By Emma Amaize

Asaba—IN an interview 2006, nine years ago, with this reporter, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, then Secretary to the State Government, recalled how he met his wife, Deaconess Mrs. Roli Nere Uduaghan. He said: “I was working in Delta Steel Company, DSC, when I met my wife. She came to visit one of her uncles during one of the celebrations.

“That was how we met, we got talking and we became friends. We were quite close and she suddenly becomes born again. And of course, being born again, you know when girls start by being born again, they become like extremists (laughs).   “I won’t put on trouser, I won’t do this, I won’t do that, so many rules and regulations and those extremist things, things I use to admire, like I know I love to see her in trousers, she said she was not going to put on trousers.

And that caused some separation for about a year, but then, we were still friends. But after about a year, we got back and got married.” They actually got married in 1988, 27 years ago, and even when providence brought them to Government House, Asaba, in 2007, as Governor and First Lady, Mrs. Uduaghan did not allow the things of Egypt to cajole her, and rather her eyes have opened more to the heavenly race and the pressing need to win the battle.

Born of a very proud family lineage to late Brigadier General Tuoyo of Sapele, Mrs. Uduaghan who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Guidance and Counselling and a Master’s degree in Educational Administration came with a pet project, ‘I CARE’, and other allied matters of interest to the family. Through, the programme, she has touched the lives of many, particularly widows in the state.

How Orubebe fell in love

At first, her very deep religious convictions were unknown by many, except those that know her at close quarters. Former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, was one of those that knew her from afar until June, last year. That was when he visited the Nigerian Prisons formations at Ogwashi-Uku, Sapele and Warri to donate food materials to inmates in the course of the sensitization campaign for his 2015 governorship bid, which crumbled, last year at the PDP governorship primaries at Asaba.

Extra-ordinarycommitment

Orubebe unequivocally declared that he was in love with Deaconess Uduaghan, the wife of his friend, Dr. Uduaghan. Truth is that he was not vilely coveting the wife of his neighbour; the former minister was charmed by Deaconess Uduaghan’s “extra-ordinary commitment to winning souls for God.” Orubebe’s sudden outburst of love for the First Lady of Delta state was his discovery that Mrs.

Uduaghan had built sizable church auditoriums designed to draw inmates and staff of the prisons closer to God without making her evangelistic undertakings public. Orubebe only got to know about the auditoriums because he visited the prisons, but there are many silent spiritual activities/projects of Mrs. Uduaghan, who simply believe she is building her treasures in heaven and not on earth, kept under wraps.

What many don’t know about Roli: Like Orubebe, many Deltans do not know and are yet to apprehend the spiritual revival Mrs. Uduaghan has undergone in the nearly eight years she has been in Government House, Asaba, Indeed,  life is no longer the same for her. She has undergone a spiritual operation and like salt, which should not lose its flavour, she has succeeded in winning her husband’s heart with her uncommon transformation.

Governor Udugahan never tells you anything about his Christian life without mentioning the role of his wife in his transformation. Even when in trouble, he tells you his wife would simply organize herself and other prayer warriors to table the matter before God.

Modest appearance: About three months ago, at the Governor’s Lodge, Asaba, Mrs. Uduaghan, who just finished jogging sauntered to the corner of the expansive home, where this writer had just finished an interview with her husband, but she did not know why the reporter kept staring at her. It is because her husband had told me so much about her stabilizing role in his government.

Yet, there was nothing to suggest she is that powerful or that she is even the First Lady of the state with her Deeper Life apparel of no ornament, no attachment, no eyelash and lipstick.  One of her aides told Niger Delta Voice: “The governor saw it coming and because the change started from the inside of her even before they finally got married, there was nothing he could do, but accept it, as her decision was critical to her making heaven.”

Governor Uduaghan: Asked what inspires him about his wife, he said, “Her faith, uncommon faith in God in the face of trouble inspires me. Even when others around her are panicking, she simply gathers her co-prayer warriors and tells me that with God, everything is possible.”

At the moment, many people address Mrs. Uduaghan as pastor. It was not confirmed if she went to a pastoral school during her stay in Government House, but she is known to have been involved in some preaching engagements. She was also alleged to have built a House of Worship and some people swear she was ready to go into distribution of God’s word whenever she leaves Government House.

Some old habits die hard

Mrs. Uduaghan is not only Christian mother, she is also a politician; some people said she was even a politician before her husband, but probably because of the plan of God for his life, Dr. Uduaghan rose rapidly on the ladder to become Governor from Commissioner for Health and Secretary to State Government, SSG, under the former governor, Chief James Ibori.

Mrs. Uduaghan’s political shrewdness has benefited her husband and ardent followers. Virtually all the current female local government council chairmen in the state got her imprimatur before they went there. You do not joke with her when it comes to the issue of appointing women to political offices because of her belief in Affirmative Action for women, which her husband shares.

How I met my husband

At a separate interview, not with this reporter, she corroborated her husband’s claim on how they met. Hear her: “It was a divine arrangement. It was not love at first sight. He was working at Delta Steel Company, Aladja, near Warri. My uncle was living there then and we started dating and seeing each other. “As God would have it, we got married and we have never looked back. I want to give all the glory to God.

My husband is a very intelligent person and you know every promotion comes from God and it has not in any way affected either my lifestyle or his own,” she said. She strongly believes and professes, “Any man that does not know the value of a woman is doomed to fail. And if any woman does not support the battle of the man, the man would lose the battle. “My husband has a mother, and women believe in what women are worth, as worthy vessels to accomplish any venture.”

The same intelligence she said she saw in her husband is what attracts a woman to the governor. Dr. Uduaghan told this reporter in the aforementioned interview, “I like a woman who is intelli-gent. You have to discuss intelli-gently. Once you do not use your brain as a woman, it puts me off”.

Other woman that passed the crucible: Besides Roli, who has helped to shape the spiritual antennae of Dr. Uduaghan, one woman the governor is proud of her achievement in his government because of her intelligence is the former Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Anthonia Ashiedu, who is now in-charge of the Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Deve-lopment Agency, a programme that changed the life of many in the rural communities of the state.

For the scheme that has won numerous Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and International awards for the state, Dr. Uduaghan transformed it into an agency, some months ago, with Dr. Ashiedu as the Director General to keep the vision alive even after his exit.