The remains of Madam Veronica Enayi Ottah, JP mother of the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State, Francis Ottah Agbo will be lowered to the Mother Earth on January, 13, 2018 in Ijigban, Ado Local Government Area, Benue State.
According to the press statement signed by the Ottah Onminyi Family of Ijigban District of Ado Local Government Area of Benue State, there will be a night of tribute in her honour at NO.1 Francis Agbo Close, GRA, Otukpo, Benue State on Wednesday, 10th January, 2018. This will be followed by a requiem mass at St Paul’s Catholic Church, Utonkon (Ado Local Government Area of Benue State) on Thursday,11th January, 2018. The statement also added that state governors, state and National Assembly lawmakers, top politicians, doyens of journalism, academics, their Royal Highnesses, the clergy and a host of others are expected to attend the burial.
On Friday, 12th January, body leaves Otukpo General Hospital Mortuary, with a brief stop-over at her residence in Utonkon before going to Ijigban, Ado LGA for a Christian Wake Keep at Anibiali in Ogongo Clan, Ijigban. On Saturday, January, 13th there will be a funeral mass and interment at Ai-Inawo Compound, Ipole- Ijigban. Mama is survived by five children, 18 grand children, a sister, cousins, nephews and relatives.
She was 70 years before her glorious exit. Until her passing, she was a well respected matriarch, a polymorphous opinion leader and a community leader of repute. She was fondly called Ene Ottah and Ene Ojira, (mother of the masses) because of her connect with people.
She was a prayer warrior, a disciplinarian and devout Christian of the Roman Catholic denomination, a church leader, a great farmer and successful business woman who sacrificed so much to train her children in schools as well as bring up her children in the way of the Lord . Madam Veronica Enayi Ottah did so much for the upliftment of her local Church, St Paul’s Catholic Church Utonkon especially in the building of the new church.
She also founded and rebranded the Idoma Choir, St Paul’s. Her efforts were so pronounced and recognised by all and sundry so much so that she earned the sobriquet: Mama Choir. Madam Veronica Enayi Ottah was a well known philanthropist who would stop at nothing to put smiles on the faces of the less privileged people. Though she didn’t gain Western education, she was an incurable feminist who fought for women rights and the empowerment of women, especially in her church and immediate communities of Ijigban and Utonkon.