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By Mary Amodu and Eunice Emmanuel-Bagi.
One would think that at 86, Mrs. Grace Atinuke Oyelude would have lost some of the beauty that earned her the title of the First Miss Nigeria in 1957. But like fine wine, she has proven the theory that a true beauty queen is a queen forever.
Born in Sabon Gari, Kano on November 16, 1932 to the Christian family of Pa James Adeleye Oyelude and Late Mama Martha Datanu of Isanlu Local Government Area of Kogi State. The delectable combination of beauty and intelligence had her primary and secondary education between 1940 and 1952 in Kano.
After her secondary education, she had a stint with the United African Company (UAC) of Kano in 1957. At the age of 25, she was crowned the first Miss Nigeria and few months later, she gained admission into the School of Nursing in Ashford Kent, England.
She completed her training and became a state Registered Nurse (SRN) in 1961. Not satisfied with these achievements, she enrolled at the school of Midwifery, St. Thomas Hospital, London where she qualified as a state registered Midwife (NRM) in 1962.
While in the United Kingdom, Chief Oyelude practiced her Nursing profession in number of Hospitals, among them was Paddington General Hospital in London. Upon her return to Nigeria, she became a Nursing Sister at the General Hospital, Kaduna between 1964 and 1965, then Senior Nursing Sister in charge of the former Kaduna Nursing Home from 1965-1977.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1967, by virtue of a National assignment she headed a Medical team from the then Northern Region, which prepared hospitals for receiving war casualties and treating them.
In 1970, she joined the institute of Health, Ahmadu Bello University as a Senior Matron and then rose to the position of Director, Nursing Services of the ABU teaching Hospital, the position she held until her retirement in 1985.
In recognition of her professional qualifications, competence and public spiritedness, she was made an external examiner of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. Between 1980 and 1983, she was Chairman, Kwara State Health Management Board. She was honoured in the year 2001 in Gambia by the West African College of Nursing (WACH) as WACH’s Florence Nightingale of the 20th century.
The quest to meet Nigeria’s foremost Miss Nigeria was no easy task. The process began with long months of communication and cajoling on the part of our Correspondent, Mary Amodu for an interview with the onetime Miss Nigeria. The 86 year old retired nurse seemed wary of dealing with the Press especially one from Kogi State.
In her words “ I have done a lot of interviews with Journalists from other parts of the country but no Journalist from my own state has ever asked for an interview with me, I need some time to think this through. When I am convinced to do an interview with you, I will give you a call”.
We waited days and weeks for that call from Chief Grace Oyelude until it began to seem like all hope was lost. Until one faithful morning when Mary Amodu received a call from Mrs Oyelude informing her of her grand daughter’s wedding which will be taking place in Isanlu. We had been invited to come for the much anticipated interview.
Shouts of Halleluyah! And thank you Jesus! Filled the air, anyone who entered the news room that day would have thought that we had just won the American Visa Lottery.
As early as 8 o’ clock a.m the next day, we set out to meet Nigeria’s first Beauty Queen. The journey to Isanlu was smooth with no threats of insecurity many thanks to the ingenuity of his Excellency Alhaji Bello and his war against curbing insecurity in the state to the barest minimum.
The bushes around the roads which in previous times had served as hideouts for the men of the underworld had been cleared, and majority of the potholes along Lokoja to Okene roads had been filled up.
We arrived in Isanlu Local Government area at 11 o’clock, and then treated ourselves to some delicious Pounded Yam and Egusi soup which we were told is the stable diet of the people of Isanlu Local Government Area.
Upon finishing our meal, we resorted to going about the day’s work. After asking for directions from the friendly locals we were able to arrive at the official residence of Chief Grace Oyelude.
Mrs. Oyelude’s house is a beautiful ash colored bungalow, unique flowers and shrubs adorn the exterior and interior parts of the house a clear testament of a British influence and education. We were graciously ushered in by relatives of the family who were there to celebrate the wedding of the Grand Daughter of Mrs. Grace Oyelude.
At 86, our impression of Mrs. Grace Oyelude was that she would be an old, wrinkly woman bent down by arthritis or other diseases that befriended women of that age. But to our surprise the beautiful woman that received us could have easily passed for a lady in her 40’s. To say that we were gob smacked will be putting it mildly; we almost wanted to ask for Mrs. Oyelude if she hadn’t recognized Mary Amodu almost immediately.
The many pictures in her living room were proof that the former Miss. Nigeria has lived a long and interesting life by all standards. ‘’ Over there is a picture of My Dad, and the other is a picture of my Mum all the other pictures you see are of me” she joked.
When asked of her beauty regiment she replied “I have never had any beauty regiment, I attribute my good features to God”. We watched as she received each of her guests with a kind word and a sweet smile. It was so easy to see how she had won the Foremost Miss Nigeria Crown in the first place; her charm and gracious demeanor had worn the heart of the judges on that day in 1957.
When asked how she felt when addressed as the first Miss Nigeria she said “Embarrassed, I have always felt embarrassed by the extra attention being referred to as the first Miss Nigeria brought to me”.
One of the best features of Mrs. Grace Oyelude are her nails, we couldn’t help commenting on her perfectly manicured nails and how she still had the time to go for a manicure at the grand age of 86. Her reply however left us amazed. She said “these are my natural nails; I have never had a manicure in my life”.
On the circumstances that led to her emerging the first Miss Nigeria she said “ I did not actually contest as done today. it was my younger brother who spear headed the whole thing, he took my picture and sent it to Daily Times in Lagos. He saw the advert on Daily Times and sent the picture to them without my knowledge”.
“I was a very local girl. On the day of the event, I dressed up in native Iro and Buba and I remember being the only one who was dressed in a native attire. The event took place at a hall in Lagos Island and I remember that we were asked to walk round the big hall twice”.
“Around midnight I had dosed off on the chair I was sitting, when Lady Alakija and someone else woke me up and I was taken to the stage and declared first Miss Nigeria”.
“The benefits that came with winning the Miss Nigeria crown were a 2 week trip to England, 200 hundred pounds, a wardrobe change of four dresses and free hairstyling. Prior to this I had applied for scholarship in England so I used part of the money, 93 pounds to be exact to fly to London at that time. I had started my training at Ashford school of Nursing before my scholarship was approved”.
When asked if she would encourage any of her children to participate in a beauty contest she said “certainly not my children because I believe that have gone past that age but I would certainly encourage my grand children to do so”.
As more guests trooped in to congratulate the Chief on her Grand Daughters impending wedding, we knew that it was time to end the interview session in other to allow her fully concentrate on her guests.
We bided her good bye but not before taking pictures with her as a reminder of the day we met with Mrs. Grace Atinuke Oyelude, the First Miss Nigeria.
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