Pastor Umo and Pastor Patience Eno Celebrate 37 Years In Marriage
At a time when the family life of many Nigerians are in comatose and marriages don’t last sometimes up to 24 hours after the wedding events, nothing more can be so soothing and reassuring to find a Christian couple celebrating 37 years of nuptial bliss.
Pastor Umo Eno and wife, Pastor Mrs. Patience Eno are great achievers, in several ways. They have stayed faithful to their covenant to serve in Christian ministry till the end – as both still pastor hundreds of members under the All Nations Christian Ministry International, Eket, despite their highly elevated office as Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
Most enlivening is their exemplary quiet and joyful marriage as Christian couple for 37 good years, with children and grandchildren.
You can imagine the joys that pervaded the entire Akwa Ibom media industry when the news of their marriage anniversary broke. Pastor Umo Eno and wife are really a model of building a strong lasting institution of marriage, just as they have achieved a similar feat in entrepreneurship, before coming into governance.
Many Christian leaders will have to learn lessons with this couple’s record breaking achievements. As it is often said that behind a successful man, is the woman, Pastor Umo Eno has never held back appreciation to his wife for all God has blessed him with.
He describes the wife as, “My source of strength, motivation and partner in the task of building a strong family, business and ministry rooted on the principles of good values, diligence and godly virtues.”
There are some good lessons to emulate from the success, as presented here.
WHY HE MARRIED EARLY
VISION: Pastor Umo Bassey Eno grew up early to understand the importance of time and opportunity in relation to successful living and well-being.
Hence, he got a job with a bank in Lagos. His office was located in Lagos Island while he lived at Ikeja, a distance of about 90 kilometres. He had to wake up early to catch a bus through the unyielding Lagos traffic to be at his desk by 8am each workday, closing late in the evening to arrive home late. You can imagine the hassles in the bustling city of Lagos. But rather than get discouraged, his vision for an early start in virtually all aspects of life became clearer. With the bank job, marriage then was a priority.
HIS VALUE SYSTEM
Umo Eno had a good moral upbringing at the elementary stage of his life. Earlier, his parents had introduced him to Christian values of love for God, good character and dignity in labour. He became more committed to virtuous ideals of the Apostolic Church’s choir, Mapoju, Lagos, where he and young Patience, whom he later wooed, also served.
His passion for Christian service and virtue rather facilitated his dreams for early marriage.
HOW HE GOT HIS WIFE
In the eighties young men hardly exhibited courage in communicating love message to the opposite sex – face to face. Telephone was the exclusive preserve of the rich. Letter writing was therefore the norm. So, having made up his mind, he communicated his intention to marry the young blossoming Patience, who was in her late teens then, through a letter.
The young lady, however, received the message with equanimity, but frowned at the medium through which it was channelled. And she protested: “Is this how to propose to marry a girl in your place? Notwithstanding, the Mkpat Enin born ebony girl gave in later – and the nuptial knots were tied. They have since been blessed with six children, three males and three female and several grandchildren.
