She has many traditional titles and cognomens such as the Ochiora of Enugu, Erelu of Isan kingdom, Mother
General, Erelu Bambam, Bisi yato si Bisi etc, but she is popularly called Erelu Bisi Fayemi. She is the wife of the Governor of Ekiti State and an internationally acclaimed feminist social crusader. My first essay about this enigma was in April 2008 when she was honoured with the traditional title of Ochiora which means the leader of the people, the second was in July 2011 after she launched the Ekiti Development Foundation (EDF), a fund with which she has improved the lives of Ekiti women tremendously. This is the third article on the occasion of her 50th birthday celebration which she postponed till this October (she actually turned 50 in June 2013) because of the painful death of her close friend and sister, the late Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs Funmilayo Adunni Olayinka, who passed away on April 6, 2013 and was buried on April 26, 2013.
My first encounter with her was on January 1, 2007 at Ibadan when on my way to Lagos, I visited Dr. Fayemi at home, the first time I would see him after we left the university almost 21 years after. When he saw me and my brother, Mojeed Jamiu, he stood up and hugged us one after the other and immediately called his wife and said: “Bisi, meet Hakeem, my school mate. He will be working with the rest of the campaign team.” Mrs Fayemi greeted us warmly and I noticed she was a pleasant person. We discussed for about 30 minutes and we proceeded on our journey to Lagos. I saw Mrs Fayemi after that encounter at the campaign office in Ajilosun a few weeks after five of us (Biodun Akin Fasae, Yemi Adaramodu, Fola Afolalu, Tai Oguntayo and I) had been inaugurated in February 2007 as members of the media committee of the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation. She would come to the campaign office with bag loads of gift items from Ghana for us with words of encouragement about the impending elections in April. After we were robbed by the PDP of the gubernatorial mandate on April 14, 2007, she became more frequent in Ekiti and she virtually relocated from her Accra base, shuttling between Isan and the campaign office at Ado-Ekiti, mobilising, encouraging and empowering the women through her organisation at the time, the African Women Development Fund (AWDF).
We really got close in April 2008 when we accompanied her to Imezi Owa, Enugu where she was honoured with the title of Ochiora. We went together with Yemi Adaramodu (now Chief of Staff), Kunle Dada (Hagler) and Mrs Ronke Okusanya who led a delegation of other Ekiti women. Mrs Funmi Olayinka (of blessed memory) joined us by air in Enugu from Lagos and we were lodged at Robban Hotel. The night of the coronation was very interesting. Mrs Fayemi invited Adaramodu and I to her room where the late Mrs Olayinka joined us.
We didn’t know it was a ploy to prevent us from going out that night as the plan was leaked to her. Mrs Fayemi told us, “so Hakeem and Yemi, let us start gisting joo!” Unknowingly, we entered the trap. We thought it was going to be a short gist, but we were wrong! Mrs Fayemi chose her best topic, Women Emancipation and the Beijing Conference. We discussed and debated that for more than one hour with drinks, meat and grilled fish flowing with it. The refrigerator was loaded and that was where I started suspecting that we had been “captured”. By the time we said we were going after about 2 hours, they both said: “What else do you want to go and do outside again? If it is drink, you cannot finish the ones here except you people have another agenda!” So we capitulated and stayed. Her friends and colleagues who came with her from Ghana joined us in the room and the gist became a mini party. I told them the story of how at the age of 10, I indulged in one of the pranks of young boys when we erroneously believed that you could charm a girl with a juju ring buried inside a lizard for seven days. One day, the ring was given to me to try on a girl we had all admired in our neighbourhood, but whom none of us had courage to talk to. So I was given the charm by my mates. I smacked the buttocks of the girl with the charm and instead of her to follow me as expected by the charm, she dealt me a dirty slap, and as I looked back for encouragement from my friends, they had disappeared. I was left alone to face the disgrace.
My story was very funny to them that all the women in the room laughed their hearts out! They said in unison, “it served you right!” We finally left the women about 1.00am for our rooms.
Mrs Fayemi was at the tribunal anytime she was in Ekiti and after the serial judicial losses at the various tribunals, she was a pillar of support for the struggle and she never wavered. She comforted the women, she gave them hope and she strengthened their courage and determination to remain steadfast in the struggle, assuring them we would triumph at the end, and this came to pass when victory was achieved on October 16, 2010. Her husband, Dr. Fayemi, was sworn in as Governor of Ekiti State and she officially became wife of the Governor. Before this, she had changed the lives of many African women, especially widows and the less-privileged through her organisation, the AWDF.
This is why she was honoured in Enugu where she has brought hope and smiles to widows, many of those who expressed their gratitude to her. On getting to government, she resigned as the President of the AWDF, and in 2011, launched the Ekiti Development Foundation (EDF) through which she has tremendously empowered Ekiti women. She has visited the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State more than thrice giving loans to women to improve their businesses, giving foodstuffs to widows and tools to artisans. She has paid medical bills of many indigent patients, both male and female; she inaugurated the Multiple Birth Trust Fund through which those who gave birth to twins and triplets were given financial support and future endowment funds. She is behind the food bank project and soup kitchen with a Non-Governmental Organisation whereby elderly and indigent Ekiti citizens were provided with foodstuffs, both raw and cooked.
She was recently on tour of markets in the state where she interacted with the market women, bought food items, provided them with measuring bowls, wallets and other souvenirs. She donated a bus for each market head in the 16 local government areas. She also listened to their plights and promised to communicate same to the governor, while she solved those she could immediately. She is at home with all segments of women organisations in Ekiti State many of which chose her as their patron.
In government, she has remained her amiable and likeable self. In fact, it is glaring even to critics that Bisi Fayemi is not a run-of-the-mill First Lady who engages in frivolities. She is focused and levelheaded though sociable. In government, she is a problem solver and hates to see anybody short-changed or sad. She is an avowed and committed crusader of equity and social justice. It is a common saying in Ekiti that in Erelu Bisi Fayemi and her husband, we have two for the price of one because Ekiti people are enjoying the benefits of good governance from husband and wife who are passionate about their welfare. She does not only defend women, she is also a defender and lover of children, and no wonder, she was the brain behind the gender based violence law and the Child Right Act in Ekiti State. She has a pure heart and she is a cheerful giver and kind to a fault. I cannot remember the number of thank-you messages I have sent to her for one gift or the other during festivities and this she has been doing for many people before she got to government. Even though she is not infallible and has her own shortcomings which are human foibles like every other mortal, there is no iota of doubt that she is one of those human beings who will not willingly do wrong.
Her credential is intimidating yet. She is very humble and as gentle as a dove. She is in the league of world female leaders such as President Hellen Sirleaf of Liberia and former South African First Lady, Mrs. Graca Mandela who had on many occasions graced the events of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) which she headed until she resigned. Bisi Fayemi had received standing ovation on the floor of the General Assembly (UNO) for her efforts through the AWDF to make life better for African women. She narrowly missed the African Leadership Hunger Prize Award in 2008 when she was nominated. On April 5, 2011, she was presented with the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the field of philanthropy. With this award, Mrs. Fayemi joined the rank of past winners such as former South African President, Nelson Mandela, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Sheela Pattel, Fazle Hasan and Queen Rania. In 2011, she was appointed as the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) by the Federal Government. She was listed in March 2012 as one of the 100 personalities working for the advancement of women and girls in the world. Her contribution to important national discourse was very key such that President Goodluck Jonathan noticed her absence during a discussion about HIV/AIDS in Abuja when the President asked: “Where is the wife of Ekiti State Governor? I enjoyed her contribution the last time she was here.”
As we celebrate this woman of substance, we in Ekiti are proud to call her our own and we thank God for sparing her life till this day. We wish her Happy Birthday and many more prosperous years of service to humanity.
Source: The Nation
