Elizabeth Ayodele, an accomplished icon of probity

Genial, inspiring, graceful, devout…are words that come to mind when I think of how best to describe my ‘date’ for this week. Born on 21st August 1962 in Ouagadogou Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Elizabeth Ayodele is today, to many, an icon of endeavour and accomplishment as a dedicated professional, a steadfast motivator, a shining exemplar, a diligent achiever, a dutiful wife, a loving mother and a faithful believer.

Elizabeth was solidly schooled, starting from her primary education at Local Authority Primary School, Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos, moving through the respected Olivet Baptist High School in Olivet Heights, Oyo, in Oyo state and then University at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) before culminating her education at the Nigerian Law School from where she was called to the bar in1985.

Ayodele has since her entry into professional life and gainful employment used the common touch to achieve uncommonly enviable results. She has assiduously worked her way up the ladder at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the position of Deputy Director and head of Legal and Prosecution.

She is an instinctive and compassionate leader of people, which is bourne out by the appellation of “commander” by which she is widely known by all her colleagues and staff. She believes in leading by example and has thereby earned the loyalty of all.

These virtues are also exhibited in her domestic life where she is a treasured wife and adored mother.

As the wife of a highly successful career diplomat, Ayodele has travelled the world serving her beloved nation, Nigeria in very many resourceful and innovative ways. In their several postings, she forged friendships and relationships in the very best diplomatic traditions and in the process, between 1988 and 1990 she was the executive secretary in Tokyo, Japan, of the African Women Association; in Rome, Italy between 1985 and 1986 she was the Vice President of the African Women Association; In Maputo, Mozambique between 1999 and 2000 she was also the Vice President of the African Women Association and in Bucharest, Romania she was a member of the International Women in Romania Society. Elizabeth’s husband, Ambassador Ayodele is currently Nigeria’s ambassador to Greece.

As a Christian, Elizabeth lives her faith and is today a convener and the mastermind behind an early morning prayer meeting called the Grace Global Fellowship.

Elizabeth grew up like every normal child having the benefits of both parents alive and together. “I was not born with either a silver or wooden spoon in my mouth; as a matter of fact, I was born with no spoon in my mouth! We are six children in the family, born in a remote village called Dori near Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. Life was idyllic, simple and quiet. We are a Christian family and brought up in the ways of the Lord. I left my parents at a very tender age to live with my Aunt in Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos. Life there was raw and rough. There, I had intensive intimacy with poverty but we were all happy because we really did not know that we were poor!”
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t know that we were profoundly poor until one of my classmates visited me while on vacation as secondary school students and raised an alarm at the depth of our poverty. About eleven of us were sleeping in a one-room apartment and when my friend asked me where she would sleep, I told her to help herself into any corner of the room and she found the situation quite terrible and horrible because she was from an affluent background. So, in a way, I grew up playing Ludo with poverty and this experience is helping me to appreciate what life on the underside is” she tells me.

As the wife of a serving ambassador, Elizabeth’s experience is quite intriguing. Hear what she says to me on this matter and be inspired too. In her words, “My marriage is an act of God. I really did not know the prospects of marrying someone working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My first awakening came immediately after our wedding when my husband was posted to Italy. At the airport in Rome, I was shocked seeing a white man waiting for us to carry my luggage to our apartment and even more surprised to see a white housemaid waiting to clean the service apartment we were staying!” she says and continues “The sudden metamorphosis from Mushin to a reserved diplomatic lifestyle was too much for me. But I quickly adjusted and settled down into another life of privileges and challenges. My husband is a serving Ambassador in one of the European Union Countries and I practically moved round with him in all his postings. By the special grace of God,
we served in Tokyo, Japan after Rome. We were also in Maputo, Mozambique with concurrent accreditation to Swaziland, Mauritus and Madagascar. It was a wonderful time in Bucharest, Romania, and Berlin in Germany.” She says.

A loving mother and blessed wife is how you can describe Elizabeth but one other attribute she is known for is speaking the truth. It may be easy to conclude that she is enjoying every bit of thirty years of marriage but Elizabeth says it hasn’t been rosy all the way. Hear her share on a season in her life that she’s not quick to forget “a very horrific tempest came when my marriage started flashing a red light. For some inexplicable reason, my husband tried to settle for a divorce. It was a trying time for me both as a village girl and as a Christian. Rejection may look simple in poetry and sermon: it is bitter in practical life. For two years, the divorce alarm was ringing but God eventually broke the bell. I already had three children for my husband. There was no problem that I knew about but the marriage seemed set for collapse but God stood in the midst of the storm and commanded peace. There may be other challenges but as a woman, threats of divorce didn’t smell nice at all.” She narrates.

As the deputy director and head of Legal and Prosecution at EFCC, Elizabeth does well in balancing work and family and ends the interview on that note. “Well, my job is my job and my home is my home. They are not the same and God has been gracious in helping me combine both. I need to say that if you can succeed at the home front as a wife, you won’t have a mountain you can’t scale in your job. As a Christian, prayers are vital because it is only prayers that give the ability of God to a mortal being.”

 

Kemi Ajumobi