My style is decent – Omolewa Ahmed

Omolewa Ahmed

But for her aides, and the emblem of her office, nothing in her disposition gives her away as the Kwara State First Lady. Quite amiable, Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed erases the stereotype of a governor’s wife. A First Lady, she opines, is like any other woman.

“I am no superwoman and I am as normal as any other person.  God is the only super God,” she says.

From May 29, 2011 to date, the Ibadan, Oyo State-born graduate of Banking and Finance, has lived in the Governor’s Lodge with her husband and children as Kwara State’s First Family. An interesting life, one would say, but she quickly says she remains the same person.

“I am me. I have been me and I am still me and I will always be me. I do not see any difference between being in the corridors of power and when I used to be in my home, except for the fact that it has bestowed on me a higher level of responsibility.  When my predecessor, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, was handing over to me, she said something which struck me and I have constantly reminded myself of it. She said, ‘The office is not a lifestyle but a call to responsibility.’ To me, this is an opportunity, a privilege and I believe to whom much is given, much is expected.”

The dark-skinned beauty, who says she has no regrets being the governor’s wife, reiterates that anybody can be in office.  “Anybody can be the first lady of any state but I believe God has a purpose for putting me on this seat and every day, I tell Him that I do not want to fall out of that purpose.  I want to do that which He has put me here to do.  I want to be a blessing to the people and for people to glorify God through me.”

Ask her to describe her personality and she says, “Mrs. Ahmed is just a child of God.  I am a woman who loves God with the whole of my heart. A woman, who serves God and who is proud of God.”

Also the chairperson, Leah Foundation, Ahmed opens up on her passion for the underprivileged, especially widows.

“Among other things we do, we have a passion for the widows in our communities because they are a section of the society that nobody really looks at. Most times, these women, when they lose their husbands, they also lose hope. Over 2,000 widows have benefited from the intervention and empowerment programmes of Leah Charity Foundation. We also offer counselling to them.”

Born to the Adebayo Akinleye family a few decades ago, nothing, she says, gave her an inkling that she would end up being a governor’s wife. She reminisces on her initial meeting with the man who is now her husband: “Nothing in him indicated he would be a governor or a politician. I just met a young man, I fell in love with him and we got married. By the grace of God, we are where we are today. Was he financially buoyant then? No. He was not.  He was just a young banker, who was trying to find his feet.”

Glowing with pride, she talks about her husband, Governor Abdulfathai Ahmed: “He is a wonderful man. He is the best man ever and I would marry him over and over again.”

Does the First Lady still cook? “Yes, I do when the occasion demands. He loves rice, beans with stew, and dry fish,” she replies chuckling.

A lover of books, it is no surprise that her pet project is also geared towards building the reading culture in children.

“When we came on board, I realised that a lot of our children did not want to read any more. We came with the programme, which was preceded by an inaugural reading camp that we had in December 2012. We had pupils from all over the 16 local government areas of the state. It was a camping session in a school and they were taken through the rudiments of reading. We to encouraged them to return to the habit of reading. Thereafter, we have successfully established reading clubs in all the participating schools. There are about 16 schools where we have successfully set up reading clubs. Not only did we set up these schools, we are monitoring them to make sure that these clubs are functioning,” she gushes.

How has it been, running a home as a wife and First Lady? She laughs and says she handles both well.

“Of course, we have greater  responsibilities now as the ‘first family’ but God has helped us to be more mature and He is also matching it up for us with wisdom to handle the assignment  He has given us,” she explains.

Does her family have the time to bond together? She quickly corrects: “It has not always been like this and it will not always be like this. This is just a call to service and that is what we are doing.  We work when we have to work. A time will come when we will rest. My home is fairing pretty well.  I have young children who are really attached to me.  But in-between it all, God is giving me the grace to combime all my responsibilities. He is the owner of the work and is the one that is sustaining it.”

She goes further to reveal another side of her which many didn’t know. “I drive my children to school when I have to, and I attend all the functions in their schools. Aside that, there is nothing they are missing because I am still their mother and not a First Lady at home. I still spend quality time with my children and I do their home work with them,” she stated.

Though she would not describe herself as fashionable, she is a stickler for decency.

“Style, to me, is decency. Where I am going determines what I wear but it must be decent,” she says.

Does she wear only native attire? “No,” she replies. “When I am in Kwara, I wear native attire but I do not dress like that for any particular reason other than I want to be comfortable wearing what I wear and the way I wear it. I wear jeans, pant suits, skirts, and when I am going for exercise, I am in joggers and trainers. My accessories are as the occasion demands.”