In what qualifies as civic reception, the elated women of Aboh Mbaise and Ngor Okpala respectively hosted the wife of the governor of Imo state, Her Excellency, Lady Ebere Ihedioha as the special guest of honour to their August meetings. The two LGAs hold very special significance to the governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Rt HonEmeka Ihedioha. Aboh Mbaise is his home LGA while Ngor Okpala, is his maternal home. And both make up his federal constituency which He served meritoriously for 12 years.
In his opening remarks, the chairman of the occasion at Aboh Mbaise LGA, Hon Eddy Obinna, noted that the concept of August meeting derived from the concept of “Otu Oru Obodo” initiated after the civil war by the then administrator of East Central States.
Furthermore he stated that 20 years ago it was reinvented and made a national event for all Igbo speaking states where women gather together to brainstorm on how to contribute to rural development.
“The concept of August meetings cannot be dicorced from the concept of “Otu 0ru Obodo” enunciated and established by Ukpabi Asika, the administrator of East Central State soon after the civil war. And from there, about 20 years ago, the concept of August meeting was enunciated and it has become a national event for the Igbo speaking states where our women, home and abroad gather together back home, every August to rub minds on how to help their husbands or the menfolk in rural development”
He therefore lauded the efforts of Her Excellency, Lady Ebere Ihedioha for deeming it necessary to empower women noting that, He empowerment packages to women will enable them contribute much quota to the objectives of the concept.
In the same vein, the chairman of the occasion at Ngor Okpala LGA, Professor Jude Njoku also lauded her excellency for putting smiles on the faces of women through her women empowerment programme extolling her rare virtues such as calmness, comportment and composure. He said “I have always said that Her Excellency has the calmness, the demeanor, the comportment and composure that I admire so much”.
The erudite egghead and former Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology (FUTO) who noted that Ngor Okpala holds a very special significance to the governor as part of his federal constituency and maternal home, also asked the first lady to take their wishes home to the governor that Ngor Okpala people are in total support of him.
“Ngor Okpala holds a very special significance to our governor. It is his maternal home and part of his federal constituency. So we are so glad to welcome you. We wish you success in your August meeting programmes. We want you to extend our best wishes to His Excellency and let him know that Ngor Okpala people are happy with him. Tell him that he has the full support of the people. I am very proud of him. God is on his side and he is going to succeed”
The first lady, while delivering her addresses at the two respective LGAs appreciated the women and every one present for honouring her by finding time to be at the occasion promising not to let them down. She reiterated her position that as the governor would be engaged with the task of rebuilding Imo, she would be engaged with her vision of rebuilding the homes through women empowerment.
The first lady as usual showered the women of both LGAs with a panoply of empowerment packages such as giant deep refrigerators, generator sets, sewing machines, motorcycles, full sets of engine powered grinders etc. She conducted the distribution of the packages herself to ensure maximum transparency.
The first lady was accompanied by the wife of the deputy governor, Her Excellency, Ogbuagu Chief Mrs Vivian Irona, the wife of the speaker, Imo House of Assembly, Mrs Florence Chiji, the wife of the Secretary to the State government, Mrs Iningi Onyeagocha, the PDP state woman leader, Mrs Maria Mbakwe and many others.
