Mrs Tine Okechukwu is the wife of Mr Osita Okechukwu, the Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), and a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, she speaks about life with her husband and more. Excerpts:
Daily Trust: How would you describe your husband Osita Okechukwu?
Mrs Tine Okechukwu: He is naturally a happy, loving, generous and passionate man. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t get angry or that we don’t quarrel. He gets angry, but in rare occasions when the matter is serious.
DT: Why do you think he doesn’t get angry?
Mrs Okechukwu: One, because he is naturally a happy man. He is a practicing Christian and exhibits Christian ethos in his dispositions. He will always cite our Lord’s Prayer, where adherents are admonished to forgive if they want their own sins to be forgiven. He will cite Niccolo Machiavelli, Italian political philosopher. This means that we should do good because of Almighty God, not because of the reward we get by those we favour. He says that towing the line of this doctrine is the only way to be truly happy.
Things like not returning his newspapers after reading them, or keeping malice with people for long anger him. He wants you to share whatever you have with others. He will always pick quarrels with me whenever I refuse to share with people who want to reap where they didn’t sow. He always advices one to be accommodating.
DT: What are those qualities you cherish most in him?
Mrs Okechukwu: His selflessness, consideration for others’ interest and humanity. He tries most times to put the interest of others above self. Most times I quarrel with him over this. At times when someone drives roughly, he will tell me that a person who is rough in driving is a rough person by nature. Initially, I doubted him, but with time I agree that there is similarity between one’s driving and his innate behaviour. To be sincere, I join him in holding the view that a considerate person drives with consideration for others.
DT: Did you have any inkling of his ambition to join politics early?
Mrs Okechukwu: He was neck-deep in politics before I met him, and besides that, he read Political Science in the university. He joined partisan politics in 1978. We married in 1993. He was Ward Secretary of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and later joined the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) in 1979. He lives and sleeps politics.
DT: Does his late-night political meetings bother you?
Mrs Okechukwu: Of course, why not? But I know it is part of the game of politics. I have gotten used to his nocturnal life. In life we learn to lose one and gain the other.
DT: Can you recall one of his best and worst moments?
Mrs Okechukwu: One is when our first child was born and when our first son died. Our first child is a girl and we rejoiced, especially my husband who says that daughters take care of the family more than sons. He has remained very close to her, even now that she is married. He was the one who took our son to the National Hospital in Abuja the day he died. He was traumatised. It took him time to regain his composure.
DT: Some say he has a good sense of humour. Can you remember any of his jokes?
Mrs Okechukwu: Yes. When he gets me upset and I react angrily, he would sing in Igbo, “Wanne Igba ne enu, na esongi, igba na ani ne esongi”. Which translates to, “my own if you run up, I am running after you, if you run down, I am running after you”. This makes my anger dissolve instantly.
DT: Does his name open doors for you?
Mrs Okechukwu: No, because I am a very simple person. I come from a big and well-known family. From the express road going to Onitsha, when you branch to Enuguagidi, if you ask for directions to my family house, the vehicle or commercial motorcyclist will take you without asking questions to Okechukwu’s family compound in Eke.
DT: Critics of your husband allege that he uses his iPad and laptop to ‘terrorise’ his political opponents. Do you think they are right?
Mrs Okechukwu: I know he is a very vocal person. For instance, during the General Abacha of blessed memory regime, I was listening to the radio with him, I didn’t know he was the one criticising the regime on Voice of America. I was frightened that he will be locked up. I kept shouting and warning him of the danger. Then we were living at Mararaba, outskirts of Abuja, where there were no electric poles then, let alone light. I kept weeping, warning him of the fate of the family if he is picked up.
DT: What is his favourite pastime, food?
Mrs Okechukwu: He is fond of the Economist magazine, a magazine that has no soft side. I find it difficult to read it and prefer Time magazine. He reads a minimum of five newspapers daily and other human-interest books. He grew up in the village and I joke with him over his lack of interest in films. On food, his preference is beans, okra soup and breadfruit.
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