The city of Mbaise will be agog as the remains of Late Ezinne Francisca Ekeji, mother to Chief Patrick Ekeji, would be interred in her country home in Umueneri Ogwu Nguru Aboh Mbaise, on December 22nd 2022.
Ekeji, who is a Deputy Chief of Staff (Administration) in the Imo State government described his late mother as a beacon who diligently performed her motherly role.
In an exclusive interview with Wakawaka Sports Extra, the former Nigeria international and one-time interim Green Eagles coach, showered encomium on his mum.
He recounted her germane lifestyle that endeared her to many adding that she brought her children in the fear of God and grew old gracefully.
The retired Director General of the defunct National Sports Commission (NSC) said that Governor Hope Uzodimma is expected to grace the occasion noting that the people of Mbaise are part of his government.
“My mother was simply a woman that was blessed and she made sure that she brought all of us with the fear of God. I’m the first of 8 children which she gave birth to.
“She lived a successful live, grew old gracefully and did not give us any moment of anxiety all through her life even she was quite old and down with arthritis.
“She was a beacon for all of us. She was a very good wife, a pillar for my dad and he didn’t have any reason to bother about the home front.
“She never gave us anxious moments when she was younger even when I lost my dad in 1986, she was able to hold her children together. Even up till the time she became old and frail, she could still recognise your voice. She has sharp senses and your face.
“When I go come to visit her, she will always encourage me to remember my village where I am from . She was a jolly woman. Living with my father, I never saw them quarreling because we grew up in the police barracks in Lagos.
“All through my primary and secondary days, I attended from my house. When I remember that and juxtapose that with what happens in couples home today, it’s amazing how she held her family together. My father was a policeman and the day I saw my late father’s pay slip, I was shocked.
“They brought us all up, 8 children and achievers in their own right. She was a good manager of the family and she lived long enough to see her children, grand children and great grand children. She saw the goodness of living of a family. It’s a celebration. I pray for my friends to grant them their parents and themselves long life as He granted my mother.
“The remarkable thing I will not forget about my mother is respect. She respected everybody that came her way, whether a child or an adult.
“First, she respects you as a human being and she ensures that she tries to give a piece of good words with whomever she came across with, to the extent she gets into discussion. She was a peacemaker and she respected everybody.
I can say very stoutly and with sense of responsibility in me that our governor is a friend of Ndi Mbaise and he means well for Ndi Mbaise. You cannot take that away from him and Mbaise as a group of Ndi Igbo are part and parcel of his government and will be around to join us in the Celebration
