Abia State governor Alex Otti, has announced plans to honour the heroines of the 1929 Aba Women’s uprising, pledging that his administration will approve the erection of monuments in their honor.
The Aba women’s ‘riot’ of 1929 was a protest by women against the British colonial oppression and taxation, which turned into a movement that spread from the Aba division to Calabar and beyond.
Making the pledge on Wednesday during the burial ceremony of late Mrs. Chiamaka Joyce Ibekwe, wife of the lawmaker representing Bende North State Constituency, Mr. Nnamdi Ibekwe, in Igbere, Bende Local Government Area, the governor said:
“I want to thank the honourable member for the request he made here because the request was not about him and it was not even about Chiamaka, it was about Abia women from inception. Our women have always been great women. If you do not know, then you do not know history. We have come to the level where somehow, either knowingly or unknowingly, we have refused to give women their due recognition. I want to assure you that it is not only going to be considered, but it is going to be approved.”
Otti described the late Mrs. Ibekwe as a divine gift and urged mourners not to grieve like those without hope of resurrection, expressing confidence that she was in a better place.
“If you spent time to read the tributes or if you encountered her, then you would know she was a gift from God. And because she was a gift, the giver will always determine the way He will take. It is not for us to decide what will happen,” he said.
