Follow Us on Google
A Jos-based organisation known as ALDA Foundation recently took a free medical outreach to the creeks of Tyowanye community in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State in honour of late Mama Virginia Gyoh, the mother of the wife of the Chief of Defence Staff, Mrs. Mernan Femi Oluyede.
The two-day free medical outreach provided an opportunity for members of the Tyowanye community and surrounding villages to receive various medical interventions, ranging from consultancy and drugs administration, BP checks, presentation of glasses to those with eye challenges and scanning, especially pregnant women, who never had such opportunity in the past.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Favour Terma, a 25-year-old mother of three, could not hold her joy of experiencing pregnancy scanning for the first time. The scanning result of the fourth pregnancy showed a baby boy.
The expectant mother said: “The doctor scanned me and said it is a boy, and I’m so happy. This is my fourth pregnancy and the three children I have are all females.”
The story is not different for Mrs Benita Joseph, who was also experiencing scanning for the first time. She said: “I am so grateful for those who brought this medical intervention in honour of late Mama. May God bless them abundantly
I came here and they scanned me free without paying anything. And my scanning result showed that I’m carrying a baby girl. Already, I have four boys, and I’m happy about this.”
The District Head of Tyowanye, Kaior Emmanuel Terlumun, was full of gratitude for the intervention in his community. According to him, without the outreach, many couldnt have accessed such medical care considering their economic conditions.
The chief executive officer and founder of ALD Foundation, Chief Mrs. Azumi Ladi Danat, said the intervention was the organization’s small way of honouring the life and times of the late mother of the Chief of Defence Staff, who lived a life of service to humanity in line with the vision and mission of the foundation.
She said the exercise was full of good memories, considering how little efforts have put smiles on the faces of many within just two days, while expressing the need for a bigger medical intervention that encompasses surgeries to those who troop into the venue with their health challenges that required surgeries.
“Some of the worrying health conditions discovered in the area that required major intervention is eye surgeries, fibroids, hernia as well as thyroids among others. We look forward to offering a major health intervention there because the situation is alarming,” Chief Danat stated
The daughter of the deceased and wife of the Chef of Defense Staff, and President Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association, Mrs Mernan Femi Oluyede, expressed gratitude for the medical intervention. She described it as a special gift to the beautiful soul of her beloved mother, touching lives even in the great beyond.
She threw some light on the early life of late Mama Virginia Chima Gyoh. She said: “Our mother, Mama Virginia Chima Gyoh (nee Uba), was born on the 12th of July 1937 to Peter and Mary Uba in Imo State. Her father was a teacher and her mother, a home-maker. She grew up with two siblings, an older sister, Maria, and a younger brother, Leo.
“As the only surviving children out of nine born to their parents, the three siblings developed a very strong bond. Her father, Peter Uba, who was a sought-after teacher, took his family to live with him in Northern Nigeria where he taught in rural and difficult to reach communities.
“From 1949 to 1952, Virginia Gyoh attended Our Lady’s Convent School, a Catholic boarding school in Kaduna, run by Irish nuns. There, she created fond memories, playing in the orchards, plucking fresh fruits from trees and participating in sports. She was an avid sprinter, and had many friends.
One significant childhood memory she spoke of was about her taking part in a school play. “She had been unwell but didn’t tell her teacher partly because she did not want to miss out and also did not want to let her castmates down. She ended up fainting on stage, but recovered shortly after. Such was the level of her dedication and tenacity, reflected throughout the course of her life.
“Upon completion of secondary school at 17 years of age, she went on to a teacher training college, subsequently qualifying as a teacher. Thereafter, Virginia Gyoh commenced her life-long teaching career as a primary school teacher before meeting the love of her life Kpensaren Kaimom Gyoh, in Minna, in 1957.
Mernan Femi Oluyede spoke on the cross-cultural union of their parents when both kinsmen were at war with each other. She stressed that marrying outside one’s culture was completely outside the norm in those days but their late father, Kpensaren Gyoh, often accompanied by his younger brother, Shima Gyoh, persisted in his quest to marry their mother Virginia, until he won her over.
The late Mama Virginia and Kpensaren Gyoh persevered through cultural differences, societal and family objections before finally getting married in 1962 when Virginia was twenty-five years old.
She said in 1966, Virginia went to join her husband in Leeds, United Kingdom where he had gone for further studies. However, the Nigerian civil war broke out while the young family were in the United Kingdom, although it was a very trying time for late Virginia. The family remained united despite their ethnic groups fighting on opposite sides of the war.
Upon their return to Nigeria, Mama Virginia continued her teaching career and went on to teach Commerce and Accounting in secondary schools until her retirement.
Virginia and Kpensaren Gyoh were blessed with five children, three boys and two girls. Their youngest son, Doo Gyoh, died tragically, in the year 2000, with Kpensaren Gyoh following suit in 2007, after a prolonged illness. Anchored in her Catholic faith, Virginia Gyoh bore life’s travails with grace, courage, compassion and dignity, caring for her husband until his death.
The deceased in more recent years was said to have settled down in Peabody, Massachusetts with her older daughter, Devaan, her husband, Emile and their daughter, Emma. She travelled frequently dividing her time among her children and grandchildren.
Virginia was always overjoyed at any opportunity to visit Nigeria and did so often. “In Nigeria, she enjoyed spending time with family, especially her nephews and nieces who doted on her. Whenever she was in Nigeria, her visitors would include not only relatives from all over, but friends, old neighbours and former students, many who loved her without reservation. To know her was indeed to love her. Virginia Gyoh created beautiful memories with her son, Son Gyoh, and his wife, Tessy, and their children.
She shared particularly close bond with her granddaughter, Kumashe, and with Mernan’s husband, Olufemi Oluyede, whom she considered her son. In December 2025, while spending time with family, Virginia Gyoh took suddenly ill. She passed away peacefully on February 14, 2026, in Danvers, Massachusetts, USA, at the age of 88. It is fitting that one who exuded so much love, took her last breath surrounded by loved ones on Valentine’s day.
Late Mama Virginia is survived by her four children and their spouses, her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, loving nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her brother-in-law, Shima Gyoh and his spouse, as well as her only brother Leo Uba, and his spouse. She will be greatly missed by a large extended family and many ot
