Stella obasanjo biography examples

Antoinette-Rita’s previous books are poetry books: ‘Purple & Blue – Inspirational Poems and TheBlue Ocean – Peace, Power, Prosperity’ (Volume 1); she fell in love with poetry at an early age. Unlike many poets, she began writing poetry at the age of six and songs at the age of 9. She has received among other international awards including, The Young Poet Award, courtesy of the International Society of Poets, held in Florida, United States of America in 2004.
​Antoinette-Rita’s ‘Stella: Her Journey & Her Legacy’ is an anthological biography (including poetry and photographs) of the life of Chief (Mrs.) Stella Obasanjo, the erstwhile First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Sixteen key personalities and other thirty-two individuals give anthological accounts and tributes about the life and legacy of Stella Obasanjo in the book.
​This contribution, ‘Stella: Her Journey & Her Legacy’ by Antoinette-Rita to biographical literature of First Ladies in the world is phenomenal. When she discovered, as a committed female writer, that no publication on Stella Obasanjo was in the public domain, she decided to blow the trumpet of Stella’s legacy.
​In the book Antoinette-Rita organizes her materials well and also uses them effectively. With the two chapters; Introduction by Antoinette-Rita and A Life Remembered, she asserts that she is more than an interviewer and a compiler of the comments and the tributes of others on Stella Obasanjo. What others do not mention about Stella, Antoinette-Rita discovers with the keen eyes of a good biographer. For example, she includes in her own story that Stella Obasanjo received the 2000 African Civic Responsibility Award, based on her philanthropic works.
​The book bears one major ‘weakness’ of anthological biography – lack of chronological narration of events.
But in the book, Antoinette-Rita masterfully takes care of this defect wh

Reprinted for archival purposes; first published November 30, 2009

Trolling books in search of pleasure is fraught with peril; one never knows what darkness lurks between the covers of a book. There is the danger of inheriting someone else’s demons. Life is too short for such burdens, but it happens. Patrick French’s stellar biography of the writer V.S. Naipaul The World Is What It Is is an excellent example of hard covered darkness. As you read that dark book, the mind simply recoils from Naipaul’s misogyny and the heart fills with the mystery of what depravity and deficits in self esteem would permit a woman to endure such horrors of misogyny. This is a long rambling way of saying for the record that no book has upset me more in recent times than Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo, written by Mrs. Oluremi Obasanjo, Chief Matthew Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo’s first wife. This is one horrible book on many levels. It is a perverse metaphor for all that is wrong with Nigeria, but ultimately there is a gripping story under that book’s covers. Yes, it is a gripping book; I could not put it down. Read this book and weep for the fate of the women and children of Nigeria.

This is one horrible book on many levels. It is a perverse metaphor for all that is wrong with Nigeria. My copy came in a “hard cover,” to use that term extremely loosely. The pages seemed affixed to the covers with the liberal use of eba as an adhesive. Everything about it is poorly done – the writing, the research, the production, the editing. It was perhaps not edited. Diamond Publications Ltd, the publishers of this book should be embarrassed; this is not a book befitting the status of the ex-wife of a former ruler of Nigeria. Unfortunately, this sorry excuse for a book did not prevent blurb writers of stature (Reuben Abati, Femi Osofisan, etc) from lustily singing its praises. How it is possible that they could have read past the numerous typos and grammatical errors in that book speaks

STELLA: Her Journey & Her Legacy 

Author: Antoinette-Rita

Pages: 176

Reviewer: Yinka S. Kareem

Antoinette-Rita’s previous books are poetry books: Purple & Blue – Inspirational Poems and The Blue Ocean – Peace, Power, Prosperity (Volume 1); she fell in love with poetry at an early age. Unlike many poets, she began writing poetry at the age of 6 and songs at the age of 9. She has received among other international awards including, The Young Poet Award, courtesy of the International Society of Poets, held in Florida, United States of America in 2004.

Antoinette-Rita’s STELLA: Her Journey & Her Legacy is an anthological biography (including poetry and photographs) of the life of Chief (Mrs.) Stella Obasanjo, the erstwhile First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Sixteen key personalities and other 32 individuals give anthological accounts and tributes about the life and legacy of Stella Obasanjo in the book.

This contribution, STELLA: Her Journey & Her Legacy by Antoinette-Rita to biographical literature of First Ladies in the world is phenomenal. When she discovered, as a committed female writer, that no publication on Stella Obasanjo was in the public domain, she decided to blow the trumpet of Stella’s legacy. The book is therefore not a commissioned biography or imprimatur of Stella Obasanjo’s biography. Her description of the book underscores the fact that the book is a legacy book; she writes: “…legacy book about Mrs. Obasanjo…” (19). This statement by the author could as well serve as the epigraph of the book. However, her commitment towards the proclamation of the legacy of a fellow woman is noble.

In STELLA: Her Journey and Her Legacy, Antoinette-Rita organises her materials well and also uses them effectively. With the two chapters, “Introduction by Antoinette-Rita” and “A Life Remembered”, she asserts that she is more than an interviewer and a com

First Lady of Nigeria (1999–2005)

Stella Obasanjo (14 November 1945 – 23 October 2005) was the First Lady of Nigeria from 1999 until her death. She was the wife of former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo, although she was not the First Lady in 1976, when Obasanjo was military head of state. She died while undergoing elective liposuction abroad.

She was a political activist in her own right, supporting causes such as women's liberation, youth as leaders of tomorrow, and the rehabilitation of a war-torn Nigeria.

Early life and education

Stella Abebe was born on 14 November 1945, she was from Iruekpen, Esan West, Edo State. Her father, Dr. Christopher Abebe, was chief of the United Africa Company (UAC) who became the first indigenous (African) chairman of UAC Nigeria.

She 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 Awolowo 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 Pitman College in 1976. She returned to Nigeria in 1976.

Personal life

She married General Obasanjo with whom she had one son; Olumuyiwa Obasanjo born in 1977. Olusegun Obasanjo had just become Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, following the assassination of General Muritala Mohammed.

First Lady of Nigeria

When she became Nigeria's First Lady in 1999, following the electi