By Law Mefor
The First Lady of Anambra State, Dr (Mrs)Nonye Soludo, is a real class act, a special being versed in many splendored undertakings. She stars as a beacon of family life, offering her workaholic husband, the acclaimed Oluatuegwu of Anambra State, Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, the necessary gravitas to achieve and soar—and do more. She belongs to the top league of amazons who dominate the environment almost effortlessly with endearing panache. Personable is the word for Dr (Mrs) Nonye Soludo. It’s little wonder, then, that her name has become a veritable term of endearment all over the country: Nonye Soludo.
Let’s address her by her full bona fides for starters: Dr (Mrs) Frances Chukwunonyelum Soludo (nee Ezenwanne) – Osinanwata-maba-mma, Mmilidoluedo, Nne-di-ogo, Akwaugo Isuofia, etc. The cherished daughter of disciplinarian teacher-parents, Nonye was a child prodigy who made healthy living her lifelong project, such that “Healthy Living With Nonye Soludo” has become an ideology. She has built a formidable team on a mission, relentlessly working towards a healthier, happier life for society.
At Healthy Living With Nonye Soludo, her ever-rending squad is driven by a deep passion for promoting a culture of consciousness and a mindset of change when it comes to health and wellbeing. The vision is to promote responsible and healthy lifestyles as the foundation for a liveable and prosperous state and nation. The passion drives Dr (Mrs) Soludo and her team to inspire and empower others to prioritise their health and make positive choices. Empowering individuals to take charge of their health is the ultimate goal.
Like the inimitable Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Dr (Mrs) Soludo believes in “doing small things with great love”. Born on July 31, 1970, she has lived a well-rounded life of giving and service. She is an embodiment of loyalty as exemplified by her partnership in progressivism with Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, CON, in her Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI). Dr (Mrs) Soludo’s strategic support to her husband has benevolently offered Anambra State a lionised tag team of believers committed to delivering the coveted dividends of democracy that will deliver a peaceful, livable, and prosperous homeland.
An insight into the organic symmetry within the Anambra First Family was rendered by the anchorman of Arise TV, Dr Reuben Abati, thusly: “I had breakfast on Tuesday, 18 March, with Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo (CFR) of Anambra State and his wife… We were ushered to the dining room, where the governor and his wife, Dr (Mrs) Nonye Soludo, were waiting to receive us… When it was the turn of the governor to fill his plate, the conversation in the room took a different turn. He turned to his wife: ‘Madam, please, you have to allow me this morning to eat as I like. I have a long day today in Okpoko. I need a lot of energy. I need permission to eat both what is right and what you do not approve of. Please, what is this oat made of? I want to eat well.’ I was surprised that a whole governor, a professor of economics, a former central bank governor, and CFR would have to take permission from his wife to choose what to eat. The governor was reading my mind. ‘Ah, Reuben, that is what I go through oh. My wife is an expert in healthy living. She is always preaching that I must watch what I eat. But today I have work to do. When we buy food in this house, the first thing my wife will do is start reading the label to find out what is in the food or not. I, for one, don’t have time to read labels. But my wife is busy with this healthy living thing. She insists that you are what you eat… I pray I do not end up in Governor Soludo’s trap of having to study food packs and ask Madam for clarifications about what should be eaten and what should be avoided in the name of healthy living!”
In the resounding words of Dr (Mrs) Nonye Soludo, “When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”
It is a fitting recognition of her championing healthy living as a massive service to humanity that Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University awarded her a Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa). There is no gainsaying that the healthy foods she has discovered ought to earn her multiple PhDs in Food and Nutrition from elite universities around the globe. Her elated husband congratulated her with these lofty words: “Warmest congratulations to my darling wife, Nonye Soludo, on being conferred with a Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa) in Food and Nutrition by the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU). This recognition is a testament to her tireless advocacy for healthy living, which has inspired countless individuals through her initiative, ‘Healthy Living With Nonye Soludo’. I am proud of her dedication to promoting wellness and nutrition, and I’m grateful to COOU for this honour. Cheers to my Queen!”
For Dr (Mrs) Nonye Soludo, there is no flaunting of airs of flamboyance as a first lady or governor’s wife. There was once an occasion when some members of the women’s wing of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Party visited her there in the old Government House in Amawbia, and they were so surprised seeing the First Lady working assiduously on her farm behind the Governor’s Lodge. They could not believe that Mr Governor’s wife also had “ugbo azu-uno (backyard farm)”. The First Lady was sweaty with work, and her hands were soiled with red earth. The Anambra First Lady applied the same level of seriousness in her farm work as she exhibited in her exerting Saturday exercises, during which she leads multitudes to keep fit.
Dr (Mrs) Nonye Soludo took out time to share with the women the importance of farming on any available patch of land, advising that idle hands that failed to work the land would eventually lead to mouths starved of the oil of food. The First Lady informed the ladies to cultivate a particular health-giving seed called Mkparakata – I don’t know if I got the name right!
Dr (Mrs) Nonye Soludo is a different class of First Lady.
Law Mefor, PhD, is the Anambra State Commissioner for Information.
