It was an emotional moment as Baroness Halima Fernandez, widow of the late Belgium-based international businessman, Ambassador Anthonio Oladeinde Fernandez, returned to her Kano hometown for the first time after the death of Fernandez on September 1 last year, lamenting the death of her beloved husband.
Announcing her arrival in Kano with a post on her social media platforms, she said: “Good afternoon Kano. The sun feels incredible. Never knew Kano heat like this. Kowa yabar gida, gida yabar sa.”
Then she added: “Alhamdulilahi. After five years, I’m home. It is more bitter than sweet though. I left a married woman and now I’m back a widow. Allah kayuma Garsan Fulani Rahama. ka gafarta masa.”
The Baroness later went visiting some places and individuals around the ancient city, including the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, where the two had a private discussion. She also visited Marietta, among other places.
Weeks after her husband was buried, she had splashed some photographs of their love life on the social media, including those in which they were tongue-deep in kisses as they hung out in different countries on impromptu holidays. And after her weeks of mourning were over, she went visiting some of the romantic places she had once visited with her husband, trying to recapture some of those cherished memories.
The news of Ambassador Anthonio Oladeinde Fernandez’s death on September 1 last year had spread around the world within seconds. His death affected many people in different countries and continents because the deceased billionaire was a highly influential businessman with varied business interests in the economies of many countries. Although he boasted a large family and hordes of friends, the closest individual to him at his moment of transition was his wife and Baroness of Dudley, Halima Fernandez.
Naturally, therefore, the task of implementing the alleged wish of the late Baron of Dudley and one of the richest men to come out of Africa that his body be buried in Belgium fell on Halima. The late Fernandez who had acted as the permanent representative of many African countries was known to be friends with many world leaders like the late Nelson Mandela, George Bush Senior, Mobutu Seseseko, Gnassimgbe Eyadema and Kofi Annan. Organising a funeral befitting of such a world class figure was, therefore, never going to be an easy task.
“It was a deep moment for me having to take in the pains of my beloved husband’s death and at the same time face the task of putting together a funeral that he would have loved,” Halima said.
Insider information revealed that family members were assisted by the bereaved baroness in different ways to ensure that they gathered in Belgium to honour their late hero at his funeral service in far away Belgium. The choice of Belgium as the late businessman’s place of final rest of course became an issue among family members, many of whom were said to have expressed disappointment that they were not privy to the late billionaire’s wish. As would be expected, their reservations about the arrangement soon snowballed into a face-off between aggrieved family members and Fernandez’s widow.
Halima, however, said the late Fernandez, who was born to the Olumegbon royal family in Isale Eko in the late 1920s, had anticipated the situation and had planned against it. She said her late husband was admirable for his eye for details and had talked to some members of the family on how life should be within his family even after he must have gone. “I continually admire his innate ability to be in charge of the details of everything. He was indeed a great man. A man I admired and loved deeply,” she added.
A friend of the late Fernandez, Mr. Chimazuru Oblong Nnamdi, who was said to have read the oration at Fernandez’s classy funeral, said he was privileged to witness the occasion when the late businessman told his eldest child that Halima should be given good support by the family after he must have passed on.
The late Fernandez had a loud marriage with Halima, who hails from the Maude family in Kano. A source said the love birds were introduced to each other by the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, who was said to be Fernandez’s good friend. It was the Emir who also turbaned Fernandez as the Garsan Fulani Kano, a title that translates as the Champion of the right of the Fulani people of Kano.
“Our marriage is a part of me that I cherish. That we were married shouldn’t be in contention because it was a popular marriage in Kano with documentation, and important dignitaries were present,” said Baroness Halima after the burial of her late husband.
Life after Fernandez’s death
Given the way Fernadez and Halima doted on each other, it has been difficult for the late billionaire’s widow to come to terms with the death of her loving husband, a close family source said.
“She was always with him. She was at his bed side and was with him all through his dying days,” added the source. “The late billionaire businessman was in and out of an age-related sickness which he battled with great effort until he finally gave up.”
Halima herself said Fernandez had serious battle with sickness.
“My husband was a strong man. He had lived a good life, and even in his dying days, I was proud of him. He fought back sickness. You wouldn’t even know sometimes that he was sick. He was a strong man, a great man,” she said.
Months after the death and burial of her late billionaire husband in Belgium, she is still struggling to come to grips with life without him. Halima, as her close friends call her, was said to have told a friend that she was greatly missing her late husband.
When the Ambassador Plenipotentiary took Halima to the altar many years ago, despite the large turnout and the general public excitement that greeted the event, not a few society people doubted the ability of the marriage to endure. This was particularly so because Ambassador Fernandez had only a few years before then had a bitter divorce with his then wife, Aduke, who is now deceased. But Halima’s marriage to Fernandez lasted till the latter’s death, leaving observers in no doubt as to the peace the billionaire must have found in the arms of Halima.
“Their love life was good. Sometimes it was like those written in story books,” said a source, adding: “Chief (Fernandez) loved his wife a lot. He wanted her to be with him almost all the time.
“His wife doted on him too. She is presently grasping with picking up her life from where her late husband left it off through death.”
Back to life
Halima, however, made a resplendent appearance at this year’s Cannes Film festival, an appearance that immediately became viral on the internet. It was her first appearance at an international event after her husband’s death and burial.
It was later found out that she was at the event on invitation by the famous House of Boucheron, who it was scooped invited only 10 of such top world personalities.
“Definitely, the Baroness had a swell time as she walked on the red carpet with the poise and grace of royalty and became the cynosure of all eyes,” said a foreign news source at the event, which also quoted the Baroness as having referred to the event as “magical.”
For many of her friends, it was a relief to see her in her social mien after her long period of mourning.
“It was an event which was difficult to ignore because the House of Boucheron has been our close friends while my husband was alive,” she said.
The present and future
Still grappling with the reality of the death of Fernandez, a UK-based friend of Halima said the Baroness will still be minimal with her public appearances, as she is still putting her family affairs together as instructed by her late husband before he breathed his last.
Another family source said; “The Baroness is now too busy with the duties that her late husband left in her care. The work is enormous and needs serious concentration which definitely wousld not allow her time for a lot of other things.”
According to another family source, much of the issues that would have caused much rancour within the family had been well taken care of by the late billionaire, who was well blessed with shrewd intelligence and power to create wealth.
Soon, it will be a year since Fernandez waved final goodbye to his family, friends and business associates across the world.
