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From the Hittite Who Became an Israelite, to the Igbo Daughter Who Became Yoruba
When the Bible wants to teach us loyalty, it does not use an Israelite. It uses a Hittite – Uriah.
Uriah the Hittite was not born in Jerusalem. He was born among a foreign people. But by conviction, by love, by loyalty, he left his own nation, abandoned his own gods, and joined himself to David and to the God of Israel. He became so Israelite that he refused to go home to his wife while the Ark of God and his fellow soldiers were in tents in the open field – 2 Samuel 11:11. He died a loyal man.
That is the story of every great woman who leaves her own people to build with a man she believes in.
And that is the story of Mrs. Vivian Odunayo – wife of the Executive Chairman of Itire-Ikate LCDA, Hon. Oluwafemi Daniel Odunayo.
SHE LEFT HER OWN TO BUILD WITH HIM
Like Ruth the Moabitess, who told Naomi, “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16), Vivian left her Igbo nationality and identified completely with her Yoruba husband.
This is not a small thing in a country like Nigeria where tribe and tongue divide us. Many would have held on to their identity, constantly reminding the world, “I am Igbo married to Yoruba.” Not Vivian.
She did not just marry a Yoruba man; she became Yoruba. She speaks her husband’s people’s language and dresses like them. She cooks their food. She celebrates their culture. She sits with the women of Itire-Ikate, Ijesha, Aguda, not as a visitor, but as one of them. She has become a true daughter of Itire-Ikate LCDA.
Just as Uriah the Hittite became more Israelite than many Israelites, Mrs. Vivian Odunayo has become more at home in Itire-Ikate than many who were born there.
STANDING THICK AND THIN
Uriah’s loyalty was tested on the battlefield. Vivian’s loyalty has been tested over the years in the battles of life and politics.
Behind Hon. Oluwafemi Daniel Odunayo, the talk-of-the-town, grassroots, performing Chairman of Itire-Ikate LCDA, is a woman who has stood – not just in the good times of victory celebrations and inauguration, but in the thin times of political struggles, of sleepless nights, of campaigns from ward to ward.
She has been the quiet strength, the intercessor, the home keeper who ensures that when the Chairman returns from monitoring sanitation at 6am, from inspecting roads, from security meetings, there is peace at home.
Every great David needs a loyal camp. Hon. Odunayo found his in his wife.
BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN, BEAUTIFUL HOME
The Bible says in Psalm 128:3 – “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.”
Mrs. Vivian Odunayo has fulfilled this scripture excellently. She has given her husband beautiful children, raising them with the fear of God, with Igbo industriousness and Yoruba Omoluabi values combined.
In an age where many marriages are crashing because of social media, career, and tribal sentiments, she has performed her wifey duties excellently – as a mother, as a confidant, as a prayer partner, as the First Lady of Itire-Ikate LCDA who has opened her arms to all women, regardless of tribe.
A LESSON FOR NIGERIA
If Nigeria must work, we need more Uriahs and more Vivians.
We need Nigerians who will say, I may be Igbo by birth, but I am Yoruba by love. I may be Yoruba by birth, but I am Igbo by commitment. We need love that crosses the Niger.
Mrs. Vivian Odunayo did not see tribe. She saw a man of vision. She did not see language. She saw destiny. And she left her comfort zone to build that destiny with him.
Today, Itire-Ikate LCDA is not just enjoying good governance from Hon. Oluwafemi Daniel Odunayo; it is enjoying the grace of a woman who chose loyalty over ethnicity, love over tribalism, and home over convenience.
Like Uriah, her name will be remembered – not as a foreigner, but as a faithful one.
Like Ruth, it will be said of her: “A virtuous woman, who can find? For her price is far above rubies… Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.” – Proverbs 31:10,28
She is Mrs. Vivian Odunayo – the Igbo daughter, the Yoruba wife, the Itire-Ikate mother, and the pride of Hon. Oluwafemi Daniel Odunayo.
Nnamani bolanle opeyemi
November 3, 2026 at 10:07 am
Yes she is a mother with a heart of gold