OKOWA: REMEMBERING MARYAM BABANGIDA By Norbert Chiazor

Maryam Babangida! What a name? The unforgettable queen of power and glamour. Nigeria ‘s finest First Lady, wife of former military leader, Ibrahim Babangida. The ravishing beauty befallen by the ugliest of fate- cancer.

Like Greek goddess, Helen of Troy, death had since 27th of December 2009 covered Maryam’s eyes . Her body entombed under the foothills of Minna, Niger state, returned and emptied to vanity dust.

But Alas! The memory of the late Maryam, came alive on March 19th 2020 at Asaba. It was a memorable morning for the residents of the Delta state capital, as Governor Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa accompanied by his bosom friend and Sokoto state Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal commissioned the Maryam Babangida Way.

It started under former governor, Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan’s administration, but the government of Okowa did substantial reconstruction of the road, expanding the infrastructure into a standard four-lane facility stretching 1.88 kilometers.

One of Okowa’s most dutiful cabinet members, Chief James Augoye, Commissioner for Works, had noted that the road was in a sorry state and impassable before the intervention of the state government which awarded contract for the reconstruction on March 27, 2018.

The will of Okowa in completing the Maryam Babangida road into a glittering tar underscores his regard for history and human legacy.

The life and times of Maryam Babangida evoked awe. Ebony black, lanky and elegant, she was one of Nigeria’s most beautiful women born to an Asaba man, late Leonard Nwanonye Okogwu in 1948.

Basking in the euphoria of her 21st birthday, she married a young army officer, then Major Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida on the 6th of September 1969, embracing a destiny that would later prove fulfilling in her mortal existence.

When her husband became head of state in 1985, Maryam assumed the position of First Lady, hitherto anonymous and colourless in Nigeria‘s chronology of power.

With her poise, charm and character, she inspired national consciousness as First Lady, opening schools, clinics, women development centres, sundry social welfare schemes and pubic charities.

Soon her initiative known as Better Life for Rural Women Programme would become the most talked about philanthropy in Africa’s most populous Nation. By the time Maryam died at 61, she had established a sterling reputation as all time role model and mother of the Nation.

Moved by the exemplary standing of the late Anioma foremost daughter, Okowa also an illustrious son of the land saw the necessity of immortalizing Maryam.The Maryam Babangida way is easily the most iconic road in Asaba today.

The road houses the most important national and state establishments in the capital city such as the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN, brand new Court of Appeal complex, Olorogun Felix Ibru Secretariat, Delta library as well as luxury hotels , private business facilities and NUJ press centre, among others. It is also home to one of the biggest government monuments in Nigeria, a multi billion Naira state secretariat under construction by the Okowa administration. A strategic gateway, the road is about five minutes drive from the city centre to Asaba international Airport.

No wonder the Sokoto state governor, Tambuwal gave Okowa ovation for the Maryam Babangida way, labeling him “ a sound, pragmatic and accommodating leader, who has provided good governance to the people of Delta”

With a network of new roads running thousands of kilometers across Delta, Okowa is fondly called the road master. Given his efforts on road infrastructure, the tag truly tallies.

May the gentle soul of Maryam Babangida continue to rest in peace.

About Author