By CrossRiverWatch Admin
Linda Ayade is a medical doctor by profession and the Wife of the Governor of Cross River state. Some people have described her as the most beautiful first lady in Nigeria while others say she appears to be the most calm. In this interview with CrossRiverWatch in her Abuja home, the Founder of Mediatrix Health Foundation open up on her family, the foundation and many other issues.
Excerpts:
Many women in Cross River state talk about you as a woman that is calm and chaste and very quite. Have you always been like that or have you only been humbled by your experience?
Well, it is difficult for me to judge myself. The other person is supposed to be your mirror. So if they say so, perhaps, i will agree with them because I have always been like that. I don’t think much has changed about me apart from my age.
What would you say is the secret of this calmness? There must be something from within that is the source of the serenity or…
Yes, It’s a very simple formula I use. Nothing agitates me. It’s from my Christian background. Whatever I do in life, I try to take it to God and as a Christian, I try to practice Christianity to the best of my ability and one of the practices of a Christian is to study the word of God and in the word of God, I realize that one of the last things that Christ gave to his disciples before he finally departed this earth in human form is peace. So the fact that He (Christ) said it twice, peace I give you, my peace I leave unto you, not the peace that the world gives, I have meditated on that severally and I have come to see that God did not want us to be agitated. He didn’t want us to get worried about anything. Somewhere else in the Bible you will see where he says cast your cares upon me, exchange your yoke for my yoke and so what is your yoke? What are your burdens? So he has severally, spread across the scriptures, told you that, you should keep your peace. He will take everything that concerns you as his own project so, that is what I practice. Whatever comes that wants to disturb my peace, I push it aside. how do I push it aside, I don’t push it aside by just saying go away, I pass it over to God in prayer and I maintain my peace and I tell you the truth, God always fight my battles and I have always won my battles and from that experience, as a human being, I love the peace and I enjoy it. So I dont want to exchange it for any trouble at any point in time. So whenever trouble comes, I pass it over to
God and I keep my peace, so that is the secret behind my calmness.
You have a husband that is very intelligent and intelligent people are very impossible naturally. He is also very impulsive and very emotional. how do you cope with this combination and his speed?
You are very correct about his nature but I have been married to him for 17 years now. so 17 years is no joke. Before marraige, we courted for 2 years so I have known him for 19 years. So I have known him well enough. I know him as very intelligent, you are correct. He is quite impulsive and he is indeed very impossible. But you learn your partner, and learn how to cope with him as a wife, that is my duty. I learn my partner and I learn how to cope with him. I do things to support him, to encourgage him, I tell him where he is going wrong, and praise him where he is getting it right, that is all I do.
You are the first woman in the state now and I am sure you have something important you want to tell Cross River women particularly this season?
Cross River women are my sisters and they are our mothers. Both my mothers and my sisters are now my children by virtue of my position. I want to tell them that I love them. Particularly for this season that I wish them the best of the season, that they should take advantage of all that is happening around them this season, they should take it seriously and key into the state agenda and that most especially I have them in mind. I know that there is economic recession in the country, as much as possible I will do what I can to alleviate their suffering. I will try to get to the nook and crannies of the state to reach out especially to those who are unreachable, to see what I can do for them. So my message for them is a message of love, a message of greetings and to tell them I haven’t forgotten them.
Say a word about your Mediatrix Health Foundation. Of what benefit is it to the women of Cross River State?
Mediatrix Foundation by it’s name is Catholic. That is where I worship. By it’s name, it is standing as a mediator between whoever feels passionate about humanity and want to reach out to my people and want to be there to mediate. As much as I mediate my own passion and love to them by virtue of my position using the resources within my reach to get across to the people, I will also stand in to mediate between them and those they cannot reach. So in the foundation, coming from my health background, by virtue of my profession, I talk more on health, and I see that there are a lot of health challenges in Cross River as well as the entire country anyway, and there are some health challenges that are peculiar to women. In Cross River state we have our peculiarities as well, we have some problems that need to be nipped in the bud, so the foundation is there to see how it can cushion that little gap between what the government can do for them and what the government cannot do for them, to see how we can cushion that gap and make life a little better for everyone. I talk about women, I talk about children and I also talk about everybody because I have some plans here in the foundation where I will reach out to everybody. So I need the support of everyone. Whoever is passionate about the health of the society and thinks he has anything to offer, we are open to everybody to help us see how we can leverage on the strength of our women.
Thank you for your attention madam.
Thank you too.
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