‘Even at 90, I love to dance like crazy’

Born into the renowned Bini family of Imasogie, Mrs. Esther Oghogho Ajekuko, for a 90-year-old, stands graceful at over six feet, nimbly climbs up and then down the stairs of her duplex as she goes into the kitchen to prepare her breakfast of omelette and bread. She feels very happy that God has given her […]

Born into the renowned Bini family of Imasogie, Mrs. Esther Oghogho Ajekuko, for a 90-year-old, stands graceful at over six feet, nimbly climbs up and then down the stairs of her duplex as she goes into the kitchen to prepare her breakfast of omelette and bread.
She feels very happy that God has given her such longevity and is particularly grateful that her children are all around her.
When she celebrated 70, she never thought she would get this old. “But people who see me, don’t believe I am this old,” she says as she swings around for our reporter to see. “I had been prophesied to that I would have long life. But I didn’t define it to be as old as 90. So I give glory to the almighty.”
Chronicling her life from childhood till date, Ajekuko says the one thing which has given her the most pleasure is the life of her eldest daughter and first child: “Especially the fact that after marrying for 20 years, she eventually became a mother.
“The day she had that first child was an even happier day for me than when I had her, my own first child. So far, there’s been no joy for me compared to that.”
She adds that: “I am also pleased with the progress my other children have made and the fact that they are healthy and stable.”
Laughing heartily when asked what the secret of her youthfulness is, she says: “I would say that is the handiwork of God because I eat the same food as others do. I still climb up and down the stairs myself. I bath myself and when there is no one or they are all busy, I go into the kitchen to make my food. I am grateful that for a 90-year-old, I am still very much self-reliant and don’t even need a walking stick.”
Describing her only ‘deformity’ as her use of medicated eye glasses, she gaily says: “But even this I don’t feel bad about it because much, much younger people use them as well.”
However, she stresses that: “The one thing I would say though is that I have always been careful about my habits and never done anything in excess.
“In my time we did a lot of hard work and raised our families as well. I had nine children but lost two. I raised the remaining seven all by myself with no house help as you people have today. You can’t raise seven active children like mine were and not be fit. If you weren’t initially, you would be by the time you go around and did the merry-go-round, involuntarily, with them. I can’t say that there is any special thing I do to stay this way.
“This notwithstanding, there is no one who is healthy all the time. And sometimes, age has nothing to do with it. I have been ill a few times, but thankfully the incidents have never been grave.”
She has been politely accused of lying about her age, but the grandmother says: “I love the unintended compliments. I’m so proud of my looks and my age and therefore have no reason whatsoever to lie about it and I insist on this to such people.” 
Mrs. Ajekuko doesn’t consider being born on Easter Sunday and celebrating her landmark 90th birthday on another Easter Sunday a coincidence, but God’s divine arrangement: “It is such a beautiful blessing to me. That’s why my father named me Esther. My paternal grandmother named me ‘Oghogho’ which means ‘Joy’ in the Edo language.” 
Despite her clean bill of health, Mama says the one thing she dreads, is sickness. “I don’t want it at all; especially those incurable diseases,” she says unapologetically.
On how she has kept her looks so young and fresh, she says: “My hair used to be a lot fuller but old age has thinned it. I’ve always kept to natural products like kernel oil and Shea butter. I wear make-up every now and again if I have to but, I basically like to use natural things.”
Widowed about age 34, she says petty trading and support from her eldest daughter is what saw her through training her younger children and surviving all the challenges that come with being a widow.
Intermittently cracking jokes and standing up to make funny gestures with her grandchildren, the nonagenarian said: “Playing with my children and their friends, helping with school work, is what I believe added to my youthfulness, especially in my spirit.
“I know how much I suffered as a young girl. When I see myself today, and remember growing up in a polygamous home … my mother left me when I was very young. I didn’t even know when she left or that she was somewhere. My paternal grandmother was the one I referred to as my mother. I was a full-grown adult when I realised I had a mother somewhere.
“Not having my mother as a part of my life was such an unhappy experience for me. Her first help towards me was when I had my first child.”
Speaking on her most adventurous experience she notes: “Growing up in a polygamous home was very difficult. My father loved me very much but… there was a ‘but’ because of the many women he married. They didn’t like me at all. Surviving in their midst was quite adventurous.
“I went to school up to standard six; took entrance exam and went to St. Mary’s Convent, Lagos, which housed St. Theresa’s High School where I attended. 
“I had a guardian whom I went to visit on our first outing day. I lost my way going back to school. By the time I traced the school the gate had been locked. You know reverend sisters and how strict they could be; I wasn’t allowed in and then de-boarded.
“My father refused that I become a day student. Eventually he refused to pay the fees and asked that I learned tailoring. I did so and went back home to Benin and began training others on my father’s veranda.”
It was while she was sewing on her father’s veranda that she met her husband, Chief Edward Ajekuko, through a cousin: “I was so shy the first day we met and also afraid that if my father found out I would be dead meat. My father was very angry when he learned that he was not an Urhobo man. But I was adamant and we got married. He worked in Rivers, Ondo, Edo and then Sapele, where he retired and at each place worked, he went with his family.”
Fond memories Mrs. Ajekuko remembers was her husband ‘chasing’ her until she fell helplessly in love with him: “Unlike today, buying gifts was not a definition of love. We married from natural love, not gift love. I remember us going to dance almost every weekend even though I was pregnant. We shared such a good friendship that made us a delight to watch on the dance floor.”
Standing up to demonstrate, the nonagenarian danced her two favourite steps, the waltz and the quick, quick step. To the admiration of everyone in the room she waltzed from one end to another and seamlessly switched to the quick step. With a wide smile she said: “These are things my husband took time to teach me especially when we were to participate in a competition. Most of the crockery we used then were from competitions we won. I still love to dance the waltz and quick, quick step,” Mrs. Ajekuko says with enthusiasms.
“He was more in love with me than I was with him. He was so good with the children and would take them to the River Ethiope to teach them to swim even though I was screaming my lungs out for him not to, he would tease me and exaggerate how fearful I am,” she added laughing.
“We had very good times,” she says with nostalgia, and goes on to comment on the biggest lesson life has taught her and her advice for others: “It is very important for us to be constant and stable so that people can see you as trustworthy. Also, patience and respect for others is a philosophy I’ve applied all through my life. It has brought me much success and love.”