A WOMAN OF FAITH AND SUBSTANCE
Dr. Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel is a true blend of faith and substance. The name Martha reminds us of that godly woman who exceeded expectations in her passion to please her Master, Lord Jesus, by ensuring lunch was ready and served in good time.
Martha represents illustrious women who work hard to meet needs of others. Names define destinies. The name Martha has been a driving force in the life of the wife of the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, who will be remembered for her outstanding contributions to improving the lives of the women, the girl child education, and also worked hard to curtail child abuse, domestic violence against children and women. She also fought hard to end stigmatization of children as witches and wizards. For eight years, Dr. Martha Udom Emmanuel was the Mother Teresa for the underprivileged people of Akwa Ibom State – a reliever of pains of the oppressed.
Popular for her numerous sensitization rallies against ills perpetrated against the girl child such as child sexual abuse and molestation, child hawking and teenage marriage that took her to grassroots where she educated and empower women to shrug off the toga of inferiority and rise or dakkada to the faith of greatness.
She sensitized the women, youths and family heads on the need to protect the girl child from predatory sexual abuse. Under her watch, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly passed bills into laws that prohibited physical abuse, sexual exploitation and violence against women and the girl child. She didn’t just rally against the societal ills affecting the underprivileged, she went a step further to establish Family Empowerment and Youth Re-orientation Path Initiative (FEYReP), a nongovernmental organization she engaged to implement her humanitarian vision for the State.
Today, after her tenure as first lady of Akwa Ibom State, FEYReP is still carrying out her founding mandate; collaborating with other non-governmental agencies for intervention in issues of poverty, disease, women and children well-being. A godly mother and dedicated wife, she supported the husband in no little way, to ensure that Akwa Ibom State was peaceful. A prayerful woman and a songstress is Martha Udom Emmanuel; serving God and humanity is what Deaconess Martha enjoys most in her life.
Away from the klieglight of public office today, this peaceful and quiet woman has not stopped supporting the poor, working tirelessly behind the scenes to sustain her lofty humanitarian goals under FEYReP. Having been raised up in a disciplined family in the Annang nation, Akwa Ibom State, young Martha grew up with a deep longing for God whom she still serves with vigour, in and out of public life.
She has the credit of encouraging early start of weekly and monthly prayer programs in Government House during her days as the first lady of Akwa Ibom State. Her vibrant prayer life while in office of the first lady has since become a legacy in Akwa Ibom State.
Outspoken, intelligent and forthright, she cannot be ignored in the political turf. Being nurtured by a well-educated parents, Chief Bernard Sampson Idiong and Prof. Stella Idiong of Obio Akpa in Oruk Anam LGA of Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Martha is a moving force. Her political deftness helped contributed to successful campaigns of her husband under the banner, Only God piloted by Divine Mandate organization, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
An eloquent speaker, her oratorical acumen came to the fore during the gubernatorial campaigns of Pastor Umo Eno, the current Akwa Ibom State Governor, where she ably represented her husband across the LGAs of the State.
Her Christian faith burgeoned from her early life and bloomed after her marriage to a gentleman banker who happened later in life to become the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Deacon Udom Emmanuel, both had root in a conservative denomination, Qua Iboe Church, a leading mainline church founded by Samuel Bill, over a century ago. Bill was a Presbyterian missionary from Scotland.
The church’s belief system and dogma remains rooted in her origin, Presbyterian Church, with the presbytery greatly influencing leadership and the mode of worship. A truly evangelical church, Qua Iboe Church, now United Evangelical Church, has raised majority of leaders of Akwa Ibom State.
Apart from Udom Emmanuel and wife, Martha, late first military Governor of the State, Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga and wife, Deaconess Funmi Nkanga were products of the church.
Martha Udom Emmanuel holds a doctorate honorary, University of Uyo, where she earlier bagged first and second degrees in Biochemistry.
Indeed she’s an ebullient daughter of Zion, a woman of integrity, a doyen of faith and substance, influencing transformational leadership in women, so they can aspire beyond their limitations. She’s worthy of celebration!
