Pillar in the Palace

Anietie Usen, ace journalist, writes on the life and times of the late Akwa Ibom First Lady, Pastor Patience Umo Eno, who will be buried on November 29

She walked up to me in her beautiful dining room in Eket where a few of us had joined her husband, Governor Umo Eno, for lunch after a local event. I was nibbling on things rather than settling down with others to eat the rich, sumptuous meal provided by her and arrayed across a large glass table.

Like the mother hen who watches over her chicks, she was not comfortable with my tentative attention to the sumptuous lunch. In her trademark benign style she said to me in vernacular: “Sir, Aba nte afo usumaha idia mkpö. Mbök dia mkpö na anie inwek anam utom itök ndufom…[Sir, it seems you don’t like to eat much. Please eat so that you have strength to do the running around you people are doing now…]. It was more or less a veiled order by the king’s wife, Her Excellency Pastor Patience Umo Eno, and I obeyed her immediately, with alacrity.

The next time we met, she complained that she had not seen me enough lately and hoped everything was okay with me. I told her I was doing a book on how God made her husband a governor overnight against all odds. It was music to her ears. She smiled in apparent satisfaction. I promised to interview her for the book which she agreed. That evening, I forwarded a list of areas of interview through her daughter, Mrs. Helen Eno Obareki, but it turned out they were on their way out of the country to a hospital overseas.

On Sunday, March 10, 2024, I was with her husband, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, in the private dining room of the Governor’s Lodge, Uyo, when Her Excellency, returned from the Presbyterian Church, where she preached the sermon that morning during the grand finale of the 2024 Mother’s Emphasis Week and Thanksgiving Service organised by the Uyo Cathedral Women’s Guild of the Presbyterian Church Nigeria.

She walked straight to where the husband was seated at the head table and threw her arms around his shoulders to hug him. The Governor leaned on her in a partial embrace, holding her hand over his shoulder. In that position, they gisted intimately for a while in Yoruba language, before she left us alone and returned to her room.

That Sunday, which coincided with the International Women’s Day, Pastor Mrs Patience Umo Eno preached on the topic of “Who Is A Real Woman”. She said a real woman is a virtuous woman not a vile woman, a home builder not a home destroyer, a loyal woman not a rebellious woman, a caring and thoughtful woman, not uncaring and thoughtless woman, a patient and tolerant woman and not the short-tempered and impulsive woman, a woman that sacrifices her comfort and stand in the gap for her family and not against the family, a woman that the heart of the husband ‘safely trust’ and never distrust her.

Her message was aired and repeated on many local FM Radio stations. She spoke with fervency, intensity and accuracy. Her authority on the subject matter and her impeccable English combined to confirm that she was preaching what she practises and not just a sermon. In other words, she simply told the women to “do as I do, and you will have all round success”. One of the women who was highly inspired was Mrs Idongesit Etiebet, the Akwa Ibom Commissioner of Education. She told me: “The woman is loaded. Her command of the Scripture, the pulpit and spoken English is uncommon”.

Not long after that sermon, Her Excellency became scarce and faded briefly from the public glare. Thereafter came the unwelcome news: The king’s wife is dead! “No, no, no, God forbid” many cried in disbelief. But God forbade it not!

The news sent shock waves across the country and left the entire landscape with weeping and mourning and gnashing of teeth. That was on September 26, 2024, in a far away London hospital. Was the sermon of March 10, 2024 her farewell message, a parting gift to women, families and all?

Back in time. The young Umo Eno first met the beautiful homely Miss Patience Inyang, the girl that later became his wife in the church. Two of them were choristers in the Apostolic Church, first in Maboju and later in Babaponmile, all in Lagos.
Eventually they became good friends and wedded on July 12, 1986, in the same Apostolic Church.

Some marriages are public success and private failure. Not this particular marriage. Whether in the public or back at home, or even in the church, their friendship and intimacy were unmistakable, inseparable, glaring and genuine to the core. They didn’t need to proclaim it. But to every aide and close friend of the couple, there was no mistaking nor hiding the fact that the two were bossom friends, love birds, confidantes, prayer partners, soul mates and each other’s fanatic. Perhaps that is what many couples call “my better half”. It was a marriage to be envied and emulated.

She was a woman that symbolised all that a good woman should be, in virtue, in industry, in wedlock, in deportment, in comportment, in what she said and how she said it. Together with the husband, they had weathered every weather, clement and stormy, together in love, peace, harmony and patience. Yes Patience was her name and I will return to the subject of patience later.

Years back, when Governor Eno was the Group General Manager, GGM, of Norman Holdings in Lagos, a minor problem arose in the office. At the Board meeting of the company, a proposal on the diversification of the Company‘s line of business, spearheaded by the GGM (Umo Eno) was rejected. Umo Eno felt disappointed and deflated about the Board’s decision.

Suddenly, he threw in the towel. He resigned. When he got home to inform the wife that he had just resigned as GGM of Norman Holdings, the patient woman simply took a quiet look at the husband and said: “Ok! I will see whether we are going to eat sand in this house”. That was all, as she went away to pray.

It was the same rejected proposal for Norman Holdings that Umo Eno took to Eket a few weeks later to start a small business that later blossomed and became the second largest employer of labour in Akwa Ibom State with more than 2,500 workers, second only to the State government.

The concept of a good quality wife transcends mere stereotypes and cultural narratives. Traditionally viewed as a home keeper, a good quality wife embodies a multitude of roles that contribute significantly to the overall well-being of the family, household and beyond. That’s who Pastor Patience Eno was.

According to close family members, at the heart of her role as a home keeper was her ability to create and maintain a sanctuary for her family. This responsibility involved not only the physical upkeep of the home but also the emotional and spiritual ambience that supports family cohesion. “She took pride in her home, ensuring that family members beginning from the husband feel safe, loved and valued”, a family source told me.

Her ability to juggle various responsibilities while maintaining a positive atmosphere was a testament to her strength and resilience. “By fostering a warm and welcoming environment at home, she laid the foundation for family unity and happiness”, a source said.

“She was the moral compass (too) for the family alongside her husband. She instilled values and traditions that contributed to a sense of identity and belonging. Whether it was through shared meals, family celebrations or running the church, she played a crucial role in creating memories that bind the family and church together”, a senior elder of the All Nations Christian Ministries International, ANCMI, the church founded by Pastor Umo Eno, said.

One of her favourite Bible portions which she practised with missionary zeal was Proverbs 14: 1: “The wise woman builds her home, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands”. Today, many would agree that building her home was a mission accomplished.

She was also the husband’s helper, supporting him in his endeavours, recognizing his strengths and weaknesses, offering encouragement and assistance when needed, working together, navigating life’s challenges together and reinforcing the idea that a successful marriage is a teamwork.

She was initially reluctant about her husband’s entrance into politics. One day when Governor Udom Emmanuel, the predecessor to her husband, visited the Enos and hinted to her that the State political leadership could tap her husband as the next governor of Akwa Ibom, she recoiled with total surprise and expressed her reservations about the idea. But once the deal was sealed, she championed the cause with the zeal of Paul of Tarsus.

From providing emotional encouragement during tough times to sharing in decision-making processes, the partnership fostered a sense of shared responsibility, understanding, and a clear recognition of the boundaries of each other. During the tough governorship primaries and election campaigns, she was the last man standing as the rock of Gibraltar for the husband. She had a rare humorous way of defusing tensions in times of crises.

“My husband is very special and unique. I have heard some politicians say that he is albino. But I can tell you that he is my golden boy”, she said at a thanksgiving service to the standing ovation of the church in Eket. From that day, “Golden Boy” became the nickname and brand of the would-be governor; and after the election, he became famous as a “Golden Governor”, while his Administration became the “Golden Era”: all because of a sharp witted, rock-solid and supportive wife.

Even on her sick bed in a London hospital she was keeping tap on governance, calling her husband to make sure women were adequately represented in the PDP list of contestants for Council elections.

A true daughter of Zion, Patience was not merely her name or label but a lifestyle, the intrinsic and quintessential quàlity she embodied, a vital asset and a crucial virtue that underpinned the success of her service and journey on earth.

King David in Psalm 144:12 had compared daughters of Zion with “pillars polished after the similitude of a palace”. I think it was a prophecy that found expression in the life of Pastor Patience Umo Eno. As the First Lady, she became the veritable pillar in the palace of Akwa Ibom State. She was stable, graceful and the bastion of support for her indefatigable and workaholic husband.

Her pet programme, which goes by the acronym of GIFA (Golden Initiative For All) was and remains a giving agency, aimed at the less privileged, sick and elderly. Established in December 2023, GIFA complements till today the efforts of the government by carrying out various community-oriented projects and programmes in environmental health, economic status of women, literacy and skills acquisition support to women and educational support for less privileged in public schools as well as material and recreational support for the elderly.

GIFA was set up by her to give, give and give. Her burning passion was to use her God-given opportunity as a pillar in the palace to scale up the well-being of the suffering poor, give a lifeline to the sick and extend their lifespans, even when her own life was on the line.

Isn’t it ironic, unfair and striking that a godly and energetic woman who was all out to give a better life to thousands of sick and poor people found her life consumed before her very eyes. That is very unfair. It is unacceptable!

But flipping through my Bible this night, I found three graphic phrases God employs to define and explain life. First, God describes life as ‘a vapour’. Vapour? Yes! “Certainly every man at his best state is but a vapour”. Mere vapour that disappears no sooner than it appears! Just a mist.

Next, God describes life as “a flower” and “a shadow”. It is written: “Man who is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and continueth not”. Job 14:1-2.

Even those who don’t believe in the Bible will not argue too much about life, the way the Bible sees and says it. But whether they belief it or not; whether they like it or not, life is what God says it is: “for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more”. It is turn by turn.

And on September 26, 2024, it was the turn of one of the most passionate and hardworking women I have ever known. In her office in the State House, it was her routine every working day to first gather her staff and pray before work began. When she became ill and began to frequent hospitals in and outside Nigeria, her staff continued and intensified their prayers and fasting for a woman they affectionately call Mummy.

Just before she left for her last trip to the hospital in London, one of her staff had a dream. In the dream, the staff saw Her Excellency’s beautiful office relocated away from the Government House to a lush green and hilly palazzo.

And it came to pass. Pastor Patience Umo Eno, the patient, loyal, trusted and faithful mother of Akwa Ibom State was relocated to higher glory with her God in heaven.

Fare Thee Well, Virtuous Woman of God.

*Anietie Usen, a multiple award journalist and author, is the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Eno on Media & Publicity