Posted by By Adeola Balogun on
Funke, the wife of the Ondo State governor, Segun Agagu does not look 40, yet she will be 60 in April.
Funke, the wife of the Ondo State governor, Segun Agagu does not look 40, yet she will be 60 in April.
On her youthful looks, she said, 'I don't think I do anything extra to look like this, but I smile. I enjoy smiling, maybe that is one thing that I do which gives me a youthful mind and face. I have been married to my husband for about 34 years."
Asked how she copes with the governor, who is said to be a workaholic, she smiled and said, 'You must have noticed that wherever he goes, I go. Wherever he is, I must be there. Even when he works throughout the night, I am with him and that is something we have been doing for a long time. We are best of friends."
When Spectacles met with the first lady, she was dressed in a cute adire skirt and blouse and looked like a model ready for the runway. Prodded, Mrs. Agagu delved into the deep intimacy that has characteristed her over-three decade old marriage. 'We still do everything. We kiss and do everything you can think of. I have enjoyed my marriage because of the kind of man I am married to. Though there is no marriage without its ups and downs, ours has been a very loving union. I don't know whether it happens but next time when I am coming back, I wont ask for another man except my husband."
Funke and her husband are about the same age. The man is only a few weeks older. Spectacles asked why she did not go for an older person as was the fad in those days.
'The way I was brought up would not have made things easy for me. I am a respectful person and if I had been married to an elderly person, I don't know how I would be addressing him. I definitely would have seen him as a father or an uncle or something like that. I would not know how to relate with such a person, but I am very free with my husband," she responded
Funke has a strong passion for traditional attires, which, according to her, is an extention of her passion and commitment to her culture.
'When I was told you were here, I thought of tying my gele. But in order not to take much of your time, I came down like this. Apart from the fact that I am a very proud African woman; as the first lady, I am like a role model for the entire womenfolk here in the state. Naturally, I like the African way of dressing. Even when I travel abroad, I pack local dresses, which I wear over there. Trust the whites, they admire such things."
Funke refused to tell Spectacles the pet name she calls her husband, but said she was responsible for everything her husband wore.
She professes a lot of love and passion for the physically challenged and this she said dated back to her pre-government house days. She wouldn't recall how she came about it, but she said she felt very emotional concerning the physically challenged hence her pet project Handicapped Educational Foundation (HANDEF).
'At the time I was in school, we were always asked to volunteer for community service. Then, I would go for the blind in a place that was not very far from where we were staying in Ibadan. And when my husband became governor here, I decided to look for the school for the blind in Akure. My dear brother, what I saw there made me wonder why we human beings were so wicked and unfeeling. By the time I finished walking around the school, I was crying like a baby. As a matter of fact, most of us treat people with disability with disdain; we don't want them to come near us; we don't want them to sit with us; that is the way we treat them and that was how I met them. They were packed like animals. But when I came back home and told my husband what I saw, he gave instructions for an assessment. Thank God, we have been able to turn their fortunes around. Not long ago, the wife of the president was here to commission the centre that was specially built for the handicapped."