Verdict
Lady Adanma Okpara & Lady Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi: Tribute to unique First Ladies
BY TONY ONYIMA, Ph.D
“I hope someday someone will take the time to evaluate the true role of the wife of a President and to assess the many burdens she has to bear and contributions she makes” – President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972; 33rd U.S. President)
Act of providence and circumstance brought them to prominence; perhaps against their wish. But they acted their roles with admirable courage and carriage. They accepted with equanimity the good, the bad, and the ugly that trailed Nigeria’s post-independence political events. Providentially, on the weekend of August 22, 2021, both exited the stage a day apart to join the Saints triumphant.
Lady Aguiyi-Ironsi would have clocked 98 years in November while Lady Okpara lived for 96 years. The deaths of Lady Victoria Nwanyiocha Aguiyi-Ironsi, wife of Nigeria’s first military Head of State, Major General Johnson Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lady Adanma Okpara, wife of Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, respected and formidable Premier of Eastern Nigeria in the First Republic, is a sad end of an important chapter in the political history of Nigeria. Both women and their late husbands hailed from Umuahia, Abia State.
In his condolence message to the families, President Muhammed Buhari rightly noted that both women, particularly Lady Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi, exhibited “incredible strength and exceptional courage during one of the darkest moments in our nation’s history”.
READ: Buhari mourns Victoria, wife of Nigeria’s first military Head of State Aguiyi-Ironsi
Lady Aguiyi-Ironsi died in pains having experienced how various attempts were made to obscure the place of her husband in Nigeria’s political history. Recalling the painful events of July 29, 1966 in Chuks Iloegbunam’s seminal book, ‘Ironside: Nigeria, the Army, Power and Politics’, Lady Aguiyi-Ironsi described her husband as “the soldier’s General, officer by merit and a gentleman by all honest standards” who “fell by the hands of friends who even in perfidy recognised J.T.U Aguiyi-Ironsi as a true Nigerian and nationalist with no ethnic prejudice”.
This description formed part of an open letter of gratitude she wrote to the then President Ibrahim Babangida for naming an army barracks in Abuja after General Aguiyi-Ironsi. On the eve of his departure from office, Babangida further honoured Aguiyi-Ironsi by posthumously conferring on him the highest national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).
The burdens of lack of national recognition suffered by these two amazing women go to show the unappreciated role of First Ladies.
READ: Anambra mourns Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi, Adanma Okpara, two former First Ladies
As noted by President Harry S. Truman, historians are yet to fully evaluate the many burdens First Ladies have to bear and the many contributions they make. They played a role without rule book; as leaders and influencers, they stamped on their spouses’ office their unique personalities, convictions, skills and contributions.
Both women occupied the office at a time when First Ladies were rarely seen nor heard. Perhaps, this explains why not much can be found about them in the media archival records unlike the modern First Ladies who hug publicity. Yet they played many important roles. Their job description then involved long hours of staying up praying and playing a good hostess; staying at home with the kids to make sure that the home front is solid. They were also cheerleaders-in-chief and greatest moral supporters. They helped to humanise their spouses and showed warmth that kept their spouses going.
Not everybody can play this role very well particularly in a military regime. History will be kind to Lady Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lady Adanma Okpara for their uncommon courage, candour and resilience.
May God also be kind to them. Amen.
– Chief Tony Onyima, Ph.D., Bethany Court, Umuoji, Idemili North LGA, Anambra State