By Lawrence Nwimo
Iyom Chinelo Amaechi, wife of First Republic aviation minister and only surviving member of the immediate post-independence federal cabinet and nationalist, Chief Mbazuluike Amaechi, has passed on after a brief illness.
Mrs Amaechi died on Friday, July 23, 2021 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi after 10 days of illness.
Speaking to Orient Daily at his country home in Ukpor, Nnewi South, Anambra state, yesterday (Tuesday), the 92-year-old ex-unionist said the death of his wife, aged 91, was a fatal blow to the family and that her many good legacies in the family and beyond would be greatly missed.
He said his late wife was a good woman who, by her professional background, as a nurse, took care of him up to his present age and stressed that, even as a nurse, was able to blend her professional life with sound home management.
Describing his deceased wife as a good Christian, the elder statesman, popularly known by the sobriquet, ‘the boy is good’ in his heyday, said his late wife was the head of the Catholic Women Organisation in the church and the leader of women in his kindred.
Narrating her qualities, Amaechi said Iyom Amaechi played a prominent role in his nationalist drives, adding that, before he married her, he had “made a vow as a member of the Zikist Movement, never to marry until Nigeria became independent.” He said he found love in her after the Nigeria’s independence and, later, wedded her at the Holy Trinity, Onitsha.
Amechi, a trado-Christian, emphasised the many qualities of his deceased wife saying her many good legacies would live on after her demise.
In a release to the press, Mr. Tagbo Amaechi of the family, said that further information for the deceased’s burial would be released in due time.
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