By Bisi Bamishe
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper, Mr Celestine Okafor, has lost his mother, Mrs Benedette Okafor.
Mrs Okafor transited to eternity in Lagos on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, at age 75 years. She hails from Ishi-Ozalla Autonomous Community in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu East Senatorial district, Enugu state, South East, Nigeria.
The deceased journalist’s mother who died from age-related illness, was a civil servant, an educationist and retired school Headmistress in Enugu state. She was the widow of Mr Patrick Nwununta Okafor, who, in the second republic era before he passed on in January 1985, was a renowned educationist, school administrator and foremost trade union activist. Her husband was the leader of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) between 1980 and 1985 in the old Anambra state who led the famous and longest teachers industrial action over the poor condition of NUT workforce which brought the then government of Chief Jim Nwobodo to it’s knees!
Until her death penultimate Wednesday, Mrs Benedette Okafor, popularly known among her children, friends, associates, family, acquaintances and community people as ‘Mama G’, was a devout Christian and Catholic mother; a leader-mistress in the Enugu state Girls Guide Association and a beloved matriarch of the erudite and respected Patrick Nwununta Okafor’s family.
She was also known for promoting community causes in her home town, Ishi-Ozalla.
A mother and grandmother, Mrs Bene Okafor has five surviving children, including Mr Celestine Okafor, a renowned senior journalist in Nigeria, a seasoned media editor and communication scholar and currently the Publisher/Editor-in-chief of Nigerian NewsLeader Newspaper, a prominent Online and Print news organization based in Maitama, Abuja.
According to a press statement by her first son and head of her family, Mr Celestine Okafor, her burial plans are on-going and would be announced later by her family.
Other children she left behind are: Mr Mathew Sunday Okafor, a senior police officer; Mr Hycienth Uchenna Okafor, a bank officer; Mr Patrick Obiora Okafor, a corporate executive manager and Jennifer Njideka Okafor, a civil servant, among several grand children.
