Governor Umo Eno stirred controversy over appropriate nomenclature after introducing his daughter, Mrs Helen Obareki, to Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, as his choice to take over the role of deceased First Lady of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Patience Umo Eno.
Announcing on September 26 the passing away of his wife and First Lady of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Patience Eno, Governor Umo Eno had, through Ini Ememobong, Commissioner for Information, asked the public to respect his family’s privacy as they mourned.
Ironically, the governor would, 10 days later, stir the same public to meddle in his family affair.
He had chosen the condolence visit by the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to announce the engagement of his first daughter, Mrs Helen Eno Obareki, to take over the Office of the First Lady of Akwa Ibom following his wife’s passing.
The consequence was the debate over how to designate the circumstantial appointment. Some interpreted Eno to have made the daughter the First Lady, some saw it as Acting First Lady, just as others named her Coordinator of Akwa Ibom First Lady’s Office.
Sensitive Presentation
Remi Tinubu was on condolence to the Enos in Uyo with the wife of the Vice President, Hajia Nana Shettima, some state governors’ wives and those of presiding officers of the National Assembly.
On how best to sustain the late wife’s legacies, encapsulated in her pet project, Golden Initiative For All (GIFA), the governor told his guests, “It is not an easy task ahead. But to sustain the Office of the First Lady, I wish to introduce our daughter, Mrs. Helen Eno Obareki, and hand her over to you all.
“She will continue to coordinate the activities of Her Excellency’s office, working closely with our mothers, the Deputy Governor, and the Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and Social Welfare.”
During a separate condolence visit same day, Eno had conveyed same decision of the daughter’s appointment to Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and colleagues, with a touch of humour on that occasion.
Against the speculation of an existing second wife, the governor had told his comforters from the Senate, “I’m not about to marry a new wife now”, joking he didn’t have the money to pay for bride price.
“No one will be able to fill that vacuum (of her deceased wife). Her legacy will live in our hearts. She had started projects and I had to introduce our daughter, Helen, to the First Lady.
“So she would step in to coordinate that office so that the office would still be active in doing the programmes that she had started”.
Eno expressed his confidence in his daughter’s ability to uphold the values and vision of her late mother, vowing to maintain the projects and programs initiated through the Office of the First Lady.
Endorsement
For Remi Tinubu, Helen replacing her mother was the practice in America and the move was wise of Eno in best sustaining legacies of the late Patience Eno through GIFA.
The wife of the President noted that the deceased wife of the governor was very supportive of her own pet project at the national level and also supported her husband’s ARISE governance agenda.
“Politics aside, we are all Nigerians and one of the things I thank God for is when we meet people, we should show love and care. I thank God that despite her short time in life she finished her course. God will comfort you the husband, comfort you the children. I will always be here for you”, the nation’s First Lady said.
Assuring her support to the governor’s daughter, Remi Tinubu said, “Helen, your mom didn’t bring you to me just for nothing and it’s good that your mom’s colleagues are here and the wife of the Vice President is here.
“I know Helen very well. Helen, God will be with you. Don’t worry, you will do more than your mom and God will give you good health, okay.”
Interpretations
Worried by the discordant interpretation over the appointment, the governor has had to recalibrate his context of the daughter’s engagement while calling for public caution not to make big issue of it.
Eno, during Sunday service at the All Nations Christian Ministry International, Eket, described the daughter’s appointment as a gesture made more out of natural outcome than of political expediency.
He told the congregation, “Please listen to me and listen well. First Ladies are not appointed, they come with the governor. I made a statement, and I would like to repeat that statement for the avoidance of doubt.
“Our daughter, Mrs. Helen Obareki, will coordinate the Office of the First Lady. She had been with the mother from the beginning, and you heard the First Lady of the Nation, Sen Oluremi Tinubu, say ‘her mother introduced her to me’.
“So appointing her as Coordinator is not an appointment of a First Lady. You don’t appoint a First Lady. By appointment, she is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor and the Coordinator, Office of the First Lady.
“This is not political, it is natural. All I pray for is support and wisdom for her to be able to ensure that none of those programmes will die and that she will bring more insight and innovation to the office.
“The only reason I brought this up again is for clarification, that I am conscious of what I am doing, and it is to bring healing to the family and allow the office to keep running. That’s one of the ways I will be comforted.
“Even when Jesus died, Peter said ‘Choose from amongst us those that were with Jesus’. So, for me, the Office of the First Lady has responsibilities to the women of this state. My wife had programmes she was running: the GIFA, the support for the elderly and the other programmes.
“And as long as I remain governor, those programmes will not die. There must be a coordinator, and it must be someone that I see daily, someone that can walk into my room.”
Meanwhile, the emphasis by the governor has not stopped the varied interpretation of the appointment.
To Mrs Obareki, Commissioner III, Akwa Ibom State Ethical and Attitudinal Reorientation Commission, Rev Osondu Ahirika PhD, said, “Let them address you as they may, it changes nothing.
“For me, you are henceforth known and called, Her Excellency, Mrs Helen Eno-Obareki. Nothing diminishes the weight of that Office you are coordinating. Accordingly, performance is key.”
Ekere Udoh, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, stressed, “While we thank the press for the overwhelming support they have shown since the unfortunate passing of the wife of the governor, which the governor had acknowledged in his broadcast last Friday, we again plead that they respect the privacy of the family at this moment of bereavement through their reportage.
“Mrs. Obareki, the newly appointed ‘Coordinator of the Office of the First Lady’, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies from the University of Oklahoma (2011) and a Master’s degree in Business Administration with special concentrations in Human Resources Management from Oklahoma Christian University (2012), United States of America.”
Zik Gbemre, Coordinator, Niger Delta Peace Coalition, said, “The governor was the one who stirred fuss over the matter with the manner he introduced it. The dust it raised was not about whether he calls the daughter First Lady or Acting First Lady or Coordinator.
“He had it all planned but announced it as a passing statement to the wife of the President. Yes, Akwa Ibomites had to hear his daughter is taking over as First Lady with the visit of Tinubu’s wife. “That was a show of insensitivity to Akwa Ibom people who the Office of the First Lady directly serves. He doesn’t have to struggle to justify the appointment. Whatever nomenclature he gives it changes nothing.
“It is what is; a change to transfer the privileges and pecks of the non-statutory office from a late wife to a daughter.
I don’t envy him. He gave the room for public invasion of his privacy. You cannot make such public appointment the way you did and expect the people not to talk.” (Vanguard)
