I once flew from Nigeria to France standing –Edet Traore

Seventy-six-year old Mrs. Eno Edet Traore, younger sister to former Inspector-General of Police, Louis Edet, tells ‘Nonye Ben-Nwankwo about her life and career

Why did you add your maiden name to your surname?

But there are many cases like that, it is not strange for women to add their husbands’ names to  existing family names. I just added the ‘Edet’ to my name. I got married in France. I was answering Eno Traore there. It was when I came back to Nigeria that I added Edet to my name. But then, my passport still bears my maiden name –Eno Edet. I have never changed my first passport to my married name.

Really?

Yes. But it is not compulsory. I have travelled all over the world with my name –Eno Edet. Some of my documents bear Mrs. Traore. At times, I even buy air ticket with Traore and when I get to the airport, I would always tell them that Edet is my maiden name. There hasn’t been an issue.

You must have lived in France for a long time…

Not really. I was in the University of Lagos for my first degree before I went to France for my Master’s degree. I got French scholarship. I got married in France and I had my first two children there. I left Nigeria in 1966. I left the very day of the coup in Nigeria.

That is interesting, how?

It was the day our ticket was booked. Nobody knew there was going to be a coup. My flight had been booked over a month before that 15th of January. On that day, the coup occurred. We woke up to go to the airport; some friends who were supposed to see me off to the airport told me the road was blocked because there had been a coup. All my life, I hadn’t heard what a coup was. I didn’t understand what they meant by coup. They said the government had been overthrown and there was no road to get to the airport. But I was to travel. I decided I must reach the airport, no matter what.

What did you do?

The flight was to depart at 11am. Some of my friends decided to go with me. They didn’t think the airport would be closed just like that. On our way, we got stuck. Everywhere was blocked. There were soldiers everywhere. The traffic was so long. You couldn’t go forward or backward. We managed to get to Ikeja and we saw soldiers combing the bushes.

Why?

They said they were looking for the corpses of the Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and the others. We were still stuck till about 2pm. We had left the house as early as 8am for the 11am flight. But I saw a police van with the siren blaring. I just came out of our car and I flagged down the police vehicle. My brother was already the Inspector General of Police then. Most of the police officers at least knew my brother even if they didn’t know me. So when the policemen asked me who I was, I told them I was Edet, the IG’s sister. They asked me where I was going. I told them and they said they would take only me but not my friends who came to see me off. So with the siren still blaring, they took me to the airport.

Were you still able to catch the flight?

The airport was like a market place when we got there. There was no aircraft. Incidentally, it was the Air France, the airline I booked, that was on ground. They said that  other airlines had begged Air France to bring all the passengers. The British children were all going home. They decided to pack all the children inside the aircraft. This was around 5pm. There was no space for us again. They had to tie us somehow and we were just holding on. There was no food. The little food that was available was given to the children. There was no food for the adults. We didn’t sit on the seats from Nigeria to France. Some of us sat on the floor of the plane.

Was that your first time of travelling abroad?

That was my first time of travelling abroad. In fact, it was even my first time of boarding a plane.

Was your brother still the IG then?

He retired when the katakata started. He got a post in London. Few years after the coup, the Civil War broke out. I wasn’t in Nigeria during that time. I came in briefly for a week holiday. I couldn’t even go to Calabar, I stayed in Lagos before I travelled back to France.

Was it education that brought you from Calabar to Lagos back then?

I first went to a Teachers Training College in Enugu. When I finished, I came to Lagos to get admission and I was admitted to the University of Lagos. We were the pioneer students. Most of the courses were just starting at that period. I just decided to study French. Not so many people were going for French.  So many others were going for Geography and Medicine.

Were your parents so wealthy that they could train you in school?

Those days, there weren’t so many rich parents. There wasn’t oil to bunker. My father was a tax collector for the colonial masters. That was how he got the colonial connection. Our family was known. It was then that my brother was picked to be the Inspector General of Police.

How was it having a brother who was the number one policeman in Nigeria?

We were students then. One thing I remember was that there were lots of agitation by students in those days. They were always demanding for one thing or the other. I remember the labour threatening to go on strike. The students were telling me that the money used in feeding my brother’s dogs was higher than the salary of a graduate. They would always abuse me. We were not so popular because of the agitation. If you were connected to the government of the day, the students would regard you as being on the other side.

His influence would have rubbed off on the other members of the family…

It didn’t affect us. You know that police people can be very strict. You passed exam because you worked hard. I got my scholarship on merit. It wasn’t influenced in any way.

Your contemporaries were majorly going to the UK for further studies. Why did you choose France?

In those days, they were promoting French Language in Nigeria. The French were doing a lot of propaganda. They said Nigeria is surrounded by French speaking countries and that it was necessary for Nigerians to speak French. There was a quick French programme to train French teachers. Immediately we finished, they picked the best five of us and gave us scholarship to France for Master’s in French. In my house now, we are bilingual. Everybody speaks French. We switch from one language to the other.

Would you still remember how you felt when you got to France that first day?

First of all, there was never a coup in Nigeria until the day I had to travel. I arrived in Paris; the snow was seven feet high. I had never seen snow. They were now telling me the snow was falling for the first time in the last 10 years. Can you imagine? It had to wait for me to get to Paris before falling. I was so cold. I went to bed with my socks and shoes on. Funny enough, when we got to the hotel, they had already heard the news of what happened in Nigeria, they knew the stories we didn’t know. We couldn’t even tell them we didn’t know what was happening. Anyway, my first impression of Paris was the cold. But we got used to it eventually.

Did you get married to a French man?

No. But we met in France. My husband was also a student in France. We got married as students. He was studying Vet Medicine. I had my two kids while I was a student. He is from Mauritania.

Was it because of marriage that you didn’t come home after your Master’s?

Oh yes. But there was the war in Nigeria. It wasn’t because of the war that I married a non-Nigerian any way. It just happened.  We were still in France during the Nigerian Civil War. We stayed back until my husband finished his studies, then we went back to his country.

How did your parents take the news of your marriage to a non-Nigerian?

I lost my mother when I was still in the college in Enugu. My father was old. I came from a polygamous home. I was the same age as one of the children of my first brother. By the time I got married, my brother didn’t mind at all. He used to come for Interpol in Paris. He knew my husband then. He didn’t object.

What attracted you to a non-Nigerian?

When you are friends, a lot of things can get you attracted to each other. He was in students’ council. He was the president of the students’ union. He used to convince other students to join the union.

Unionists are always seen as activists. Was he an activist?

He was very much an activist and he is even till now. He was always in the opposition even when we got to Mauritania. He is still in the opposition. He is very much in politics.

Did you support him? Weren’t you scared that something bad could happen to him?

I supported him. I was teaching in the country at that time. There were lots of political upheavals at that time in Mauritania. He was placed under house arrest at one time. Because I was teaching at that time, I couldn’t stay aloof; I also got involved in activism. So when he was placed under house arrest, I was in detention, I was also arrested with about 20 others. I was incarcerated for about five months. I stayed in detention for five months without seeing sunshine. When I was released, I was all white. People used to call me a Norwegian. My last child was just two years then. It was a very turbulent period for us.

How was the experience?

What can you recount? It is not like your home. We were just confined. We were many there. We were reading. They allowed people to bring us food from home. There was a lot of solidarity. People kept demonstrating outside the prison. There was a lot of agitation about our detention. I survived it.

But in that period, didn’t you ask yourself if your struggle was worth it?

No. That would have been a defeatist attitude. I am a fighter. It was a sort of pride that you were detained and some people were demonstrating on your behalf. Some embassies were taking care of my children. I felt okay. I couldn’t regret. On the contrary, it even fired me up to fight on.

At what point did you come back to Nigeria?

I came back some years after. After those years of turbulence, there was a kind of war in Mauritania that involved Morocco and Algeria as well. I experienced the war situation that I didn’t experience in Nigeria. The situation became so unbearable. I decided to come to Nigeria for a while during that war period.

And your husband agreed?

He wasn’t happy about it. But I told him I had to go back to Nigeria. I came back. I told my husband I would get back when the war was over. He used to come to Nigeria. My children were already in high school. So as time went on, I found a job in the bank in Nigeria. I didn’t go back to Mauritania. I would always say I would go but I kept shifting it. I never went back. I got a job with UBA.

When did you start work at UBA?

That was around 1974. Banks weren’t computerised then. There was a contract for the computerisation of the banks. The Americans bided for it; the French and even the Italians bided for the contract. Eventually the French won the contract. They couldn’t speak English.  There was a team meant to prepare the feasibility report for the computerisation of the bank. They were writing their reports in English. They were looking for a translator. I saw the advert in the newspaper.

That was how you applied for it?

Yes. I was thinking it was either I went back to Mauritania or I stayed back in Nigeria. I saw the advert on a Saturday morning. The following Monday, I went to the bank and asked for the Personnel Department. I told them about the advert I saw. They said yes, they had a team working for them and they needed a translator. I asked if I could see the team. I saw the French men and I immediately rattled off in French. I hadn’t spoken English for close to 10 years. So we started discussing. We didn’t even talk about the employment I went for. I was just at ease. They said I wasn’t even a Nigerian. I told them I was. They didn’t believe me. I told them my brother was the first IGP. I told them my uncle worked in Shell BP as the legal adviser. I mentioned other names. They insisted I bring evidence. I quickly went to my uncle in Shell and asked for an identification letter. He gave me the introduction letter. The people at the bank still went back to verify and they found out the letter wasn’t a fake one. They asked me to start work immediately.

Just like that?

Yes. Just like that. The admin department didn’t find it funny. They insisted I must do the tests and medical exams. But I still started work that very day and they gave me volumes of reports to translate but also said I should come by the weekend to take the test since it was a normal procedure for employment. I went that weekend for the test. They gave me the question paper. You know I was a French teacher. I was teaching in Mauritania and I studied in France. So, when I got the question paper, it was full of mistakes and grammatical errors. The translation was terrible. I just called for another sheet of paper. I sat down there and I rewrote their questions and corrected them the way they ought to have been. I submitted the paper to them. They asked me if that was my answer. I told them no, it was their questions and how they should have written them. I told them to go back and set their questions properly because I had rewritten the questions for them. Don’t forget that I had started work. They ignored me. That was how I started fully; nobody disturbed me about the test again.

How long did you work in the bank?

I worked there for 12 years. I learnt that if you work for up to 10 years and get to the age of 45, you would get your full benefit when you retire. That was what I decided to do. We were entitled to staff loans and other loans at minimal interest rates. When my appointment was confirmed, I scouted for land. I got one and I got a loan and developed it. I applied for building loan and I got it as well.  I later went for commercial loan. I learnt they only gave that kind of loan to retired members of staff. As soon as I clocked 45, I decided to retire. I was building my house before I retired.  As soon as I retired, I went back for the commercial loan and I got it. In those days, the economic depression in Nigeria had started. That was around 1984. Things went bad. As I was building my house, other houses were there, no rent. There was a lady close to me. She advised me to turn it into a hotel since people weren’t renting houses again. So when I retired from the bank, I started the hotel with just one room ready.  There was no generator. The guests didn’t mind. There weren’t so many hotels at that time, so the demand was high. It took me about three years to complete it.

And that was how you started the hospitality business?

I didn’t intentionally go into hospitality business. It was just that people were not renting houses again. There wasn’t much demand for duplexes. I managed that hotel successfully for about 27 years.  I trained all my children with the proceeds from the hotel. Whatever else I made from it, I invested in buying lands. I would travel all over the world and check out other hotels and bring back the good ideas to my own hotel. I called the hotel Beila Garden. Beila was the name of the female prison I stayed in Mauritania. The name just came to my mind when I was looking for a name for the hotel. Eventually, I sold the hotel and built another one.

You don’t look as if you are ready to retire…

I am 76 years now. But what do you retire for? If you retire, you stay at home and watch TV and you die. You ought to be active to stay alive. You eat good food, exercise and rest. I go to Ikoyi Club and swim about 40 laps, play golf and I am okay.

Did your husband eventually remarry since you didn’t go back to Mauritania?

He did. And he had children. But he used to come here as well. But I didn’t remarry. When I came back to Nigeria, I was still very young. I could have remarried if I had wanted to.

So why didn’t you remarry?

Nigerian men like children. I already had four children and I didn’t think I would marry another man who wouldn’t want me to have another child for him. I couldn’t start having children again. Nigeria is not like Europe where people can marry for companionship.

Did you ever try getting into politics?

Oh yes. When I got back, I joined politics in Nigeria. The ban on politics was lifted in 1976. I was in the bank then. I joined PRP. I contested election for the Lagos State House of Assembly. I just wanted to show that you can contest election anywhere. I was in the campaign train of Mallam Aminu Kano and we travelled all over the country.

How did you manage the days of politics since you were still working in the bank then?

I used to be absent from work most of the time because of politics. There were so many debates then. Politics was more of ideology and not about money. I used to appear on the TV for the debate for my party. Alhaji Mutallab was the managing director of the bank then. People told me I would be sacked then because of my involvement in the party. I was a member of the national board committee of the party. I told Mallam Aminu Kano that I learnt I was going to be sacked from the bank. Anyway, party supporters went to Mutallab and told him not to sack me. One day, he called me and told me to stay put in my office, and that if he would not sack me, I should stop appearing on the TV. You know, my head was hot at that time given the fact that I just came back from Mauritania. He told me he saw me more on TV than in the office. I stopped appearing on TV for a while. But I was angry. Why should I be restricted like that, am I a prisoner? After two months, I started appearing on TV again. I wasn’t sacked anyway. I also joined Social Democratic Party during the time of MKO Abiola. I was still in the bank. I went to Calabar to contest for Senate