ANKARA – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been named the Global Muslim Personality by a Nigerian Islamic newspaper for the third year in a row.

Erdoğan was declared winner of the 2020 Global Muslim Personality Award, tagged #MNAwards2020, by Rasheed Abubakar, the publisher of Muslim News Nigeria.

The maiden edition of the award was held in 2018 to celebrate Muslim achievers across professions including governance and administration.

In a statement, Abubakar said though the year 2020 was very challenging for the world due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected all facets of human endeavor, Erdoğan remained committed to a just cause, and his achievements surpassed that of the previous years.

The statement noted that the emergence of the Turkish president as a visionary and pragmatic leader has been a blessing not only to Turkey but to the extended global Muslim community, which has “fallen prey to the belligerence of predator nations.”

“From cultivating and consolidating the national capabilities of the Turkish state and its local economy, President Erdoğan embarked on showing the world what it is missing in the absence of Islamic standards in matters of human rights, politics, and fairness, and equity in economic affairs,” it added.

The statement said some of his achievements included the reopening of Hagia Sophia mosque, liberation of the Upper Karabakh region, provision of relief packages to countries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, humanitarian assistance to marginalized Muslim communities, unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause and raising the voice against Islamophobia.