Nseobong Okon-Ekong
26 August 2007
interview
Lagos — Everyone has a soft spot for something. Hers was for parties. She didn't just love to attend and have a good time; she sought every opportunity to play the hostess. Any reason was good enough. It didn't have to be something spectacular. UduakAbasi Umondak, former actress in one of Nigeria's most popular soaps, Mirror in the Sun, former fashion designer whose outfit, Colours was the talk of the town, former First Lady of Akwa Ibom State used to be an unapologetic party animal.
Until life dealt her a cruel blow, she had only seen the good side. Every day was Christmas and every night was New year's eve, until she walked down a street called Depression where loneliness was her neighbour and hunger was her bedmate. But how did she get to the point where she wanted to end it all? She told Nseobong Okon-Ekong about her journey to the precipice. Moments before she fell into the bottomless pit, help came from above. This Divine Moderator changed the rules of her game. She made a few futile attempts to continue in her former ways. The results were very unpalatable. Then she decided to keep a straight course with her Master who demands total devotion to His dictates...
True. The lines have fallen in pleasant places for UduakAbasi Umondak; and the story of her life has changed course from a swift nose-dive to an upward progression on the chart. The notable points spelling the graphic details have recorded hilarious moments filled with so much high-spirited activities that looked as if the hearts of the participants were going to burst with excitement. It posted many days ticking with elaborate designs; days that were filled with feasting, never with famine. There was joy always, never sadness. If she heard of anyone who suffered a spell of misfortune, she thought it couldn't happen to her. She thought she was well protected. Never did she think she could come crashing down, having lost everything and every one dear to her.
"I was such a person that if you called me that your dog had a puppy, I would invite you over with some friends and we would have a party in my house. I saw nothing wrong with a life of unserious chatter and revelry. I thought I was enjoying myself and indeed, I was. I mean if you don't know anything better, it was what you knew that is top on your mind until you find superior information".
May be it will help us to understand better if we properly situate UduakAbasi as a former First Lady of Akwa Ibom State. At that time, her estranged husband, Idongesit Nkanga, a top officer in the Nigeria Air Force was at the zenith of power as Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom state.
But it wasn't just with her stint in the corridors of power that she enjoyed a life of affluence. Her late father was a former legislator in the First Republic and a Commissioner in the then South-Eastern State. He gave his children the very best of education and exposed them to a cultured lifestyle. In her teens, UduakAbasi was already taking frequent holidays in Europe.
Nkanga was among the sixth set of military governors appointed by former military President, Ibrahim Babangida on August 30, 1990. He, it was who handed over to Obong Akpan Isemin, the elected civilian governor on the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC). Uduak had the privilege of a lifetime to live in a state house at a time when Maryam Babangida as the Commander-in-chief's wife set a standard with the Better Life for Rural-Women programme which was replicated in every state. UduakAbasi was Her Excellency in Akwa Ibom state, which was just three years old at the time she and her former husband held sway.
Even if you don't like her, it is difficult to ignore that she is an unapologetic sharp dresser; who goes to great pains to be sure that what she wears is not only eye-catching but matching; combining the right colours. This trait for the good life was something that she had become identified with right from childhood. Her parents always had a hard time choosing her clothes, because UduakAbasi was hard to please when it came to clothing. Whatever anybody got for her, it always fell short of her expectations. And so, at a very early age, she was conceded the privilege to choose her clothes; a privilege that nobody else in the house was given.
All of these traits would later manifest in two vocations that she threw herself into. She was one of the prominent characters in one of Nigeria's most successful soaps ever, Mirror in the Sun. Much later, she would establish a fashion house called, 'Colours'. Naturally, fashion and acting come with all the allure of a fast-paced life. UduakAbasi lived life to the hilt. Those were the days that her skirts were always skimpy, hugging, made from half-a-yard of material; and the heel of her shoes-six inches high.
While she did everything she could to fashion out ways and means of always reaching the next level of her life of grandiose frolicking, God had other plans for her. With the benefit of hindsight now, she readily recalls many incidents that she could not recognize then as warnings to change the course of her life. She also had a gift that she took for granted; the same one that Joseph and Daniel were blessed with; the gift of seeing in a dream things to come, and usually they turned out exactly the way they saw them in the dream.
Like Joseph and Daniel, UduakAbasi was vilified and suffered many wrong accusations. The day of her suffering arrived when she least expected. Now she can say those miserable days were God's way of taking her through the fire; so that like pure fine gold, every impurity could be removed and she would come out sparkling bright, well prized and much sought after. It is only now that she can look at the sunny side of life again that she is able to fathom God's uncanny methods of training. Back in those days, she felt like a fish out of water. She was always wondering what the matter is.
One evening, as she made her way out of Colours which occupied a good section in the Waterparks premises at Toyin Street in Ikeja-Lagos, she saw a dark covering at the door. Struck by this apparition, she stood still for a while and called the attention of her staff, but no one else saw it. It was a Friday. On her way home, she phoned the office and asked her staff to shut down and go home because it was threatening to rain. The next morning, she was woken up by her security guard. The message? There was fire at her shop. She got there to find that the flame raged through her shop. No other shop was affected.
"I lost over N30 million to that inferno. Still I did not get the message. I tried very much to get back on my feet. I tried the banks. No luck. Friends disappointed me. I couldn't understand what was happening. I mean these were people who I could not imagine would turn down any of my request. They owed me a lot. I contributed to their stability. Not that I expected them to give me their savings. All I wanted was a helping hand. Their refusal to help baffled me. It is now that I understand that God was shutting every door of opportunity in my face".
The worst was yet to come. At this time, it was not that UduakAbasi was not a Christian. "I was regular in church. But I was still doing all those other things. I still had my boyfriend that I was seeing regularly at Victoria Island. I didn't know that the fire that gutted Colours was the beginning of my travails and the beginning of a prophecy in which God told me that He was going to separate me from everything that I was familiar with. My fashion house was gone. Every attempt to bring it back failed. My friends were beginning to go, but the worst thing I faced was the spate of wicked rumours that dealt death blows on my reputation".
It was not easy to adjust. From a people's person, she became a recluse. Tucked away in her own world, she found her Bible again and began to read with a conscious effort to get hold of a word that would change her situation. Then she found that she enjoyed her own company and could stay indoors for days without missing anyone. "God allowed my friends to go because He wanted me to depend on Him alone. God doesn't like to share His Glory with any man. He always does things in such a way that it is clear to everyone - your friends and neighbors who knew that you were down and out-that only God could have done this. It was difficult for me to eat. I experienced hunger. You can only imagine what I am talking about. When you remember that I was former First Lady of a state, former glamour lady in fashion and acting, you cannot imagine that there were days that I didn't know where my next meal was coming from, but that was nothing compared to what was coming next. When my reputation was taken to the cleaners, that pushed me to the wall. Things were being said about me that were completely untrue. I had not experienced that kind of thing before; to have somebody come right before you and tell a lie to your face. As if this was not enough, the person so involved makes it all the more believable because he is known to be your friend".
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