The elegant First Lady was born on November 14, 1945
but died before her 60th birthday on October 23 2005.
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| Obj and late Stella |
She died in Spain where she went for a cosmetic
procedure that later had complications. The surgery was scheduled towards the
commemoration of her 60th birthday, which she had planned for and sent invites
out.
In his autobiography, My Watch, which was released on December
8, 2015, the former President talked about his late spouse.
“After the interment,
I decided to look into the circumstances of her death,” Mr. Obasanjo wrote on
page 240 of Volume two of the book. “I found that part of her 60th birthday
anniversary, which was unknown to me, was her operation for her tummy and her
shape.”
He also commented on rumours that the late First Lady’s
death was a ‘ritual’ he had to undergo to become successful as the then
President of Nigeria.
He wrote: “Before
the verdict in Spain, I was unaware of what I came to hear later that I might
have caused the death of my wife to sacrifice her for success in my job,” he wrote.
“That is how wicked and satanic some Nigerians can be in their rumours and
mischief.”
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| Obj and First late Stella |
Also, he called out the doctor who carried out the
surgery and described him as “careless” and narrated how with the help of the
Nigerian Embassy in Spain and the Spanish authorities, he got justice for his
wife’s death.
“I instructed that the doctor and the clinic be
prosecuted. The lost life cannot be brought back but the successful prosecution
would prevent carelessness and loss of life in the future.”
The doctor, according to the former President, was made
to pay damages, which was collected by Olu Obasanjo, Stella’s son, and his
licence withdrawn for a period of time.
The doctor was sentenced to one year of imprisonment in
September 2009 on a charge of "causing homicide
through negligence", disqualified from medicine for a period of three
years.
Mr. Obasanjo was however full of praises for his wife,
whom he married in 1976, four years after the formal dissolution of his first
marriage.
He commended her for handling the confrontations she
had with his first wife, Remi, with maturity, for accepting children he had
with other women as her own, and for campaigning for his release while he was
in jail as well as supporting him during his presidency.
Mr. Obasanjo said shortly before her death, Stella, who
was Roman Catholic, ensured that her marriage was blessed by the church in a
small private ceremony at the Aso Villa conducted by Mathew Kukah, now the Catholic
Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.
According to Mr. Obasanjo, after the ceremony, his late
wife thanked him and said, “You have relieved me.”
Stella Obasanjo was
from Iruekpen, Esan West,
Edo State.
Her father, Dr. Christopher Abebe, was chief of the United Africa Company (UAC)
and would become the first indigenous (African) chairman of UAC
Nigeria. Stella Abebe began her education at Our
Lady of the Apostles Primary School.
She enrolled at St. Theresa's College, where she
obtained her West African School Certificate in 1964 with grade one. Two years
later she obtained the higher school certificate. She was admitted to the University
of Ife now (Obafemi Awolwo University), Ile-Ife, for a bachelor's degree in
English, attending from 1967 to 1969.
In 1969 she transferred to the UK to complete her
studies, this time round, in insurance, in London and Edinburgh, Scotland, from 1970 to 1974.
She completed her education with a certificate as
confidential secretary from the Pitman College in 1976. She returned to Nigeria
in 1976 and soon after married General Obasanjo, who had become Head of State
and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, following the
assassination of General Murtala Mohammed. When she became Nigeria's First Lady in 1999,
following the election of her husband as President, Obasanjo established Child Care Trust, for the care of
underprivileged and/or disabled children.
Additional
reports: Wikipedia
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