LEGACY OF A GOLDEN WOMAN
Chapter 1
DEAR KEMI
By Pastor Umo Eno
YOU FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT
♦️As I prep myself to put this tribute together, my hands are trembling and my fingers are twitching. I can’t bring myself to accept the fact that you are truly gone. The pain is difficult to bear, the emptiness is galling and the sense of loss is deep and penetrating. But I must face the painful reality and accept the finality of the moment.
♦️I still remember the day we met. You were standing there, belting songs of praise to the Lord, in your sonorous voice. You were beautiful, enchanting and alluringly attractive and I remember saying to myself: “this is the wife God has ordained for me”.
Her Excellency, Pastor Patience Umo Eno
♦️We were young and impressionable but steeped in the word of God and the concept of what was right and wrong. We were both choristers and when you agreed to travel with me on the boulevard of love, it was the greatest moment of my life.
♦️Together, through thick and thin, we soldiered on, knowing the journey we were undertaking will have a happy ending because the Author of our lives had plans for growth and success written in golden pages for us. And He sure did!
♦️But it was not easy initially. Your life was a clear manifestation of your name: Patience. You were patient with me, you refused to listen to the antics and voices of those who had tried to stop our march to the fulfillment of our destiny.
♦️You were a true mother- hen, who took everyone under your wings even when the load appeared heavy and unbearable.
♦️The Book of Philippians Chapter 4: 12, captures the true essence of your life. “ I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (NIV.) In lean times, you were rock-solid in your faith of what the future would bring. In times of plenty, you opened the dam and banks of your generosity to all who needed help.
♦️When God perfected His plans in our lives and thrust me to the pinnacle of power in this State as the Governor, you were right there, with me, throughout the campaigns, regaling our people with wonderful stories about your ‘UB” and why they should invest their trust in me. You gave me the name that has defined my administration today “The Golden Boy”. You always told me: “UB, I know you will serve our people because God prepared you for this moment.”
♦️You were not about the trappings of the Office of the First Lady. No, you were all about service to our people and how we could lift and improve their material and economic status.
His Excellency, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno
♦️We both agreed that we won’t spend public funds to indulge in ostentatious living. You drove the car I had while serving as the Honourable Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, and on many occasions, the car would break down on the road, and you never showed anger as to why such should happen.
♦️Again, serving the people and utilizing the funds to achieve the most for the people, appealed more to you than the display of ostentatious living. That was vintage Kemi, who puts the needs of others above her personal comfort?
♦️Unfortunately, when we finally decided to buy new vehicles, after having utilized the resources to show the people that we care about them, through what we have done in the last sixteen months in office, you did not have the opportunity to ride in them.
♦️You loved the family unit, and, because you saw it as the glue that binds, you set up your Pet Project : Golden Initiative for All (GIFA) aimed at fostering family ties and to provide succor to the neediest and the downtrodden.
♦️I promise you that we will keep this Project alive even long after we would have been done serving our people. Our daughter, Helen, who has stepped into your shoes, and is representing the ideals of service to humanity and compassion , which you held dear, is determined to follow -through on this noble initiative.
♦️You were my anchor, the one who could tell me what was right and what was wrong, in the most respectful of ways. With your death, a part of me is gone, but I will cherish the memories we shared for ever.
His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno consoling her first daughter, Mrs. Helen Obareki
