In emotional tributes, Gov Eno recalls how he met, fell in love with late wife

Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has written an emotional tribute to his late wife, Patience, expressing his inability to accept she is “truly gone”.

In the book “Legacy of a Golden Woman,” edited by Anietie Usen, Governor Eno said his hands were “trembling” with his fingers “twitching” while putting up the tribute.

Mr Usen, a multi-award-winning veteran journalist and author of “Village Boy,” is a senior special assistant to Governor Eno on media on publicity.

The 160-page “Legacy of a Golden Woman” is a compendium of the life and times of the late First Lady, who died of an undisclosed illness on 26 September. She was 57.

Mr Usen posted excerpts of the book on Facebook.

“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,” Mr Eno wrote.

“But it was not easy initially,” Mr Eno wrote, admitting their difficult beginning but acknowledging how his late wife had soldiered with him “through thick and thin” for 38 years.

Mr Eno said his late wife’s life was a true manifestation of her name, Patience.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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,” Mr Eno wrote.

During the campaigns, some opponents made jest of her husband’s complexion, but the late First Lady, at one of the campaign grounds, turned the mockery remark against her husband to what has now become a mantra for her husband’s administration.

“When they called him albino, I said he is my Golden Boy,” the late First Lady had said of her husband in one of the campaigns, a name that has become the catchphrase of Mr Eno and his administration.

She went further to name her pet project “Golden Initiative for All” to further demonstrate her love for her husband, a gesture Mr Eno acknowledged in his emotional tribute.

“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.’”

In the tribute, Governor Eno, who has appointed her first daughter, Helen Obareki, as Coordinator of the Office of the First Lady, said her daughter has stepped into her mother’s shoes and is determined to implement the pet project.

“If conventional medical advances could have saved your life, you would have been here with us today, but because our faith in God is total and unflinching, we can’t question His will,” he wrote of the wife.

“We, however, take consolation in the fact that you lived a great life. You may have left us at a relatively young age, but the imprints of your life and contributions would be stencilled in gold, and we, your wonderful children and grandchildren God has blessed us with, will preserve and cherish those memories forever.”

The remains of the First Lady were laid to rest on Friday at her family compound in Ikot Ekpene Udo, Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of the State.

Eminent Nigerians, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and his wife, Nana, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his wife, Unoma, National Assembly members, Governors of Rivers, Delta, Abia, Bauchi, and former governors attended the funerals.

The late first lady was married to Mr Eno for 38 years and had six children and 10 grandchildren.