Governor Eno speaks on wife’s death, fate of her pet projects

Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has spoken for the first time about the death of his wife, Patience, who passed away on 26 September in a hospital following an undisclosed illness.

In a special broadcast to the Akwa Ibom people on Friday, 4 October, Mr Eno said his wife “was everything a man could ever wish for in a virtuous woman.

“My prayer partner, counsellor, cheer-leader, best critic, homemaker, and permanently smiling. I will miss her for a lifetime.”

He said he and his late wife were married for 38 years and disclosed what would happen to her pet projects.

“Let me use this opportunity to assure all that, we will pursue everything she held dear while she was with us. The Golden Initiative for All, as well as all other initiatives she had started, will be sustained and expanded,” Mr Eno said.

“The machinery of State will continue to function seamlessly as Government will continue to be alive to her responsibilities. Our focus will not be shifted from rendering services to our people with renewed strength as this is what Kemi (the Yoruba word for Patience, which is his wife’s name) has always prayed for.”

He said announcements on the burial arrangements would be made public at the appropriate time.

Late Patience Eno

‘Incredible outpouring of love’

Governor Eno, on behalf of his family, thanked the Akwa Ibom people and Nigerians for the “incredible outpouring of love, support, prayers”, saying that he and his family felt encouraged and strengthened.

He particularly thanked President Bola Tinubu for sending an “uplifting” message of condolence and also calling him on the phone over his wife’s passing. He also thanked Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, “for the motherly role she played since my wife fell ill till her demise”.

Mr Eno said Mrs Tinubu visited Uyo to condole him, the government and the people of Akwa Ibom.

The governor thanked other prominent Nigerians, including the former governors of Akwa Ibom, Victor Attah, Udom Emmanuel, the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and religious leaders, for standing by him and his family.

Quoting some verses in the bible – 2nd Corinthians 4:8-10, Governor Eno said, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

“Yes, we are perplexed by the death of my dear wife, but we are not in despair, as all things lay bare before God.”