By Lillian Okenwa

My father’s wig and gown attracted me to study law even though after secondary school I started having this idea of going to read Accountancy. A senior friend of mine was in IMT reading Accountancy, so I now wanted to read Accountancy. I went for the entrance exams at IMT and passed to study accountancy, but it broke my father’s heart. One night, I saw my elder sister crying. Her eyes were red, so I asked why she was crying. She said, is it not you? You’ve broken our father’s heart. He’s been weeping all day. He said all his friends had children studying law but that he is the only one not going to have a lawyer. So, I said no, no, no, and made a reversal. I went to Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria, collected the form, and applied for law. The rest is history. He was excited.

My father died just before I was elevated to the Court of Appeal, but for him, my being a High Court judge was the height of his dream. He was a lawyer, a footballer, a politician. He had such a versatile way of life and that’s why all entreaties by his friends and some of his superiors in the legal profession to become a magistrate or judge failed. He said even his children will object because his character will not fall in line with that of judicial officers. He was very gregarious. Always on the move. He was Chairman of Enugu Rangers International and when Rangers is playing a match whether in Enugu or outside everything at home stopped. We attended all their matches physically. We were living in Enugu then.

When my father came back from England as a lawyer, he took us to Umuahia where he started his practice. It was from there he was appointed Secretary/Legal Adviser for Nigerian Airways and we moved to Lagos. With the inception of the crisis, we moved to our home base in Mbaise. He was secretary to the Statutory Bodies Operations of Biafra. At the end of the war, he moved to Enugu, even though me and my siblings, stayed back to finish our Secondary School in Mbaise Girls. Then we joined him in Enugu and later I entered the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus. Eventually, he left Enugu to become the Local Government Chairman at Mbaise between1976/78 or thereabout.

His being a politician affected us in many ways. We had a lot of deprivations on account of his participation in politics. He ploughed most of the family resources, into the system; community affairs, and all that. Our school fees were delayed from time to time and the luxury things that children should have at the home were not always there. When we were asked to leave our classes because we couldn’t pay our fees, we went home and my mother said she would wait for him to bring the money for our school fees. We stayed away for 2 weeks until my mother produced the money and we went back to school.

That was why I didn’t encourage my husband to be a politician. He opened his hospital very early in 1980. Initially, it was a clinic, then it became a hospital group. He was very active in the University of Nigeria Alumni Association and later got to be the President of the Rivers State Chapter. Before he went to the Constituent Assembly in 1988, both of us agreed he wouldn’t go. But it turned out that the people from his constituency had heard about him and insisted that a man like him is what they needed to represent them in Abuja. Both of us discussed and our decision was that he will not take it. He will build up his hospital which had been degraded after he went for specialization in Liverpool and the man kept in charge betrayed him. When he came back, he virtually had to start from scratch. He had just stabilized when this offer for him to go to the Constituent Assembly came. Having agreed he would not take the offer, he headed for Ahoada, our local government headquarters to tell those people that he was not interested. I was expecting him to come back, but in the evening, he phoned me. I thought he was in the hospital, because each time he travelled, on coming back he would head straight to the hospital and phone to say, I’m back to town but I’m in the hospital to find out how things were. Instead, he said, I’m still in Ahoada. I said what are you still doing there, you mean, you will sleep in Ahoada? He said yes, that things happened in a way he didn’t anticipate. He said I shouldn’t argue too much, that I should look for his certificates and make photocopies. That somebody will come for them early in the morning. I said, what are you saying? He replied that he didn’t have the courage to say no and I just couldn’t imagine how Peter did not have the courage because courage is his second nature.

I was so angry. But the person I was angry with was not at home. When he came back, he said, as he got to the local government headquarters, he saw those big chiefs and traditional rulers and they said, “we’ve been waiting for you.” He said tried to argue but they said no, no, no, here is the form, just sign, we will do the rest for you. That’s how he went to the Constituents Assembly. So, I said okay, let me manage this one. They did a year. That was in 1988/89 and concluded, but before then, he came back one day and said, the way I’m looking at it, this thing is heading to politics. I told him you know I come from a political home; the family suffers. He said don’t worry, what will I do for you to support me? I said build me a house. At that time, we were in the Judicial official quarters, I said to him “you will build me a house so that I’m sure my children have shelter. Then whatever you want to do, you will have my support.” He built the house.

My mother was very hardworking and I imbibed some of her traits. She was involved in palm oil trade, which was our family tradition. My father’s family was into the old oil palm trade in the oil Rivers, Opobo and Bonny. And since my mother came into our family very early, she knew how to trade in it. She was also a textile merchant if I can say so. I imbibed those attributes. I used to make money available to her to purchase palm oil for me and even did some trading in textiles. Like I told you, I grew up in a political home. I didn’t want a situation where if my husband was financially disabled, the home crashed. So, I needed to do these small things. I didn’t sell directly. I had those who would collect from me, market, and bring me the proceeds.

I have no patience for lazy women. I was happy when I also heard these words from Maryam Babangida on an occasion when we attended the Better Life for Rural Women event at the Villa. I went with the governors’ wives then and one of the things she said was that she didn’t have patience for unserious women. That’s my attitude, because like the saying “No condition is permanent”, a husband could be prosperous today, it may not be so tomorrow. And so, when that unforeseen happens and the woman is idle and has no funds of her own, what happens to the children?

Every female should have something doing. I grew up in the village. That was before my father came back from England, and I never saw any woman no matter how old, idle. Each and every one of them had something to do, no matter how small. And they used to stroll in the sluggish way of old to the market, to market either their garden egg leaves or pepper; all that they were doing. To be this complete housewife business is something I find strange and unjustifiable. It puts too much of a load on the husband, which is not right.

As First Lady, I went around communities in Rivers State, empowering women with skills acquisition. I was very happy to do that and Peter was supportive. He made a lot of promises during his campaign. When we were about coming in, the outgoing military administrator told him there was a deficit of hundreds of millions of Naira. And so, Peter took over, froze the account of the government, and managed to use his personal resources from the hospital to keep afloat some actions of the government until things normalized. But because he had made promises of 1000 houses in 100 days, and I told him to make a broadcast and explain the situation to the people. But he said, God who made him governor, will help him to find a way to solve the problem.

He had also promised water will flow in 6 weeks. Before then, there was no water in Port Harcourt metropolis. So, I said now that you have reconfirmed the situation how are you going to do it? Again, he said God will do it, and indeed, I believe God did it. Some people phoned that they were excited about the promise of a thousand houses. He told them the government does not have money. They said if he can give them the job, they will put it up and receive payment when there is money. He was excited. Before the 100 days, one hundred units was constructed in various local governments that could provide land, and before you knew it a thousand two hundred units were standing. Some of the commissioners in old regime who had the expertise were very helpful and interestingly, some of them came from the opposition.

Peter was only interested in results.  To him, Rivers State people had the right to go to any party of their choice. When he first sent for them having heard they had the expertise to help him achieve his campaign promises, they thought he was going to lock them up. After discussing with them, they said it is doable, that they could do it in 3 weeks or so. In fact, there is this Ambassador Akawor who is now the PDP Chairman in Rivers State; he was a commissioner in the military regime, and then Hon. Okemitri, so the two of them got together and indeed in 3 weeks, people literally got their houses flooded. There hasn’t been water for years, so, many opened taps that people did not bother to close flooded their houses.

I gave judgment against my husband’s government.

I recall a judgment I gave as a High Court Judge in Rivers State when my husband was Deputy Governor. It was a land issue between Obiakpor local government and the state government. To me, the community was on the right side, so I gave them judgment. When my husband became governor, one day he as he was flipping through some documents in a file, he called out to me and said, come and see how some people want to use your name to get through a fraudulent land process. I said ah, ah, how? He said, can you imagine they brought some documents to show that there was a judgment you gave against government (laughs). When he showed me the document, I said yes, and I gave that judgment. He said, so you mean you gave that judgment when I was Deputy Governor against our government?  I told him that it is true I gave them judgment against a government he was part of. His hand was just suspended in the air as he held up the papers. And so he let go of the land to the community.

The community named one of their streets after me but Peter objected and removed the signboard. The community, however, kept putting up the signboard with my name each time it is removed so the place remained Justice Mary Odili Street.

Born on 12 May 1952 at Amudi Obizi, Ezinihitte-Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, Hon. Justice Mary Ukaego Peter Odili, JSC who bowed out of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday, May 12, 2022 is the third woman to ascend the Supreme Court bench in Nigeria.

Her closing days at the apex Court were nearly marred by the attempted invasion of her Abuja residence on the night of Friday, October 29, 2021, by security operatives comprising soldiers, officers of the State Security Services (SSS), policemen, and others. It was a move the Supreme Court in a statement described as a mission to kill or maim her. She spoke with Lillian Okenwa on sundry issues.

It is not the big industries that grow nations, but the small cottage industries like we see in china and Italy with those leather shoemakers and their small workshops. China is maximizing their manpower and we need that in Nigeria like yesterday. If we follow through that all over the Federation, we won’t be where we are now. A lot of people looking for white-collar jobs will no longer bother.

During our tenure, Peter promised skills acquisition and God brought Maria Sokenu of blessed memory, the former managing director of People’s Bank. She was part of a group that came to discuss infrastructure development in the state. Peter gave them a private dinner in the government house and I found myself sitting with Maria sokenu. I had heard of her and use to see her on TV, but that was my first time of being in her presence, so, we got talking. She was talking about the Chinese, the Italians, cottage industries and the matter of training the trainers. She said that within four days, somebody could become a hairdresser. What she was talking about seemed far-fetched, but she said they’ve done it somewhere in Lagos and that all she needed was a little empowerment to go get the equipment, the people who will train our locals, and we run with it. I didn’t know my husband was listening to our conversation until I felt him pinching me. He said, don’t let this woman go.

So instead of Maria leaving the following day, she stayed back. The governor gave her the empowerment to go to Lagos to bring the various equipment and manpower and within one week right there at the Civic Centre, various activities were going on. That’s how we got the first crop of trainers. With that, we started moving local government by local government and in less than a year, we had covered all the local governments in the state. Then communities were excited and wanted to be trained.  After training, you got the equipment and a small stipend to start your small industry in your house or a shop. In my husband’s community of Ndoni, a lady from there, whom I knew was into catering became our point person., Initially, she was to start with 60 people but she came back to tell me, the hall was too small to take 60 people. Because of the enthusiasm, some of them said they would stay under the trees to learn the trade. And so by the time we were graduating them, there were hundreds of people and they were equipped. Before that happened, Ndoni was a very rural community, but within two-three years, it transformed into a city and everything you need to have done, for your weddings, burials, for whatever functions were produced within. People had begun using their skills.

And Peter was able to get the All-Season Road to the community. Previously, you couldn’t get to my husband’s place without going through a Shell contour. It was like a raft that will contain your cars or vehicles with the person, to ferry you across the Orashi River, and then you drive in. But that is for only the dry season. During the rainy season, the pontoon can no longer do anything because the road is swampy and unmotorable. During the rainy season go by boat, into the community.

When he was Deputy governor, the President then, General Ibrahim Babangida who visited the state was interested in visiting Peter’s community but was told he could only go by helicopter or by boat. At the banquet, he made a pronouncement. That was where he pronounced an all-season road to Abonema in Kalabari land. Before then, you can only access those Kalabari places by boat. That was on the same occasion, he approved the Bodo-Bonny road, but nothing happened. However, because he had pronounced and signed the instrument, it was Federal Government approved. It was the good fortune of having Peter as governor that pushed it under the Obasanjo regime and it was tackled heads on. By 2003, they now had the all-season road and you didn’t need the pontoon or go by boat. This is an oil-producing community to show you what people from the area suffer. Since they got all seasons road, movement of the indigenes in and out was no longer a problem. Peter also had the interlocking of internal roads done. All the roads in Ndoni are paved and, there’s pipe borne because he initiated the gas turbine electricity. Ndoni has 24 hours of electricity.

He actually built the Omoku Gas Turbine, but the federal government insists on distribution and then there is the Eleme gas turbine. That was a programme that was initiated before but it was not functional, so Peter resuscitated it. He now built the big Omoku gas turbine, so there’s electricity, there’s water and there is an all seasons road in Ndoni. The skills acquisition opened up the town. The whole place now became a city.

The problem the Nation has is that instead of continuing the programmes of those who had functioned before, there is a deliberate attitude to denigrate the originator or whatever or whoever was the pioneer of a programme. They want to start something new and it takes time, it takes a lot of money and the old programme is stepped down, so that you don’t put up the name of somebody else. I cannot speak about our skills acquisition training without mentioning Maria Sokenu. She brought it to us, facilitated it and then we enlarged the scope.

Like I said at my valedictory session, the Chief Executive of the Nation, or the Chief Executive in any state must be the commissioner or the minister for this skills acquisition programme, youths’ employment and empowerment. The main minister should be the President or the governor. Because of where we are now, the drive needs to be faster and more effective and only the Chief Executive can do that. The decision has to be immediate, and it is the man with the pen that gives the immediacy to propel it. But when the aide is the one in charge, there will be some lapses. The Rivers State Skills Acquisition programme, had the effect it had because Peter was very passionate and I with my team and many volunteers were interested in helping out. It was really the State government’s programme hence it entered the communities.

The way it is now, youth employment and empowerment programmes need to be driven directly by governors or the president. We’ve gone beyond restiveness. We are now in insurgency. Even children from privileged homes are now sucked into this thing, so it is not something to be done outside the main man. Let no one deceive himself that your family is shielded. No. No, one is shielded. Just like the children of the underprivileged who have no employment are easy targets for these negative tendencies, so are the children from privileged homes. Because the young are vibrant, they are never idle, and the devil they say, the Idle is the devil’s workshop.

I came in 2019 as President of the National Association of Women Judges in Nigeria (NAWJIN). Unfortunately, our tenure was affected by COVID. Fortunately, we had some associations that identified with us and felt that whatever programme we bring to the fore should not be hindered on account of the lockdown. Mrs Boma Alabi, SAN with her outfit partnered with us. We highlighted the need to have a special arrangement for Juveniles or young persons who testify in criminal matters. Or where they are victims, how the evidence concerning them or those close to them and what they have witnessed should be protected. The point was to bring to the fore that, these are children of very sensitive age whose nuances have to be protected and, in a way, shielded while getting at the vital information that will nail all perpetrators in all the various crimes that affect young persons or those close to them. The workshop involved international participators from Australia, the UK and some other international personalities.

Impact? With our communiqué at the end of it, the National Assembly said they would look at legislations that would give it the teeth it needed for taking the evidence of young persons, immediately after the incident takes place or has taken place so that the length of time of the trial will not obfuscate the content of the material. And then even in the courts; how such evidence is taken from young persons. We can only pray and hope that the National Assembly will do the needful.

As inaugural Chairperson of FIDA in Rivers State Port Harcourt, I and my EXCO took it upon ourselves to make findings about the matter of domestic violence and abuse in homes; what happens to widows and all that. We had enlightenment workshops for women, and then we started training on a small scale. We learnt a lot from Enugu FIDA which was more advanced and so these disadvantaged women had access to free legal advice, had their matters prosecuted in court when necessary and for free.

Domestic violence had always been there but it’s not in the magnitude of what we are seeing today. Incest was always there. Again, not in the magnitude we are seeing today. Previously, there was a lot of “let us not expose this relation” but what I see that has now given it a boom is because a lot of people are idle.  And because they are idle, the negatives take over. Hence, we now see these things in abominable numbers. People have to be positively engaged. It is an emergency.

Women in violent relationships should run away immediately. They must not stay a second longer than they have already stayed.