By Dauda Lawal
Erelu Bisi Fayemi has been a mother hen to many, either by way of role modeling or by impacting positively on whoever crosses her path – male and female, adult and young alike.
Erelu’s descriptive “wrapper,” was a symbol of warmth and protection. She has been a mother-figure who would always bring unending succour to the downtrodden and less-privileged in the society to create a balanced and egalitarian hemisphere.
More often than not, many essays on Erelu Bisi Fayemi, had periscoped more of her superlative gender activism, with cursory look paid to her humanitarian activism, which goes beyond the shores of Africa. Gender mainstreaming, has been an important area that earned her an unrivaled reputation in Nigeria and unfettered opportunity to having practical transformative touches on people’s lives.
While her enviable records in gender activism remains copious, I earnestly believe it bellies the magnitude of her totality as a woman who is committed to the emancipation of the downtrodden. This area of her illustrious life has caught my attention as the world of people around her gathered to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.
Nothing has further made this reinforcement more incumbent now than ever than remembering her heroic role during the COVID -19 pandemic. Her pre-existing data intervention in the lives of the vulnerable became handy in the careful management of the palliative distribution to the vulnerable through the artery of her superlative system already established for catering for the economically disadvantaged long before the outbreak of the pandemic.
Erelu’s incredible sense of empathy is second to none. She can just not say no to the needy! She would go extra-mile to ensure that the nakedness of the needy is covered with her wrapper.
It is said that the blood of kindness runs in her veins. Erelu Bisi Fayemi is a best example of motherhood who has, and continued to intervene in many instances, pay the cost of baby delivery for many families who could not settle their hospital bills after delivery. This was apart from picking other hospital bills of other patients males and females who might have been detained by the hospitals. This was one major assignments I did play for her as an aide to her husband. There are tens of hundreds who have got their medical bills settled after being detained in hospitals for inability to pay up after hospitalization.
Another strategic and monumental area of her intervention project was her special care for the aged and abandoned women. One iconic example of her gesture in this regard was the case of the late Mama Princess Jolaade Oso of Ikere-Ekiti, an old woman and Princess who unfortunately had lost all her offsprings because she had lived longer than 100 years. The centenarian had no one catering for her until she was scouted by Erelu’s team that looked out for the vulnerables and the aged, found her in her squalor. Erelu not only took up her care wholesomely, she went ahead to adopt her as a mother. In her last days, Mama Jolaade Oso got the best of care from Erelu, who posed for as a truly loving daughter. And when she joined her ancestors, she was celebrated in an elaborate funeral synonymous with those of royal provenance. Erelu ensured that though the woman had no surviving children of her own, but she was able to fill that vacuum even beyond measurable level.
Erelu’s immeasurable ‘wrapper’ has in the same way been extended to numerous women who got empowered through her philanthropic gestures. She regularly picks the school bills of orphans who find it herculean to see their education through the tertiary level. Only someone who has little hope would truly appreciate finding help where none was expected or find hope where hope seems elusive.
The legendary Erelu Bisi Fayemi is a river of kindness whose fountain rises without limit. Her humility and love towards people is second to none and this is more evident by the ways she demonstrated this through her courage, friendliness, passion, humility, and her feminist devotion to the elevation of the women folk. It is important to state here that Erelu Bisi Fayemi’s life and impacts bear true evidence that true feminism is not hatred towards men.
It is on this note and with pride that I present, yet, another salacious tribute and homage to a beautiful soul who is roundly grounded and irrevocably committed to the uplifting of the disadvantaged.
It will not be far-fetched therefore to refer to Erelu Bisi Fayemi as a living-goddess robed in human skin. Combined with her gigantic heart, it is without a doubt that she is a mother worth celebrating.
As she celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, all I can say is, Erelu, we are lucky to know and have you. Happy 60th Birthday to our own Mother Theresa.
Alhaji Dauda Lawal (ADL)