Obasanjo, Stella 1945–

Stella Obasanjo 1945–

First lady of Nigeria, political activist

At a Glance…

Sources

Stella Obasanjo has become famous not only for being the first lady of Nigeria, married to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, but also for being a political activist in her own right, supporting such causes as women’s liberation, youth as leaders of tomorrow, and the rehabilitation of a war-torn Nigeria. She has become a trailblazer in her role as first lady and has shown Nigerian women the way to becoming more involved in the rebuilding of the country. Obasanjo has become the kind of first lady that countries desire to have as a figurehead of their nation.

Born November 15, 1945, Stella Abebe met her husband, Olusegun Obasanjo, when he was a military officer. According to the P.M. News, she found him to be rather dull at first, but was finally won over by the man’s intelligence and perseverance, two traits she has said continue to make him a great leader. He was imprisoned in 1995 for taking part in a coup to overthrow the governrment, and while trying to have her husband freed, Obasanjo began to exhibit the activism that many applaud her for.

As a champion for women, she addressed a crowd after violence had broken out in the region. “As you celebrate the second Ebonyi Women’s Day, I want to charge you with the responsibility of championing the cause of peace in your state. You must do all in your power, individually and collectively to ensure that the recent reports of violence in Ebonyi State are also the very last,” Obasanjo stated in a speech located at the Africa News Service. Urging females to be strong and independent is one of the major issues the first lady supports. She has said that even though her husband is committed to improving living conditions in Nigeria, “things will continue to deteriorate in the country unless more women were allowed to participate in governance,” according to the Vanguard. The country was injured earlier, both economically and politically because of different military factions fighting internally. In that world “women have long been marginalized,” the Vanguard quoted her as saying, and according to Obasanjo, unless this stops the country is in danger of continuing to deteriorate. At a special session on peace at Addis Ababa on November 23, 1999, Obasanjo’s work in Nigeria for promoting female activism was noticed by K. Y. Amoako. She stated in a speech located at www.bellanet.org, “Mme. Obasanjo, we believe that this new spirit [of female activism] is beginning to be seen in your country, where women have been among the most engaged actors in the democratization process.” And this is just one of the issues that Obasanjo has put her rather hefty political intelligence behind.

Another cause that Obasanjo has always championed is Nigerian youth. Obasanjo has called Nigerian youths, “potential leaders of tomorrow,” according to the Africa News Service, and she encouraged them to be smart and safe so that they can remain healthy, non-violent leaders in the future, helping bring Nigeria prominence and success in the world marketplace. In the summer of 2001 Obasanjo took part in a program for youth, Success Academy for Youths (SAY 2001). At the closing ceremony she discussed how important programs such as SAY were to the eventual success of

At a Glance…

Born Stella Abebe on November 15, 1945; married Olusegun Obasanjo.

Career: Political activist, First Lady of Nigeria; Child Care Trust, founder.

Awards: African Civic Responsibility Award, 2000.

Memner: Peoples Democratic Party.

the country, “[Youths] are the future of the nation and only the foolish will neglect giving them attention,” as reported in Vanguard. She emphasized the importance of being openly aware of the problems facing Africa as a whole, including the AIDS/HIV epidemic and other such things as malaria and violence. She has stated that it is time for violence as a means to an end to be abolished, and she has punctuated that this must start with the Nigerian youth.

Obasanjo joined her husband in trying to lure expatriate Nigerians back home. Under her husband’s leadership, the administration is “the first democratic government [in Nigeria] in 15 years,” according to the Christian Science Monitor, and many have returned or begun to establish business in the country. “Even if you cannot relocate to Nigeria immediately,” Obasanjo pleaded in the Christian Science Monitor, “visit home to see in which way you can lend us a helping hand in rebuilding the country …. I am inviting you to please come home and rebuild our nation.” To encourage Nigerians to return home, some have even been called personally by the government to encourage them to think about returning to take part in national service. If Nigeria is to become a successful country, Obasanjo continued in the Christian Science Monitor, the sons and daughters of Nigeria need to stay and help put the country back on its feet.

Being a first lady might seem like a position that contained interest only because a woman was married to a powerful man, but Obasanjo has gained power in her own right, something that became very evident in October of 2001. At a reception organized to honor Obasanjo’s visit to the state of Ondo, the Governor Adebayo Adefarati, quoted in Vanguard, “pleaded with the wife of the President Chief (Mrs) Stella Obasanjo to prevail on her husband not to sign into law the contentious electoral bill.” When Obasanjo supports something, people take notice. She has, in fact, criticized past first ladies for what she said was, “reckless spending of public funds on non-sustainable women programs,” according to This Day. She also declared that female programs in the past “treated us to female parade, replete with flamboyant trapping which only gave out a contradictory message of women in celebration of their luck and fortunes.” She has also been called, by The Post Express, “delectable,” a trendsetter who the country actually looks to for fashion know-how. In 2000 she was awarded the African Civic Responsibility Award 2000, according to The Post Express, for her work on behalf of the children of Nigeria. As she told the P.M. News, “So with this, being a First Lady, I do not see it as an avenue to be arrogant. First Lady is just another form of public office …. I see this opportunity as a call to service not for personal aggrandizement at all.”

Sources

Periodicals

Africa News Service, October 19, 2001; November 15, 2001.

Christian Science Monitor, February 26, 2001.

P.M. News (Lagos), May 14, 2000.

The Post Express (Lagos), October 10, 2000; October 16, 2000; January 20, 2001.

This Day (Lagos), May 13, 2000; July 30, 2001; November 6, 2001.

Vanguard (Lagos), May 4, 2001; August 20, 2001; October 20, 2001; October 25, 2001.

Online

BBC Online, news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk.

www.bellanet.org

—Catherine Victoria Donaldson