07042018 - Investigate your ministers

SATURDAY Vanguard, , APRIL 7, 2018—39
Itsukwi agog as new Oghieochi
pledges to tackle education, amenities
By Dirisu Chester Yakubu
It was a beehive of celebrations for
sons and daughters of Itsukwi
Community, Edo State, earlier in the
week following the successful installation
and coronation of the village head, Chief
Suleiman Abhimhisa Usman as Oghieochi
III.
Chief Usman who was given the staff of
office by the paramount traditional ruler
of Three Ibie Kingdom, His Royal
Highness, Alhaji Suleiman Ali, the
Oghieaga IV, was until his elevation, the
Ichaba of Itsukwi; a post he held for a
decade.
Shortly after receiving his Staff of
Office, the Oghieochi thanked his subjects
for the confidence reposed in him,
promising not to betray same as long as
he lives. “My people, I can’t thank you
enough. Singling me out and trusting me
to hold this community together is a task
that is indeed challenging. But with your
prayers and support, we shall overcome,”
he pledged.
He also promised to surmount
kindreds’ tussle for supremacy, stating
that rather than think along the fault line
of kindred’s solidarity, the people should
think of ways of bringing about the overall
development of the community. “I plead
•Oghieochi III of Itsukwi, Chief
Suleiman Usman
with every son and daughter of
Itsukwi to put away whatever
grouse they may have because
without love and forgiveness,
there is not much we can do as
a people. I will never let you
down; I will never fail to say it
as it is, for this is the true test
of leadership. I am not a
know-it-all king but one who
is ready to listen. I am
receptive to fresh and
innovative ideas capable of
attracting positive changes
to our dear Itsukwi,” he
added.
In a separate interview
with the Vanguard, the
Oghieochi III said he would
prioritize education even as
he craved the support of the
people in the realization of
his vision for the community.
“It is not a thing I can do
alone without the support of
my people. If we are to talk
about development, it is a
matter of all of us coming
together. If you look at the
community critically today,
we lack social amenities
such as water, which is very
paramount. Our children need to be
educated. I want to emphasize that
education is key.
“We have been too backward
especially in the areas of education,
amenities and even politically. In the
next ten years, I want to see our sons
and daughters raising their heads
high amongst their counterparts
elsewhere in the world.
“There have been divisions in our
community. No meaningful
development can take place when
people are divided. So, I want to see
how best to bring people of this
community together and ensure the
past is put behind us. In a nutshell,
I want to seat with my people and
plead with them to bury the hatchet
so that together, we can begin to
move forward,” he said.
Chief Suleiman was the natural
heir to the Oghieochi stool following
the death of Chief J.B. Momoh, the
Oghieochi II, a few months ago. With
the successful completion of burial
rites and the traditional mourning
period of three months, the land was
thus purified for the installation and
coronation of a new king.
Adeline Ndoma-Egba: The Good
Mother of a Good Son
By Uche Anichukwu
As the Igbo saying goes, “Afu nwa elota nna”,
meaning that the child is a reflection of
the father. Here the father is used
metaphorically in place of parents and
indeed the home. In a realistic sense, the
child is a reflection of the mother because
they spend more time with the children.
Thus, if the saying that children are the
true mirrors of the homes they come from,
then one does not need to search far to
unearth the intellect, humility, courage,
philanthropy, and dedication to service to
humanity, which the Chairman of the Niger
Delta Development Authority, NDDC,
Distinguished Senator Victor Ndoma-
Egba, SAN,son of Hon. Justice Emmanuel
Takon Ndoma-Egba and Elder (Mrs.)
Adeline Ndoma-Egba, embodies.
I came to know Senator Ndoma-Egba in
the 5 th Senate, which lasted from 2003 to
2007. However, it was when he became the
Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Media and
Publicity that I began to
relate quite closely with him.
As a Special Assistant on
Media to the President of the
Senate at the time we
naturally had to work
together. A versatile man, he
handled that position so
professionally and in most
dignifying way that you
would hardly know that he
was not a trained media or
Public Relations
professional.
His intellectual prowess
was never in doubt at the time
because it showed up in his
contributions in plenary for
all to see. He is a super brain,
an outside-the-box thinker
and problem solver.
Although his humility is
After joining her
husband in
Nigeria in 1962,
she worked at
the University
of Nigeria
Teaching
Hospital,
formerly known
as General
Hospital, Enugu
equally very noticeable from afar, one only
needed to get closer to know that it is not a
façade.
He is so humble that unless you were told,
you would not know that he belongs to the
cerebral 1978 set of the Nigeria Law School,
which produced the likes of the current Chief
Justice of Nigeria, His Lordship, Justice
Walter Onnoghen; Minister of Budget and
National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo
Udoma; former President of the Nigeria Bar
Association and present Governor of Ondo
State, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu; and former
Minister of Justice and former President of
the NBA, Chief Bayo Ojo, among others.
You would not also know that he was
appointed Chairman of the Board of
Governors, Government Secondary
School, Ikom, in 1980 by ex-Governor
Clement Isong when he was just 24. You
would not also know that President Shehu
Shagari also appointed him into the
Board of the Cross River Basin and Rural
Development Authority at
the same time or that he
became a Commissioner of
the highly coveted State
Ministry of Works and
Transport at the age of 27.
In the Red Chambers,
where he eventually rose to
the position of Deputy
Leader in the 6 th Senate
and Leader in the 7 th
Senate, he represented
what every a Senator
should be in grace,
patriotism, and hard work.
He churned out bills like a
bills machine.
However, this is not a
tribute to Senator Ndoma-
Egba. It is a tribute to the
tree that bore the good
fruit, for even the Holy
Scriptures say that only a
good tree can bear good
fruits. It is about the good woman, who
bore the good son.
Born on January 8, 1926 to the family
of James and Elvira Wilson in St.
Catherine’s Jamaica in the Caribbean
Basins, the late matriarch of the Ndoma-
Egbas joined his siblings in England after
the death of her father. She enrolled with
the Lewisham School of Nursing, an
affiliate of Guys Hospital, London. She
also trained with the University of London,
London School of Tropical Medicine and
Diseases and North London Middlesex
Hospital and worked with Kings College
Hospital, London and Bristol Royal
infirmary.
After joining her husband in Nigeria in
1962, she worked at the University of
Nigeria Teaching Hospital, formerly
known as General Hospital, Enugu. She
also rendered her services at Park Lane
Hospital, Enugu as the very first Theatre
Matron. She went on to serve as Matron
at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital when the
civil war broke out and later moved on to
work with the International Red Cross
at the Awomama Reference Hospital in
the present day Imo State. Those who saw
or read accounts of the war would
understand better the services she
rendered at those two places.
Not done, she served as Matron at the
General Hospital Ogoja after the war. She
was also Matron at the Catholic Mission
Hospital Monaiya, Ogoja and Holy
Family Joint Hospital, Ikom and retired
in 1985. But, she refused to get tired even
in retirement as she redirected her life
fully to service as a community and
church leader.
If we understand that Nursing as a
profession is for the innately humane it is
for those whose major aim is not to earn
a living. Instead, they are so connected
with humanity that they want to spend the
rest of their lives providing care and saving
lives, then we would better appreciate the
•(Mrs.) Adeline Ndoma-Egba
totality of her person. It would also help us
to connect the dots as to why philanthropy
runs in the blood of Senator Ndoma-Egba
and his siblings.
A Jamaican by birth, Mrs. Adeline Ndoma-
Egba actually met the young Law student,
Emmanuel Takon Ndoma-Egba, aka ET,
who later became her husband at a friend’s
graduation party in London in the
afternoon of July 16, 1957. Both became
attached to each other. ET proposed to her
on her birthday in 1958, they got formally
engaged on ET’s birthday in 1959 and
married in 1960.
Leaving her country of birth and the UK,
she not only joined her husband in Nigeria,
but also melted into her husband’s people,
culture, and nation. She also made her
home a melting pot of people of all races,
tribes, religions, and languages. She
accepted all irrespective of where they
came from and gave meaning to their
lives. Little wonder Distinguished
Senator Ndoma-Egba is a pan-Nigerian
with highly detribalised dispositions. The
Senator is also married to his Igbo
heartthrob, Amaka.
As the matriarch embarks on her
triumphal journey home at 91, one can
only join the Ndoma-Egba clan to
celebrate an exemplary life of service,
who also bequeathed a tribe of men and
women, who are making the world a
better place. Goodnight, the good mother
of a good son.
•Anichukwu writes from Abuja
C
M
Y
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