The 'first' Stella Obasanjo is a reference name for the spouse associated with General Olusegun Obasanjo's military Headship (13 February 1976 – 1 October 1979) — distinct from the later Hon. First Lady of the Fourth Republic, Stella Obasanjo (née Abebe), who served 1999–2005 and is treated separately in this register.
The Headship period had no formal 'First Lady' office. The wives of the military Head of State during the Murtala–Obasanjo transition (1975–79) appeared at the Lagos Race Course parades, the Festival of African Arts and Culture (FESTAC '77 at the National Theatre, Iganmu), and at Government House Dodan Barracks for state receptions. There was no Office of the First Lady budget, no dedicated state aircraft, no parallel programme of state. Obasanjo's general practice during the military years was to keep his domestic and political households publicly separate.
Obasanjo's polygamous marital biography is a long-standing source of public confusion: among his wives are Esther Oluremi Akinlawon (mother of Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and several other children, married 1958, separated 1976), Stella Abebe (married c.1976, deceased 2005 — the Fourth Republic First Lady), Lynda Ronke Obasanjo (deceased 1987), Bola Obasanjo (deceased 2009) and Mojisola Adekunle-Obasanjo (deceased 2007). The 'i'/'ii' suffix used here marks the period rather than asserting a separate first wife of the Headship years.