The remains of Lady Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi, widow of Nigeria’s first military head of state, were on Friday laid to rest in her husband’s country home in Umuezuwere Umuana-Ndume in Umuahia, Abia State.
Victoria, who died on August 23 at the age of 97, had eight children, including a former defence minister and Nigeria’s ambassador to Togo, Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi.
In a sermon during a requiem mass in her honour at St.Theresa Catholic Church, Afara Umuahia, Rev. Fr. Henry Maduka, described her as “a courageous and unwavering woman of faith.”
“She was an elegant and humble woman, who undertook the challenge of bringing up her children after the death of her husband, late Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi. It was her Catholic faith that led her through her turbulent times,” Maduka said.
In a speech, Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu paid special tribute to the deceased, saying that “she espoused the virtues of nobility, hardwork, comportment and faith.
“These were the virtues she possessed that saw her through the trying period, following the death of her husband.
“I chose to describe her death as the closure of a great chapter that started in Ibeku land, where a great man sprang up to serve Nigeria and paid the supreme sacrifice in the course of doing so,” Ikpeazu said.
The funeral mass was attended by Abia Deputy Governor Oko Chukwu, Senators Theodore Orji and Enyinnaya Abaribe, former Senate President Adolf Wabara, two former state chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ukasanya and Uzodinma Okpara, and some top state government functionaries.
Also in attendance was the secretary of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Okey Emuchay, who represented the president of the pan-Igbo group, Prof. George Obiozor.
Also, the remains of a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Obadiah Mailafia, were laid to rest at the Mambilla Barracks in Abuja on Friday.
In a sermon during the funeral service, ECWA president Rev. Stephen Baba urged all Christians to be prepared as they did not know when they would return to the great beyond.
Also the general secretary, Christian Association Nigeria Joseph Daramola, in a message from the association, described Mailafia as a hardworking and committed patriotic Nigerian.
