By Alexander Ekemenah
At 80, she still stands tall and erect with elegant poise and beauty. Her beauty radiates through her dewy eyes that penetrate with sparkling radiance from her inner warmth and joy of life.
If she walks down the street, one would think she is still in her 60s not knowing that she had gathered life experiences of 80 earthly years into her spirit and physical frame.
With her handsome and charismatic husband who also gracefully turned 89 six days earlier before her birthday, she has traversed the globe, meeting different people, different cultures and making friends across the human bridges.
Why? Because her husband was a Nigerian representative abroad now gracefully retired but who served the nation meritoriously under General Yakubu Gowon.
Born to the illustrious family of Chief and Mrs M. O. Unuigbe of Uhonmon Ora in Edo State as the first female child (with three brothers ahead of her), she has throd an illustrious red-carpet life throughout her life especially alongside her husband. She had thus lived an ambassadorial life, living in executive suites across the globe, living in ambassador’s residence anywhere her husband was posted.
Invariably, she also became an ambassador without official portfolio. But she turned herself into service to God and humanity with a portfolio in genuine womanhood, of inner strength, dignity and an unblemished record of service wherever she finds herself at any point in time and space.
Of course, her illustrious career took her through the Nigerian civil service where she honed her skills as a technocrat first at the Ministry of Industry and finally culminating at Ministry of Petroleum Resources from where she retired and rode out on a white horse with flowing white gown of unblemished record of service.
Victoria Ehimenonomon Ihonde (nee Unuigbe) opened her eyes to this world in the provincial city of Oyo, in present day Oyo State on January 26, 1946.
She started her primary schooling in Ibadan, the capital city of Western Nigeria in those halycion days but went home with her parents to complete it in their hometown of Ora in Mid-Western State (partly now Edo State).
Victoria came back for her secondary school at St Margaret High School, Ilesha and St Anne’s High School in Ibadan after which she proceeded to University College, Ibadan, to major in French Language and bagged a Bachelor of Arts (BA). She was to later get a Diploma in French from Dakar, Senegal and finally a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
She can thus be seen in her educational and intellectual journey as a Nigerian, an African and an American!
A thoroughbred professional with telescopic sight fixed on higher goals in life, she met and got married to her charming husband, Elder Moses Ihonde in January 1970.
It was a destiny-ordained life-changing meeting and sustained matrimony. Elder Moses Ihonde (popularly known as Uncle Mose) told the hall-filled audience during the Thanksgiving Service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Jide Oki Street, Victoria Island, of how he met her, drawing laughter from the audience. He concluded by asserting that he would marry her again in their next incarnations on earth.
With four children (two boys and girls- of course now completely grown-ups with their individual families), Victoria has remained steadfast, loyal and dedicated to her family, community and nation, journeying together with her husband through the mountains, hills and valleys of life.
Victoria, gentle, easy-going and soft-spoken (but firm with iron discipline and steely will) with her sonorous bird voice, she is unrepentant in her spirituality dedicated unquestionably to the service of God and humanity within her spacious capacity in her church and socio-cultural space where she carries out philanthropic activities.
In a two-part celebration: first at the Thanksgiving Service held at Redeemed Christian Church of God at Jide Oki Street, Victoria Island and at The Hall on Musa Yar’Adua Street, Victoria Island, it was a vivifying joy to celebrate this icon of a woman of grace, wisdom and self-restraint.
Her brothers: Messrs Sam Unuigbe, Usialele Unuigbe and Festus Unuigbe and her surviving sisters poured encomia on her as an inspiring loving sister, caring mother and genuine woman. Festus Unuigbe, her immediate elder brother, was called her “partner-in-crine” playing pranks in the family while they were growing up.
The celebration drew prominent people. Chief Felix Ohiwerei, Mr Aig Imokhuede, Mr. Olumide Akpata, Dr Atedo Peterside, Professor Olawale Ajai and many others too numerous to mention were all present to felicitate with her on this grand and memorable occasion.
Retired into grand-motherhood, Victoria Ihonde lives blissfully with her husband in the quite suburb of Ikoyi, Lagos.
Happy birthday to a sister, wife, mother, grandmother and a stellar pure woman.
- Alexander Ekemenah is the Chief Analyst of NextMoney magazine and online (nextmoneyng.com). He is a global affairs analyst and writes on strategic issues and industry-related developments including soft human stories. He can be reached via +234 816 897 5679 (WhatsApp) and +234 705 678 0050 and alexekemenah@gmail.com
