I remember the encounter vividly now. I was in Minna Old Prison together with Datijo Aliyu, brother to President Ibrahim Babangida, and the late Mohammed Rajab, another politician, having been jailed for allegedly inciting the public against the government of Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu in 2009. Our temporary home in prison brimmed, daily, with visitors who were coming to sympathize with us. As with such occasions as this, the crowd of well-wishers thinned with the passage of time. It was during this thinning period that Dr. Mrs. Maryam Babangida, the elegant former First Lady of Nigeria, accompanied by some beautiful ladies, a few aides, and security personnel, drove into the compound of Minna Old Prison along Stadium Road to see Datijo Aliyu.

Both staff and inmates at the correctional facility were excited and overwhelmed with the surprise visit by one of the most glamorous and hardest working first ladies Nigeria ever had! She was a textbook definition of elegance, panache and humility. Like one newspaper journalist wrote of her after declaring open a Seven-day Better Life fair in 1990, “She was like a Roman empress…, regal and resplendent in a stone-studded flowing outfit that defied description…”

Although she had long left office, her arrival at our temporary home (prison) that day attracted a large crowd of people who cheered her all the way. She responded to the cheering crowd with her signature smile as she waved and waved. It was reminiscent of her days as Nigeria’s First Lady (August 27, 1985-August 26, 1993) when men and women, boys and girls, young and old, regarded her so well, and responded so exuberantly to her like some goddess, or as a role model in whom they were well pleased.

However, when the babel subsided, she was full of emotion seeing her son, Datijo Aliyu, couched pensively in confinement. She knew that but for politics, nothing would have brought us to this dire strait. So, she admonished us to remain calm, focused and unshakable in the belief that like every travesty, this cup too shall pass over us. Her words were like a soothing balm. They offered great relief.

If the then prison head, Baba Adamu, now late, was surprised by Dr. Maryam Babangida’s visit and motherly care for us, bigger surprise awaited him the following day. She stormed the facility with assorted food items for inmates, ordered the complete renovation of the dilapidated administrative office, and topped it with a promise to supply computers, among others for the prison’s use.

Memories of those two prison visits, each lasting about 40 minutes, remain evergreen. They are fresh as ever. They will remain with me till I too go to meet my Maker.

In all, I knew Dr. Maryam Babangida, founder of the life-changing Better Life for Rural Women Programme for 20 years. During those memorable years, I saw a phenomenal human being, who was so powerful, yet so humble; a beautiful lady who was not only naturally gifted, brilliant and hugely popular, but was also widely adored and well respected for her good works. She was a lady who never carried any airs despite her highly elevated position, but welcomed everybody who was real and genuine with open arms. She hated pretenders. She loathed ambivalent people. With her, what you saw was what you got.

During those 20 years, I saw Dr. Maryam Babangida as a home maker who never allowed the pressure or the allure of her high office to detract from the standards and irreducible minimums she set for her children. Like the mother eagle, she gave her children-Muhammad, Aisha, Aminu and Halima-powerful wings to fly and navigate the world. And as attested to by her loving husband, former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Maryam was a loving and dedicated wife who could lay down her life for her family.

Like the eagle, Dr. Maryam Babangida was a symbol of beauty, bravery, courage, honour, pride, determination, and grace. From her and her darling husband, I learnt the leadership attributes of focus, clear and powerful vision, tenacity of purpose, flying against all odds, never giving up no matter the odds, and always aspiring to soar and soar to glorious heights-through honest hard work, unshakeable resolve, and without fear. Most significantly, I also learn to recognise, at all times, the commonality of our humanity no matter our ethnicity, religion, social and economic status, and calling.

Maryam encapsulated these qualities and many more. Which explains why, after 10 years of leaving this terrestrial plane, her memories are still fresh and will remain evergreen; and the fruits of her great works would blossom across generations. I’m sure, Dr. Maryam Babangida is smiling wherever she is now, in the full knowledge that her good works continue to thrive.

Born Maryam Okogwu on November 1, 1948, in Asaba, capital of present-day Delta State, the former First Lady was a product of inter-tribal or inter-cultural marriage. Her mother-Hajiya Asabe Halima Mohammed-was Hausa from Niger State, while her father-Mr. Leonard Nwanonye Okogwu, was of Igbo extraction from Asaba.

The young Maryam had her primary education at Asaba from where she moved to Kaduna to attend Queen Amina’s College for her secondary education. For her tertiary education, she attended the Federal Training Centre, Kaduna, where she qualified as a confidential secretary; La Salle Extension University (Chicago, Illinois) where she bagged a diploma in secretariat studies; and the NCR Institute, Lagos, where she earned a certificate in computer science.

Shortly before her 21st birthday on September 6, 1969, Maryam, a ravishing beauty, married her heartthrob, then Major Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, and the union was blessed with four children-two boys (Mohammed and Aminu), and two girls (Aisha and Halima). In 1983, following her husband’s elevation as Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Maryam became the President of the Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA) a position she used for creatively improving the lot of members. Among the novel things she accomplished as NAOWA president was the establishment of schools, clinics, women’s vocational training centres, as well as day-care centres.

Maryam, whose hobbies included gardening, interior decoration, music, squash, badminton, collecting birds, philanthropic activities and reading, brought panache to the office of the First Lady, right from her husband’s ascendancy as Nigeria’s Head of State in 1985. As soon as her family moved in to Dodan Barracks, Lagos, the seat of government at the time, Maryam influenced massive renovation at the place, making it suitable for official receptions and banquets.

Prior to her becoming the First Lady of Nigeria in August 1985, the position was largely ceremonial. But Maryam changed all that as she turned the office to an instrument for crusading for the emancipation of women in rural areas through her pet project, the Better Life for Rural Women Programme, which she founded in 1987. The programme yielded many co-operative societies, cottage industries, farms and gardens, shops, markets, women’s centres and welfare activities. In 1983, the Dr. Maryam Babangida established The Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women’s Development.  The centre was dedicated to research, training, and mobilisation of women for self-emancipation.

Still, she was not done. She extended her tentacles to other African countries where she pursued women issues vigorously, reaching out to, and encouraging African First Ladies on the effective roles they can play in improving the lives of their people. This would later morph into The Better Life for African Women Programme.

Unknown to many people, Dr. Maryam Babangida, like her husband, was also a voracious reader. She read widely. She even authored a book which was published in 1988, titled: Home Front: Nigerian Army Officers and Their Wives. The book underscored the significance of the work women do to provide a solid support for their husbands.

At the height of the economic crises of the mid-1980s, Maryam worked tirelessly with the National Council for Women’s Societies, NCWS, to galvanise support for some of the government’s programmes like the Special Foreign Exchange Market, SFEM; cut in subsidies, and devaluation of the naira, among others. Maryam used her charming and glamorous persona, coupled with her well-articulated campaign to enlist the support of Nigerians for these hard-biting programmes.

Unfortunately, great as the works she was doing for our country were, she was suffering ill-health silently. She fought a long battle with ovarian cancer. And despite her courageous fight, she succumbed to the disease on December 27, 2009. She was aged 61 when she went to meet her Maker. Her loving husband, General Ibrahim Babangida, was at her bedside when she died at the University of California’s (UCLA), Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Los Angeles.

“When beggars die there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes,” William Shakespeare wrote. When Maryam died, Nigerians mourned. The country stood still. Africa wept. But the heavens celebrated the illustrious daughter of Africa, who came, saw, and conquered. Even 10 years on, humanity still celebrates this irrepressible advocate of women liberties, wellness and better life.

Today, as always, I celebrate you, Mummy, Dr. Mrs. Maryam Babangida. May your beautiful soul continue to rest in perfect peace. Amen.

 

• Mr. Salman Yusuf is an Abuja-based public affairs analyst.