It is often said that there are usually two sets of people in this world. Those who will be remembered when they leave this world for the problems they created, and those who will be remembered for the many problems they solved, the solutions they proffered for the myriads of challenges while they lived.
And as human beings, the world remains the only stage, upon which, either as bad actors, we can only fret our part and get booed out or as good actors, we interpret our roles satisfactorily and get applauded out of the dais while leaving your captive audience roaring for more.
In other words, the choice is always ours to make, either to be on the villainous or valiant side of history. For many, the latter road has often been the one less travelled or hardly taken at all. For to do so, requires strength of character, moral fibre and an angelic deportment.
For a few who dare to walk this high road, they are enormously revered, recognised and celebrated, no matter their status or standing in the society. This was what stood out so poignantly on January 3rd, this year, when Her Excellency, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke, the First Lady of Cross River State, made an addition to her years on this earth.
Opting for an austere and quiet remembrance of that unique date, a handful of friends had converged on the Imokes’ humble abode to honour and celebrate Obioma Liyel Imoke, not just because she was a year older, but, more tellingly, for what she stoutly represents- an answer to a question, a solution to a problem, a silver lining in a horrendously dark tunnel of life and a necessity in the midst of hopeless millions.
With a band of church choristers on hand to serenade the small gathering of well wishers, it was apparent that this was an occasion for a deep introspection rather than merry making.
Growing up then as a child in the 60s, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke had begun so early in life to discover the art of charity, care and compassion for the less fortunate around her. Call it her destiny, if you like. Truth is, it was a ministry she discovered on time and decided to run with it. And she has since been running with it.
The daughter of Nigeria’s first anesthesiologist, Dr. T.I. Eze-Ashi, from Illah in Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta State, Obioma who was born in Lagos in the 60s, had her secondary and university education in Enugu, then Eastern Nigeria. This allowed her a blend of two cultures, western and oriental. The assimilation of these two cultures was to later shape her outlook in her journey through life. So, she learnt, as she was growing up, never to judge human beings from this skewed prism and narrow confines. For her, culture and language may differ, humanity stays the same.
Given her romance with the Yoruba culture acquired while growing up in Lagos, with a blend of the Igbo way of life through her education in Enugu and culminating, ultimately, in her marriage to Senator Liyel Imoke from Cross River State, Mrs. Imoke can undoubtedly, run away with the epithet of a pan-Nigerian.
Like the anecdotal elephant which was captured in varied perspectives by the six blind men of Indostan, so is Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke. She is different things to different people. To some, she is a friend through whom, radiates uncommon warmth. To her husband, she is as a loving hind and pleasant roe, the wife of his youth who ravishes him with tender loving care. But to a wider spectrum of Cross Riverians, especially widows, the indigent and the abandoned children, she is a total and committed mother, who, like a pullet, must nestle her hatchlings from the harsh and inclement weather. No doubt, the First Lady embodies of all the qualities rolled into one
A committed crusader for the abandoned and the poor, a woman of charity and compassion, Obioma, while drawing on the art of giving and sharing, a strict diet on which she was delicately weaned as a child, was roused by the plight of children who not only saw their destroyed world in front of them, but children whose world was also rupturing around them, with no one to look up to, none to turn to, as they weathered through the storms and turmoil of their uncharted and uncertain future.
Even though poverty may have been alien to the First Lady, she nonetheless has an idea of its insidious effect on human psyche. To her, poverty is not just about being hungry, naked and homeless. It is much more about being unwanted, unloved and uncared for. She identifies this as the greatest poverty that can vanquish any human race.
As a rare gift to Cross Riverians including the vulnerable children, poor women and widows, Obioma Liyel Imoke is widely seen as an incandescent messenger of hope, an advocate of what it means to care and the necessity and joy of sharing the suffering of others.
Having accepted the ministry of charity as her divine lot, she has continued to play the role of a “mother to the poor,” a symbol of compassion to the homeless, a regenerated hope to the hopeless in Cross River State.
In fact, as a way of sharing in the core misery of the poorest of the poor and the very vulnerable in the state, she has, through her various mitigating and intervention efforts, rolled out quite a number of programmes and projects in order to make a difference in the lives of street and abandoned children, teenage mothers, widows and rural women, among others.
For instance, her Destiny Child Centre (DCC) is targeted at not only to rehabilitate street children in Calabar but to make them useful members of the society. Similarly, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke, to the delight of all, birthed the “Mothers Against Child Abandonment” (MACA), to help teenage girls put in the family way, but pushed out by their parents or rejected by the men responsible for their pregnancies, give birth and bring up the baby.
Under this scheme, teenage mothers go through mentoring process and taught a trade or are encouraged to go back to school upon delivery, while the baby is looked after by the centre and re-united with the mother later.
In like manner, the First Lady founded the Partnership Opportunities for Women Economic Realisation (POWER). This is one programme she initiated to change the economic status of women, especially those at the grassroots through business incubation centres, microcredit schemes channelled through cooperatives societies; encouragement to farm, sourcing markets for their produce and vocational training.
There is also what she christens “A State Fit for A Child” [ASFAC]. It is a project aimed at encouraging the youth to realise and maximise their potentials through creative activities besides learning the virtues of patriotism, good citizenship and education. It also prepares beneficiaries for adult life and how to make the best of it.
Another programme she enunciated is “Giving Life Opportunities to Widows” (GLOW). Through this strategy, widows in the state are identified, their challenges ascertained and addressed through financial and moral assistance. They are also taught vocational skills to become self reliant.
Also from the stable of Mrs. Imoke is Breath of Life. This seeks to promote community targeted approach to preventing and controlling the scourge of pneumonia in Cross River State, with the target group as children.
These intervention programmes are all dear to the First Lady’s heart because they affect lives in various ways.
But as her humanity began to resonate in the state, media attention riveted to her and before long, the world began to turn its eyes towards Mrs. Liyel Imoke and her sterling work. In recognition of the template she has set, numerous awards began to tumble in. For instance, the Miss Africa USA pageant Organisation bestowed on her the Community Empowerment Award for her relentless efforts in uplifting and empowering women and young girls in Cross River State. Her charity drew the attention of the Pageant, both of whom share similar goals and values.
Sometime last year, she was invited by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, to participate in a United Nations conference on education and was also appointed Education Ambassador by Mrs. Gordon Brown, wife of the former British Prime Minister. Her appointment as Education Ambassador was based on her role in ensuring that Cross River State children have unfettered access to education; for taking vulnerable children into resettlement homes and ensuring that each and every child was given equal opportunity to go back to school.
As she marked her scaled-down birthday penultimate week, with a coterie of her well wishers, Mrs Obioma Liyel Imoke did so with her heart going out to about 300 children at the Destiny Child Centre, with whom she and her entire family spent their Christmas.
Linus Obogo is the Personal Assistant to Governor Liyel Imoke on Research and Documentation.
