Senator Helen Esuene, wife of the first governor of the then South–Eastern State and now Cross River, in this interview with MIKE ABANG, spoke on her experience as the First Lady at that time; governance at then and now, among other national issues: Excerpts:
Could you please tell us about South Eastern State at creation?
Fifty (50) years ago when the state was created, as I remember, war was still on in parts of South Eastern state as it was called then. It was only Ogoja Area that was first liberated and that was where the young government started and Michael Ani was appointed the secretary to the state government and that position was a dual position because it was like combining the secretary to the state government and the Head of Service. So the governor set up his government there until Calabar was safe enough for civilian habitation and that accounted for the delay in starting the government. The state was a war-torn area, everything there was vandalised, it was more or less a bit better than the desert; there was really not much to show, therefore he needed to solve these visible problems that were very challenging. Cross River State or South Eastern State as it were before was a war-torn area where things like the hospitals, schools and several other institutions were vandalised, there was the problems of abandoned children and children with kwashiorkor or malnourishment, which you don’t know where the parents were, battling with high mortality rate, diseases, people were displaced from their homes unemployment rate, lack of facilities and preventive medicines were not there throughout the entire period of the war which led to some diseases that would have been avoided, and people’s livelihood were not there; there were no farms as people could not go to farms. All these were problems the new government confronted. They needed quick attention. So that was how South Eastern State or Calabar actually was like.
I didn’t come into the scene until August when I came into Calabar; then my marriage was September 21, 1968 when I now assumed the office of the First Lady. I was a very young girl, but I learned fast to play the role of the First Lady.
How old were you then?
I was just 18 years old and I actually needed to learn very fast to fit into the office of the first lady.
What were the initial challenges?
There were so many challenges; you know my husband was the governor in a young state and war-torn area, so most of the times he was always travelling to either Lagos or some areas in the state for one reason or the other. So often time when he was travelling, I was alone in the Government House, then a wooden two bedrooms colonial house with a parlour. Most of the times he travels to the mainland part of the state which was still in the control of the rebels as a soldier to show comrades with the Nigerian troops and often times he would spend a day or two with the troops. That meant I had to stay alone in the Government House, no body to talk to until he came back. The only neighbour I had was the naval base towards the river. So the reality of it was that anytime there was an attack by the enemy and the naval officers would also fire their anti-air craft guns and the whole place would be in flames. So, it was not a very good experience for a young girl like me who just came into marriage. You know the Government House was a colonial building made up of woods even the decking were woods, so when there was this firing the whole house would be shaking and often times I was alone in the whole house and no body to either run to or talk to, that was one challenge.
There was actually a day that Calabar Airport was bombed by the rebels and that day my husband was in the house and I was pregnant he just came in and tapped me to get up, I didn’t actually know what happened, he took me out and we stayed outside for over an hour; thereafter, we went inside after the whole thing was over, so that was one aspect of the challenge.
The second aspect was being able to play the role of the first lady. You know there were no scripts, no hand over note, nothing at all to guide me to function as a first lady; to say this is what is expected of you and this is not what you should do, so I did everything by myself and I presented myself very well and I was also working then in the ministry. I was going to work like any other person, I will reach my office 7:30am and close by 3:30pmand there was no any special preference as the wife of the governor, not that if I wanted my boss would have objected to it, but my husband wouldn’t even want it.
The only thing was that anytime I had something to do as the first lady I would take permission from my boss then go and also perform my function as the first lady. Another challenge was that you were just home-bound, no friend, nowhere to go to, you were between office and home, so it was not easy at all. There was no any form of social activities, it was much latter after the war, things began to relax; we began to have dramas, cultural shows. This was around 1969 and part of 1970.
Did you at anytime have an encounter with performing artists?
I can’t remember having any encounter with any musician over any music. The ‘Afia-Aboikpa Aya Wot Eyen Ukang Nyin’ (the fair lady want to kill our son) was not in anywhere directed to me as I was not the only fair lady from Afaha; I heard the song but it wasn’t me and I did not relate with the song at all.
As a First Lady, did you go deep into governance?
The entire regime of General Gowan did not allow such and it was in the Military regime and our role was purely supportive, especially on humanitarian grounds. We had no office and no vote. I was involved with things that had to do with the less-privileged, the Red Cross and the Girls Guide movement, so these were the things we were into as first ladies.
Would you subscribe to passive role In today’s government?
You know this is political regime and you have to beef up support for your husband, but in the military regime there was no need for all that. What we did was purely humanitarian bringing up the children to assist the government to be humane, but today’s politics, may be, we’re taking it a bite too far and we need to draw a line to where politics ends and where governance starts, because sometimes it is politics all the way, and governance is only trying to find its way. So, I think after election, a line between politics and governance should be drawn.
At times, you will hear a governor say, ‘I will not do this for this people because they did not vote for me’. I think that to me is petty. Because, it does happen that those that did not support you can end up being those that support your activities in your government and even more.
Did you have any pet project and what was it?
Yes my pet project was the orphanage at Otop-Otop. In fact, it was to address the issues of abandoned children. We quickly built that place to make it functional to keep these children until proper legislations were put in place for them for adoption. So, the few that were not adopted were properly taken care of, they all went to school.
What would you like women to learn from you?
Young girls should realise that they are individuals, they should be able to think for themselves and plan for themselves and they should not be depending on families or husbands. It does not mean they should be insubordinate; they should plan for what they want to do; discuss it with their husbands. Wives should be submissive to their husbands because as a woman you are the home builder; that should be the number one role of a woman. But it is very difficult with some women who are career women just like the husband, she goes out in the morning, comes back in the evening, but whatever be the case, a woman must find out time to coordinate her home.
What advice do you have for today’s First Ladies?
Well like I said, I would commend them because they are doing well, theirs is a civil regime, ours was a military regime and they have to assist their husbands in office. That brings me back to politics. I was one of the proponents of a single term in office. If you have six years to stay, you use that period of time to do all what you planed to do. But the second term brings in many negative things in governance, influences everything whether good or bad so far as that person will cover every bad thing committed. So often time those people are not the best, but because they pledged loyalty.
How would you rate Cross River today in terms of development?
Governance is continuous; I would say that fifty years after, they have done well. They used to have problems of water supply now there is water everywhere in Calabar; they have expanded education, the road net works also have been expanded; tourism is growing in the state and several other things; so I will say that they have done well.
Where would you want to see the state, perhaps, in the next ten years?
Cross River State has a very large land mass so they should exploit that to their advantage, expand agriculture in the state, improve on tourism because when I came to the Agbokim Water Falls, it was not improved upon, even the Carnival should be improved upon which is faced with criticism because of what is seen being introduced into it, which some are saying is encouraging immorality in the society.
