It is important to refuse to be intimidated.
That refusal must not be based simply on a calculation of the odds of
succeeding. The refusal to be intimidated must come, in the end, not from a sureness
of succeeding but from knowledge of the cost of scurrying for shelter through
fake retractions and disowned truths. It is a question, in the end of
self-respect.
God has given every man and woman incomparably
great power to reach the highest calling in life. Why then lower the stake and
light? We have been endowed even from birth by the supernatural to conquer our
fears of not scoring those great goals in life. Yet, we choose to entrust our
fate to co-mere living. What has happened to our self human abilities? Why are
those of them born without a silver spoon in their mouth now becoming
manufacturers of those spoons? Questions like these put Kogi state First Lady,
Faridah Ijeoma Wada ahead of those mocking her step of tasting the political
waters. She succumbed to the call by her people, Ikwuano Umuahia Federal
Constituency to represent them at the National Assembly, by taking a shot
herself in politics.
Joining the race within few weeks to the
Party’s primary elections alone is indeed an inspiration. Upon the fact that
the media all over the country recorded a situation where the steer-man of the
State singlehandedly imposed candidates on the people, it calls for a pat on
the First Lady’s back. One thing she must know is that her story inspires all
to be an active participant in his or her own life. It tells one to stop being
a bystander. Lead yourself to success. Though hers was a call by the people for
a change, of which she honoured.
However, every difficulty is an opportunity to
strengthen the soul. That she failed means she should relent? No! Her kind of
person is highly needed in the political space of this nation. Her past record
as a great woman of substance and virtues is actually not in doubt, as
unarguably, it could be traced to her past record. It speaks volume of good
deeds and that of a woman with milk of human kindness.
As
an astute business woman of repute, Her Excellency Mrs. Faridah Ijeoma Wada is
a travel consultant, mother and a generous philanthropist who has immensely
contributed to the good of humanity. She
is devoted to the promotion of human welfare and the advancement of social
reforms. An Administrator of repute, she holds a Higher National Diploma (HND)
in Secretarial Administration from Federal Polytechnic, Idah.
She founded the Faridah Wada
Foundation (FWF) in 2012 to consolidate her innate passion for investing in the
lives of others. She is the founder and CEO of Globenet Group, owners of
TravelMasta.com, a foremost Travel services and Hospitality Company with
offices in Abuja.
Faridah
Wada, who strongly believes in the lifelong benefits of golf, has instituted a
project called Golf-To-Schools for Secondary Schools in Nigeria. She is donating golf practice
ranges to beneficiary’s schools in order to fulfil her mission to support
sports in schools. She is an ex-Lady Captain of the prestigious IBB Golf and
Country Club Abuja.
She has been quietly but actively
supported a lot of good causes including the sponsoring of the project (Digital
book on the environment) with which Junior Secondary School Jikwoyi, Abuja
competed in the Sage World Cup in 2011 in Buffalo, USA where they came first
defeating teams from countries like the USA, Russia, China, Singapore, Canada,
South Africa, Great Britain and Ghana amongst others.
She also runs an empowerment
programme which she uses to support widows and orphans especially in the
FCT and Abia State. To fight poverty successfully requires a country’s ownership on
a broad based support from the public, and that’s why her Foundation has
adopted the Millennium Development Goals quantitative targets for addressing
extreme human deprivation in its many dimensions. The targets range from halving
extreme poverty to reducing child and maternal death rates, and countering
environmental degradation, all of which should be accomplished by the year
ahead.
Meanwhile, we all have considered too that the
poor and marginalized are disproportionately more affected by poor
environmental and socio-economic conditions. Thus her Foundation designed
programmes to contribute to sustainable environmental management to improve
livelihoods, increase economic security and income opportunities for the poor
through a participatory process that involves domestic stakeholders and
external development partners.
As Lailah Gifty Akita would say, “Your goals and dreams must be written in journal or
notebook. This will ignites a fire, divine power and divine strength within
your soul. You will begin to reach out for your goals and dreams.” Let it be recorded that Faridah boldly took a
step which those of them opportune, but in doubt of scaling through could not
take. That’s the true nature of courage and determination. She should be
encouraged and applauded for such bravery step, notwithstanding the fact that
it came from a woman, which of course is rare.
At a time like this, our First Lady needs our
support and encouragement. She should know that endurance and suppression of
the pain is severe at threshold. After the threshold, capacity is built to
sustain the pain. The pain gets lessening when the strength of might is
achieved. Mankind can endure all things, no matter how difficult it may be.
Let me
also add Ernest Agyemang Yeboah’s statement that says,
“The fallen of the baboon into the river is the
risen of the joy of the crocodile. Though the crocodile becomes happy, it
conceals its joy until it deploys all its necessary deft and strength to take
captive of the Baboon.”
We would
as a people suggest she runs through another platform to realize our vision of
having a strong voice at the National Assembly, but then, God knows what the
bigger picture carries. Unlike other aspirants we would better describe as “bad
market,” she personally within her little strength braved the challenges of
getting good number of votes. We say thumbs up!
The power of inner strength lies in the
ability to overcome the adversities of life and pressing onward toward the
achievement of the goal. Life's
difficulties develop in us strong spirit. Every challenge we overcome promotes
strength of the spirit. Life's difficulty is a test of how much we can endure.
Find inner strength, courage and hope to overcome the test of life. Please our First Lady, don’t relent!
By:
Ugochukwu Favour-Mayor
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