By Bassey Nkponam
UYO
The Akwa Ibom governor has immortalised his late wife and First Lady, Late Pastor Patience Umo Eno, as he names his daughter, Mrs. Helen Eno Obareki, as the coordinator of the Office of the First Lady of the State.
Pastor Umo Eno, who announced this, Friday, while receiving the wife of the Nigeria’s President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who was on a condolence visit, at Government House, Uyo, to commiserate with the governor and people of the State on the demise of the State’s First Lady, said the naming of his daughter, Helen, as the coordinator of the Office of the First Lady was for its continued functioning.
Eno assured of his administration’s continuous sustenance and broadening of the visions and programmes initiated through the Office of the First Lady, saying that Mrs. Helen Obareki, being the first daughter from his 38 years marriage with Patience, is his choice person to assume the role to sustain the legacy of her late mother.
He described the Late First Lady as a perfect example of the biblical virtuous woman, his closest prayer partner, cheer leader, and his best critic, recalling his coinage of the “Golden Boy,” which upturned the tide of attacks on his person and appearance.
The governor recalled that he and the deceased have journeyed through life, thick and thin, victories and defeats, and that the family is perplexed because they have lost someone that is irreplaceable and whose death is an irreplaceable loss.
He noted that the Late Patience was his biblical description of a virtuous woman in all ramifications, saying he was his cheerleader and best critic whose death will not be forgotten easily. “I married to my wife when she was 19 years, and I was 22. Church ordered her to sign some letters allowing us to wed because she was underage by the law. We have journeyed together.
“I called her Kemi because God gave her to me as a comforter, someone who gave me succour. We have journeyed through life, thick and thin, victories and defeats. I remember during campaign, there are people that just wanted to hit below the belt. They attacked your personality. People start saying would an albino be a Governor. I think it was my birthday. So that day, after cutting the cake, she was to make a speech. She said UB, people say you are an albino, but to me, you are my golden boy.
“To me, that changed the whole narrative, and that’s how the initiative, “Golden Boy”, came to be. She had a way of humoursly dismissing things that would have really gotten to you. So for me, the mourning is a lifetime mourning. That’s why I have told the few people that came to see me that look, let me take it in bits because it is not something that will easily go away”.
Introducing his daughter, Helen, to the President Tinubu’s wife, the governor solicited continued sustenance of the Office of the First Lady in the State.
“Please Ma, I want to beg you. It is an appeal. Unfortunately for me, I happen to be the first sitting Governor who has lost his wife, and I pray it will not happen again to anybody. It is my earnest prayer.
It is not an easy task ahead, but I want to please beg you, to continue to sustain the Office of the First Lady. I want to please introduce our daughter, Helen and hand her over to you Ma.
“She will continue to coordinate the office, Your Excellency. She will be working with all of our mothers, the deputy governor, the commissioner for women affairs.”
The governor expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his show of love and support in the period of grief and particularly to the nation’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for her prayers and words of encouragement, even as he appreciated condolences from other Nigerians and Akwa Ibomites.
“You have been consistently, and truly a mother of the nation, drawing all your children close. So I want to thank you. This visit and this very big delegation, with Her Excellency’s sister, wives of governors and all of the entourage that you have brought, further confirms that you are the mother of the nation.
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, in her message of condolence, expressed deep regrets over the demise of the Late Pastor Patience Eno, whom she described as a warm, God-fearing and peaceful woman, who was very supportive of her pet project at the national level and also supported her husband to succeed in office as governor.
Tinubu lauded Eno’s resolve to maintain the Office of the First Lady in the State and his choice of his daughter, Helen, to man the office, assuring the governor’s daughter of support to help her further the lofty visions of the State First Lady’s office as well as give required support towards her father’s success in office.
Prayers were offered by the wife of the Vice President, Hajiya Nana Shettima and that of Bayelsa State Governor, Gloria Diri, alongside the signing of condolence register by the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
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