The Daily Trust African of the Year Award dinner is scheduled to hold tonight in Abuja, where this year's winner Mrs. Salifou Fatimata Bazeye will officially receive the awardBazeye, a distinguished jurist from Niger Republic, arrived in Nigeria yesterday through the Lagos airport.The dinner event is to hold at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, starting at 8pm.Among dignitaries expected at the event are Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Dahiru Musdapher as Special Guest of Honour; and former Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity (now African Union) and ex-Prime Minister of Tanzania, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, who is the chairman of the award's Advisory Board.Last month, the Salim-led board announced the selection of Bazeye as the Daily Trust African of the Year 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya. He cited her 'track record as an incorruptible judicial officer' among the reasons for her selection.The recipient would be presented tonight with the award, which attracts a prize sum of $50,000 donated by the United Bank of Africa, as well as a commemorative plaque and certificate of honour.The award was initiated in 2008 by Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust, Weekly Trust, Sunday Trust, Aminiya and pan-African news magazine Kilimanjaro, to recognise and reward ordinary Africans who are doing extra-ordinary things for the good of the continent and humanity.Bazeye, 57, was dismissed as president of Niger's Constitutional Court in 2009 after the court rejected efforts by the then President Mamadou Tandja to change the constitution and elongate his stay in office after expiration of his second term.She was subsequently named by the military junta that ousted Tandja in 2010 to lead the Constitutional Council, an 11-member consultative body, where she performed a key role in steering Niger to a successful election and democratic transition.Bazeye was selected from a list that had four other finalists: Wael Ghonim (Egypt), Father Godfrey Nzamujo (Nigeria), Mohammed Bouazizi (Tunisia) and Thuli Madonsela (South Africa).Previous winners of the award are Dr. Denis Mukwege (Congolese surgeon, 2008), the late Dr. Tajudeen Abdulraheem (Nigerian activist, 2009) and Dr. Danny Jordaan (South African football administrator, 2010).The award board is made up of Salim; Professor Abdoulaye Bathily, a former Senegalese Parliamentarian; Professor Tandeka Nkiwane, a South African political scientist; Malam Kabiru Yusuf, Chairman/CEO of Media Trust; Professor Kwame Karikari, Accra-based Mass Communication scholar and activist; Professor Okello Oculi, a Ugandan political scientist and social activist; and Ms. Muthoni Wanyeki, former Executive Secretary of Kenya Human Rights Commission, who is also committee's secretary.
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