Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke, wife of the Cross River State governor recalls her experience...

Not every First Lady would be this down-to-earth! She responds to even the most personal of questions without inhibitions. The first was on her size. For someone known to be plus sized, aren’t you shocked at her new frame?

Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke, wife of the Cross River State governor recalls her experience, which she tags, a change of lifestyle:

“I was ill and could not walk from point A to B without being so exhausted; and all that the doctor did was not yielding results. Anytime I travelled to see my doctor abroad, he would show me how fats were encroaching over my heart! His advice was simple, ‘trim down and save your life.’

Born in 1963 to Dr. and Mrs. Thaddeus Eziashi, her training from a mother who was a nurse, came in handy.  “There was a time I left Nigeria as a size 22. I got abroad and before I knew it, I was a size 24! I had gone to shop and could not fit into size 22 dresses. There and then, I made up my mind to save my life. I went to my doctor and he gave me a dietician. It became an emergency and the dietician placed me on six weeks without food! She recommended protein shakes and in those weeks, I reduced to size 18 from 24! I was also going for classes on my diets. I returned to Nigeria and for two years now, I have not eaten anything that contains oil.

“I eat vegetable without oil. Before, I took four slices of bread but now I take just half of a slice and it has to be wheat bread. I take lots of water whenever I feel light-headed and I eat regularly but in small bits. There are times I get a bit slack and add a kilo or two but I quickly shed off. In fact, I weigh myself every morning.

“I am now a size 12 and I could have gone thinner (I am gunning to be a size  but my husband would not hear of that! Really, it is all about a change of lifestyle and knowing what to eat and how to eat in portions. Right now, I am healthier, and I am just maintaining my weight.”

A trained lawyer, she had always wanted to be an actress. “When I told my parents, they never allowed me. So, I studied law, gave them the certificate and told them I was going into retail marketing. But was my mother strict? She suspected that I could get spoilt because of the attention I got from my three brothers and being the lastborn, I was also close to my father.

“My mother instilled discipline and I worked hard at home! She would not allow any form of luxury for me and I remember trekking to church (I was raised a Catholic).Though I was born in Lagos, I grew up in Enugu,” she reminisces.

For five years, Mrs. Liyel-Imoke has occupied the State House in Calabar with her family. The way she goes about her tasks as the First Lady makes one  wonder if she has lived in Calabar all her life! “But I’ve always enjoyed living in Calabar and I get agitated whenever I come to Lagos,” she says humorously.

“Most Cross Riverians are always in Calabar for one thing or the other. My husband became a senator when he was 30. Then, we were not married and I was travelling with him to campaign. We have always been in Cross River. Even when we were in Abuja when he was special adviser, and then minister, we still came to Calabar.

To me, it’s a life of service and I don’t think I can live anywhere again.”

If you see her as extraordinary because of the position she occupies in the state, she quickly erases that perception. “I am like any other woman. There is no place you can’t leave after occupying. I have learnt from my husband and every position he has occupied, we left. So, I don’t have problems with the transition and I live my life that way. That I am the First Lady should not make me a super woman above others.

“Well, it’s a privilege and I have tried to play my part in many areas. I love to drive myself but I have been restrained from doing that and I asked, will I not drive for eight years? I drive myself and take my children to school. I try to live a normal life and always happy whenever my husband is on vacation. Then, I cook all the meals for him and I am myself.”

How she runs her home? She says: “First, it’s the grace of God, you can’t do it without God. Just learn to prioritise. I ensure I see my kids before they go to bed as long as I’m in Calabar.  I also plan ahead so that I am able to work better.”

The First Lady is a tourism freak what with the zeal she organises the annual Calabar festival! Recently, she bagged the ‘Man of Tourism’ award by the Africa Travel Magazine. “Everyone in Cross River is involved and every year, we try to make it better. Before the main event, we do three dry runs in a year and we ensure everything is in place. Everybody in the team knows that we work for a man who expects everything to be right.”

The man she works for is her husband, Liyel Imoke.  “He is a good man and allows me express myself. He is quiet but a very deep person, and he is also a planner. I have been married to him for 19 years and he is very kind. We dated for 18 years and he’s more of a friend and father to me.”

On  to her projects in the state, she explained: “They are all under an umbrella body called, Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realisation. I conceptualised POWER to complement the governor’s mandate to the people of Cross River State. There is the Destiny Childcare Centre, a rehabilitation home acquired to provide succour to the deprived, vulnerable and homeless children in the society. There is the Pink POWER Integrated Cancer Care Initiative (Pink POWER ICCI), an intervention that has penetrated the society and has helped to stem the scourge of breast and cervical cancer among women especially in the rural communities. There is the Mothers Against Child Abandonment, MACA, and lots more. I believe if you empower a woman, you give her a voice in the home, the community and the environment.”

A stickler for Ankara fabrics, she opines: “We should showcase what we have. Most of my dresses are made in Ankara and I don’t wear them because they nice but because they give me an identity.”

So, when and how does she relax? “I lock myself up and watch a movie. It relaxes me,” she says.