Tributes as Lady Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi is Laid to Rest

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The remains of Nigeria’s former First Lady, Noble Lady Victoria Nwanyiocha Aguiyi-Ironsi, were yesterday committed to mother earth in a wave of glowing tributes for her life of courage.
Lady Ironsi was the widow of Nigeria’s first military Head of State, Gen. Thomas Aguiyi Ironside who was killed in the countercoup of July 29, 1966. She died in August at the age of 98 after 55 years of widowhood.

The funeral mass held at St. Theresa Catholic Parish Umuahia was celebrated by the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia, Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji assisted by10 priests.
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, in his tributes described Lady Ironsi as a woman who espoused the virtues of nobility, hard work, comportment and faith that saw her through the trying periods following the death of her husband.

He described the death of Lady Ironsi as “the closure of a great chapter that started in Ibeku land” from where a great man emerged to serve Nigeria and paid the supreme sacrifice in the course of doing so.
According to him, the coup in which Gen. Ironsi was killed led to the “murder of sleep in Nigeria” and since then the country has continued to struggle to achieve national unity and cohesion.

But Ikpeazu noted the presence of light at the end of the tunnel following a new vista of hope for a handshake across the Niger, adding that Nigerians should learn to extend hands of fellowship to one another.
The head of the Ironsi family, Ambassador Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi, said that his mother was a role model for women in Nigeria and Africa in general with her industry and tenacity of purpose.

He revealed that during her lifetime she went to South Africa and China to fight for the rights of women, a cause she never abandoned all her life.
In the sermon by Rev. Fr. Henry Madura, Lady Ironsi was showcased as a woman of courage who waded through the vicissitudes of life to bring up her eight children after the tragic loss of her husband.

“Despite losing her husband in a coup, she held on to her faith, not plunging herself into despair and self pity,” he said, adding that Lady Ironsi lived out her faith “even in the most disappointing event of her life.”

The Catholic cleric lamented that most Nigerians had abandoned the word of God hence evils have overtaken the land manifesting in kidnapping, killer herdsmen, armed robbery, insurgency, terrorism, ethnic hatred and tribal subjugation as well as looting of treasury.
He advised that society should stop evaluating things in terms of monetary values, pointing out that there were more valuable things that money cannot buy hence the need to live a life of service.

The funeral mass attracted the presence of many dignitaries including the Abia Deputy Governor, Ude Oko Chukwu, Senator Theodore Orji, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, who represented the President General, Ambassador George Obiozor.

There was military presence at the ceremony as represented by Air Vice Marshal Frank Opara from Air Force Base, Enugu and Air Vice Marshall Chimechefule Onyemaobi (rtd).