WRITTEN BY IKEM IGWENAGU-OKEKE

God, no doubt, blessed our matriarch with old age. And old age, they say, is like everything else, but above all, it is the crown of life. To make a success of it, you have to start early. Such was the case of our octogenarian mom, Madam Agnes Igwenagu Okeke, who was born eighty-one years ago. Her late parents were Chief Ononiru Nwele and Chief Mrs Mary Nwele of Awuka village Ogbunka in Orumba South Local Government Area.

At the time of her birth it was virtually an anathema for a female child to be educated in the western sense. So, Agnes, like her female peers, was schooled in some local artisanship and how to become a woman and shoulder the responsibility of taken care of homes and children. She went through tutelage on domestic chores, child upbringing and marriage life.

In this guise, Agnes was married out early in life to Chief Igwenagu Okeke of  Nawfija in the same Orumba South Local Government Area. The marriage was blessed with ten children; prominent among the children is Chief Mrs Oby Okeke Okwubanego. Mama, owing to her lovely, humane and kind hearted nature, had so many foster children, who became fond of her nature and benefited from her motherly advice and care.

In her father’s house, she was so much loved and revered by her people that she was referred to by both old and young as ‘Daa da”, meaning the first daughter whose advice was sought after on any naughty issue regarding the family. At Nwafija, where she was married to, it was the same story as she was made for a long time the leader and alter ego of the Ohemiri Clan Women.

Madam Agnes Igwenagu Okeke, popularly called Mama JP, was a devout Christian. She was a chorister at Saint Patrick’s Parish, Nawfija and other pious societies in the church. As a strong member of the Catholic Women Organization, she made so many invaluable contributions to the Catholic Church, which earned her the position of Life Patroness of CWO in Akpu Deanery. She was equally a one-time president of CWO in Akpu Deanery.

To deepen her Christian faith, she embarked on holy pilgrimage to Jerusalem and visited many Christian sites in Rome, which earned her the title of Jerusalem Pilgrim, JP. She cherished that trip all through her life. On her seventy-seventh birthday, Madam Agnes Igwenagu Okeke requested to have audience with the Pope, which was honored by her children.

Mama JP, in her lifetime, was a Marian devotee and an Adorer of the Blessed Sacrament; no wonder she received the blessed mother and her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, days before her death.

Madam Agnes Igwenagu Okeke loved her children so much that she took and related with her sons and daughters in-laws as her children and confided in them so much. As a devout Christian, when she became sick, she placed all trust in God and remained prayerful, even at her point of death, Mama JP was at peace with herself till the last hour of death. She smiled home to be with her Creator.

Vigil mass takes place tomorrow by 5pm at her compound, number one Igwenagu Close, along Umunze Road, Nawfija, while requiem mass holds on Friday, November 22, 2019 by 10am at Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church, Nawfija. Reception follows immediately after the mass at the family compound.

May the soul of Mama JP and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

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