BY M A C ODU
I should start by rejoicing over the efficacy of the printed word in causing positive change in an apparent success of evil over good worldwide. I rejoice in addition for the gift of a rare woman to Nigeria, who through introspection and circumspection moved the whole world with her mission to serve. I salute her courage and consistency, her patience in affliction of all sorts including her abandonment by her late husband when it mattered most and finally the indelible legacy she has left womanhood in her rather noble life among this increasingly frail humankind.
I would not have used her name for the title of the most exemplary life of an African Woman I have read, because it contradicted her self-effacing character, save for Footpints & Milestones planted at her chest level on the book cover and all the pages. I would have titled the work: My Life by Teresa Chukwuma. It is a study in humility and service with which I associate her with since I met her at various fora in Lagos in the early eighties.
She was a spiritually perceptive human being and she responded to Divine Guidance all through her life. She was an ardent Catholic Christian and this shone through the work and her theatres of service. I find so many traits for emulation by both males and females of all nations in her lifestyle and that recommends the three-hundred-page work to women and men of all ages worldwide for acquisition and contemplation.
In her humility she spoke little about her husband until toward the end and even at that she was properly frugal in her narrative about his prodigality. I salute her for that. She was even gracious to include her rival’s own tree in her attempt at constructing a plural family tree placing the interloper ahead in her structure. Humility and sacrifice personified could never be more pleasant.
Dida Teresa was a sacrificial lamb for women’s rights. But she fought her fights solo with her pen and infectious logic in full flight. She won for humanity all her fights without exception. Why should this work not be a standard text for all girls’ institutions of learning for a start, to give eternal credit to a champion worth her weight in gold? Certainly it would better women’s lot to know that amazons have been on the turf long before these negligent times of dithering with women’s rights among an insensate political leadership horde.
She was a good story teller. She was a natural teacher. She was a circumspect and farsighted leader, technocrat and revolutionary without arms save the written and spoken word. And she won battles.
I am motivated to write for pitiable humanity to know that she deserves a place of honour in the world of today. She probably lives in the minds of a few leaders but given our penchant for abandoning positive records in our pursuit of filthy lucre, her glowing records might just have been forgotten but for this work. Her co-travellers like Flora Nwapa, Liman Ciroma, Maryam Babangida, Jubril Aminu, Dr. Alex Ekwueme (now translated) and his wife Beatrice, Philip Asiodu, Ahmed Joda, Judith Attah and Allison Ayida super permanent secretaries in their own right; Bolanle Awe, Babatunde Fafunwa, Rex Akpofure, Joy Ogwu, Wole Soyinka, Adeniran Ogunsanya, and Olu Akinkugbe, some of whom I had the privilege of serving under in Commission for Review of Higher Education in Nigeria in 1990-91. Not one can be left out of annals of education in Nigeria. Monuments should be created for them. Teresa Chukwuma should be numbered among them. They are now a fast vanishing breed with neither fulfilment no reverence from the society they served with their youth. Some are too lethargic to touch the keyboard and speak out. They lament the degradation of the Homo sapiens in our clime. They should rise over their grief and write. For the printed word shall outlive all of us.
I was privileged to be close to her at many levels. First with Imolite Sisters of the early eighties and then with education with Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigeria Universities during her stint in highest echelon in Education ministry under Mr. Gray Longe. Her humility was infectious with the power she bore on her fragile shoulders occasionally stressed to hypertensive levels. She was at par with the mighty in education. In spite of her international stature she and other Imolites of national note, married outside homeland, allowed my sister a long tenure that led to the demise of the association and it’s would have been successor, Abimolite Sisters. My sister had bankrolled both associations and hung in there as president. Well, there was no good reason to hang on to leadership. Dida Teresa should not have allowed that. There were many leaders among the lot to take the mantle and sustain it. Alas, all feared loss of dignity for my sister, which was not on the cards with her. She too ought to have moved for change but she feared to hurt those who entrusted her with leadership. The lesson there is let no one hang on to powers more than is welcome for change and progress. No one has exclusive right to leadership among a crop of enlightened people. Besides, Generational Change is a necessary desideratum for continuum in positive leadership. I have cried myself hoarse for the over-stay of military in Nigeria leadership that is now hurting all of us. I have stopped shouting.
Teresa waged a war solo to fight injustice done to women by share masculine discrimination born of fear of being outclassed and relegated. That fear still hangs in the subconscious of our male folk and must with this book be exterminated from their minds. Women are by nature even more spiritual than men and this will be evident in the rotten days ahead of a decadent Nigeria.
I salute her for her postulate on leadership and price of hard work that took her to the top without Godfather intervention in her behalf. She had none and craved for none but she hit international acclaim on her merit. Women do not have to sell themselves cheap to get there.
I am privileged to have written my own works and will take liberties to comment on the work of others with my works as a laissez-passers. If Imo State was under appropriate government, this work should have received public approbation and reverence.
I am proud that an Mbaise Elite has set her thoughts down on paper with aplomb. Professor Theodore Chukwunyere Okeahialam has written a medical trailblazer of an autobiography too from Mbaise Cluster of Megaclans. Eze S N Ugorji has also written. He also was an educationist of note. I salute this group!
A lot has to be said for the quality of editing of my subject work. I hope a revised edition of this monumental effort is on the way. Certain errors spotted for this work ought not have been there. I exonerate my clanswoman and blame the publishers.
May all those who have written for light to shine upon their fellow humans know peace here and beyond and that includes the author.
