial she met “the love of my life” and they had a quiet civil wedding.

“I feel your guiding hand and presence always. Thank you for everything mum. Thank you God for hearing me in the midst of my pain,” the journalist said.