Dennis Agbo
29 November 2008
interview
Bianca Ojukwu, is wife of Former Biafran leader, the Ikemba Nnewi and two time- presidential candidate of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Twenty years ago, precisely on December 4, 1988, young Bianca won the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MGBN) pageant. That was when she struck limelight. She did not stop there.
Rather, she went ahead to clinch Miss Africa, Miss Intercontinental, Miss Drushbah and African Queen of Beauty. Before then at London College, she'd won the Miss Martini contest.
In this encounter with Dennis Agbo, Bianca, daughter of Chief Christian C. Onoh, former Governor of old Anambra state, talks elaborately on the pageant industry, fashion and style and of course on the romantic nature of her husband, Ojukwu in their new palatial villa at Enugu GRA.
If you were asked, how would you introduce yourself?
I'll say I am the fifth daughter and sixth child of Chief Christian .C. Onoh, the Okaome Ngwo and former Governor of the old Anambra State, and Chief Mrs. Caroline Onoh, a former school administrator who became a house wife to carter for her children.
My early life was in my hometown, Ngwo, a place that I still remember with a lot of nostalgia. I grew up in the village and that has given me the grounding that I have today.
I went to All Saints Primary School, from there I went briefly to Queen's School, Enugu from where I transferred to Ackworth School in Pontefract, West Yorkshire England , where I sat for my GCE O levels. After my O levels, I attended the St. Andrews College as well as the Cambridge Tutorial College for my A levels.
On getting my A level result, I went to the University of Buckingham for a combined honours degree in P.E.L (Politics, Economics and Law).
And from there, I came back to the University of Nigeria where I attended the Enugu Campus of the University for my Bachelor of Laws degree programme and after that I went to the Nigeria Law School and moments later, I got married.
I worked briefly as a lawyer, from there I moved on to my main passion which is in the area of aesthetics. I'd wanted to set up my own skin care line, build my own brand of skin care cosmetics, which I manufactured. I also run an interior decoration outfit known as Meriabela Interior and as well as other business concerns.
What is it like being wife of Ikemba, Odumegwu Ojukwu?
He is a wonderful man and I thank God because when I got married, it was a call for concern, not just for my parents and my family but for the society at large because of the age difference between myself and my husband.
But the amazing thing is that by the time I met him, we were almost like soul mates. We have same interests and because we both grew up in affirmative ways abroad, we had boarding school education and so forth. And because we both had privileged backgrounds, we have common interests. So when I met him, I knew that we have basically most things in common, because he is like a friend and I think my instinct hasn't disappointed me, and since we met each other in 1989, we've been together.
In 2009, it will be 19 years and it's amazing because I've known friends who had gotten married and divorced in that space of time and these are people who are in more conventional marriages and not many people gave this marriage a chance.
There were too many factors against it and people always ask and say what makes it so? For me, it looks like it is not long ago and we prepared for the children who will try to be there for us. My husband is a romantic man.
He remembers the birthdays and makes sure that he provides you with appropriate roses and buys you the most wonderful gifts. I am not by nature very romantic, but he is funny, very funny.
In the evenings, we could sit down and play cards and share jokes over a bottle of wine and we could go do that the whole day. It's amazing, in areas where you don't expect him to know very much, I fill in the gap. But there are so much I learn from him, historical events and so forth and he has an amazing insight into the country and how it is run.
I learn every day from him. For every couple, there is always the challenging time but if you keep the lines of communication open, you will be able to dialogue and talk about things to make sure that the marriage is on the right footing.
For me, coming from a culture where marriage is important, it's not negotiable. It's the most important aspect of life as a woman in Igbo culture. I think that mothers have a role to play in telling their daughters it's important.
It's not that you have to come into marriage to be a slave but at the same time there should be a degree of tolerance and women have to accept that a man should be given respect for the house to prosper. Even my son who is 10 years old, I mind the way I talk to him and once you identify these areas of conflict, there won't be problem because it's still a man's world.
You have a political background and married to same background. Do you nurse any political ambition?
I always say it's not an immediate plan because I have a young family and there are still many sacrifices to be made at this moment.
I have to make sure that first and foremost, my children become independent; that they are grown and that they don't need much of my presence. It is only at that time that I might consider any kind of political contribution but at this moment in time, it is not something I am thinking about. I have my hands more than filled in running this house. It's almost like an airport where every politician of different political parties and views congregate.
Tell us about Bianca Blend.
Bianca Blend is a company that I established in 1996 and it is essentially a skin care company. We have a manufacturing plant and we have our own range of skin care products. It's a luxurious skin care brand and we have so many different products in the brands because the products are customised.
It's targeted towards the African consumer to address skin care concerns that are peculiar to African skin and have over 25 products in our signatory collection. We also have a spa collection that has about 15 different products. .
You talked about your NGO, what is about?
Yes it's called the Hope House Trust. It's an NGO essentially centered towards rehabilitating juvenile offenders.
There are a few boys and girls also who get into trouble with the law and because they didn't have the education, they derail in life; where they appear to be in school but are out their picking pockets. So when their issues are addressed and they get out into the society, what we do is to offer them opportunities to learn skills and we are affiliated to various skill acquisition centers where they learn trades, such as welding, cooking, baking, even computer skill training. Some also go back to school.
Why is this your palatial villa called Casabianca?
My husband will tell you that it means Bianca's house. Why he called it so is because when I met him, he was living in Lagos and he wasn't keen on coming down to settle in Enugu.
But I said if we are going to raise children, they should have a little comfort and experiences that I had. That I can show them the streams in the village that we used to go and fetch water; the village squares where we used to go for moonlight tales and the little farms.
But more than anything else so they can learn my language and identify with our culture. So we needed to move down to the East, and eventually he agreed and we moved into our house, which is smaller than this one.
So, I said to him, now that we are here, we need somewhere a lot bigger where you can have conferences and a lot of politicians come. So we need something palatial and big with lawns. So he said this house when I build it, will be dedicated to you for the sacrifice that I made to come down here to live with you, so it's yours.
You still look very stunning. What is the secret of the continued beauty?
A lot of people still do not realize that I won the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBFN) pageant. It was actually when I enlisted for my law programme at the University of Nigeria that I went into the pageant business. But prior to that I'd won a pageant in England. I'd won the Miss Martini pageant which came with a one year modeling contract in Tokyo.
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