| Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi | |
| Honorific Prefix: | Lady |
| Office: | First Lady of Nigeria |
| 1Namedata: | Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi |
| Term Label: | In role |
| Term Start: | 16 January 1966 |
| Term End: | 29 July 1966 |
| Predecessor: | Flora Azikiwe |
| Successor: | Victoria Gowon |
| Birth Name: | Victoria Nwanyiocha |
| Birth Date: | 21 November 1923 |
| Birth Place: | British Nigeria |
| Children: | 8 |
| Nationality: | Nigerian |
Victoria Nwanyiocha Aguyi-Ironsi (21 November 1923 – 23 August 2021) was the second First Lady of Nigeria from 16 January 1966 to 29 July 1966.[1]
She was the widow of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi who was the first Nigerian military head of state, he was killed in Ibadan[2] in a counter coup led by Murtala Muhammed which led to the installation of General Yakubu Gowon.[3]
She hailed from Ohokobo Afara in Umuahia North Local Government Area.[4] She married Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi as a student of Holy Rosary Convent School, Okigwe in 1953.[5] [6]
Following the death of Samuel Ademulegun and his wife, she moved his children from Kaduna to Lagos and cared for them.[7]
She had 8 children who were taken away and cared for by nuns in Ibadan under the direction of Adekunle Fajuyi during the Nigerian Civil War.
She served as a commissioner of the Local Government Services Commission in Umuahia.[8]
The advent of the office of the First Lady of Nigeria came with Ironsi.[9] Aguiyi-Ironsi brought prestige to the office. She was often garbed in traditional outfits and her style was described as "pretty and effortlessly regal".
Aguiyi-Ironsi died on 23 August 2021, at the age of 97, after suffering from a stroke and COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.[10] [11]