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Her Life

Biography of Chief (Mrs) Victoria Azuka Okuzu

October 22, 2013

EZINNE IYOM

The Story of Amazing Grace

Just before her 80th birthday in 2012, Iyom wrote her life story. The words of this biography are excerpts from her book, which she called Amazing Grace; the name she adopted in acknowledgement of the Grace of God over her life and her Amazing victory over her illness.

Childhood

Victoria Azuka Okuzu (nee Okigbo) was born on the 13th of August 1932. Her father’s name was James Okoye-Odu and he was born in Ojoto in 1900. He died at the age of 78 in 1978. He was a teacher and later a headmaster. She knew very little about her mother Anne Onugwalobi who died in 1935 in her late 30s when Iyom was only two years old. Her mother had five children – three sons (Lawrence, Pius and Christopher) and two daughters (Sussana Anakwenze). She was the youngest, born in 1932.

Two years after her mother’s death, in 1937, her father married Elizabeth Afulenu. They went on to have 6 children Fidelis Ikem; Bessy; Stella; Matilda Chinwe; Gertrude Okuata; Jaonne Nkechi.  Iyom was nearly five years old at the time.

School Years

Iyom started school in Ekwulobia where her father was teaching at the time. When she went into class as a pupil, she was already used to school life because her father had taken her so often on his bicycle to spend the day at the school where he taught. Thanks to her strict upbringing and her disciplinarian father, she always behaved well at school. Her favourite subject was religious knowledge, for which she would always get perfect scores!

At the age of 14, she went on to St Agnes Teacher Training College in Lagos. Her father wanted her to study nursing but she chose teaching instead undertook a three-year course from January 1948 until December 1950.

First Jobs

Iyom started teaching in 1951 and taught at several schools until 1967, when the Nigerian civil war broke out.  Being a young student straight from college, she wanted to prove herself and so was hard working and very enthusiastic with the children.

First she taught in the convent school in Asaba. Then she was transferred to another junior training college to teach the preparatory class.  She also taught in a private elementary school. By the end of her first year, she got a grant from her school principal in recognition of her achievement of getting a special class of the 30 lowest performing eight to nine year old children to academic proficiency from a baseline of almost half unable to read.  This was accomplished within one academic year.

When she started teaching in Port Harcourt after her marriage, she was transferred to a convent school as headmistress.  Given her proclivity for hard work she sought and received permission to offer extra classes, and got the parents to let their children attend. She increased the performance of the school, whose students repeatedly failed to pass any public exams to about 50% with final exam passing grades in her first year and 75% in her second year.

Married Life

Iyom and her husband, Emmanuel Nwoye Okuzu, Ichie Okosisi, grew up together in the same town and their families worshipped at the same church. They knew each other quite well and eventually got married in 1954, when she was 22 years old.

The traditional ceremony took place in the summer of 1954. The ceremony was quite formal and took place at her father’s house while the church wedding took place on 24th November 1954. It was a lovely wedding - Iyom wore a beautiful custom-made wedding dress made from flowing velveteen with modest long sleeves and a long veil.

Iyom and her husband moved to London 1961 so that he could study for his Law finals at the Holborn School of Law. They lived in North London, from 1961-62. It was a tough time for both of them, working and studying. She worked in the kitchen of a Lyons Tea Shop on the weekends.

Iyom also studied for a City and Guilds dressmaking course in order to brush up on her dressmaking skills.  They returned to Nigeria in 1962 and lived in Port Harcourt and Iyom went back to teaching and also developed her dressmaking business, specialising in children’s dresses and women’s blouses. She also continued to carry on hairdressing at the weekends. She described herself as a jack-of-all-trades – and master of all!

Okosisi got a post as Company Secretary and Legal Adviser to the African Continental Bank, a position he held for 15 years from 1965-80, when he retired. Only then could she relax. At first they lived in Port Harcourt, and then in 1965 moved to Lagos for him to start his new job.

The Nigerian Civil War

At the start of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967 (which lasted until 1970), Iyom and Okosisi moved back to Port Harcourt. He worked for the government bank of the Eastern Region. Iyom gave up teaching when she moved back to the village and took up a voluntary job as leader at the church kitchen that organised food for children with Kwashiorkor. She would often look at these children as they ate, and say to herself, “Thank you, God, for this opportunity”. Iyom created a modest food kitchen in her house to feed the children from the extended family in the village. She said it made her happy that God had used her to look after those children.  She constantly thought of these children, and however strict she was she always wanted to put a smile on someone’s face.

Iyom was brave and fearless. She would drive some of the other women to markets in towns on the border of Nigeria and Biafra.  They had to be careful as the border area was a target and planes would be flying overhead. The car was an easy target with its shiny metal and glass, so they would take leaves and branches and tie them over the car to camouflage it.

Post-War Life

Iyom never went back to teaching and eventually voluntarily retired from the profession in 1970. After the war, the family moved to Enugu where Iyom opened a boutique. The name was Viccom Fashion Salon. She would travel to Lagos to buy shoes, handbags, handkerchiefs for ladies and gentlemen and wigs and cosmetics.  She closed the Salon when the family relocated to Lagos.

In Lagos, Iyom set up her own business in the construction/concrete industry. Her company was called Benvico Enterprises Ltd. At first she got a big order to supply cement blocks to the Nigerian Navy during the construction of the naval staff quarters in Lagos. She also supplied building materials to an Italian company in Lagos and cement blocks, wood, sand and gravel to building contractors.  She also did some interior decoration work for the House of Assemblies in Lagos and for the Nigerian Steel Company in Ajaokuta.

Construction Supplies was big business but there was so much fraud and in the end she couldn’t cope with the losses.  She then established an ‘Off-licence’ Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Business, from 1983 till 2006.  After Okosisi passed away, she closed down the retail part of the business and continued with wholesale operations. After she retired, she went into church life and prayers much more. In her words, she sold the business, came home and faced her God.

Volunteer Work

Iyom first got involved in volunteer work when the family moved to Port Harcourt.  She immediately joined the Ojoto Development Union (Women’s Wing). The group met on a monthly basis to help each other and to socialise. Not long after that, she and her family moved to Lagos and she became involved with a similar group there.

One of the achievements of which Iyom was most proud was the merging of the two sub-unions of women’s organisations of our town of Ojoto into one. It took a lot of time, and energy to achieve.  Ojoto is divided geographically into two halves and the two sides had different sub-cultures. There were many women’s branches scattered throughout Nigeria but there was no union or integration between them, which she felt was a problem. She worked laboured tirelessly to unite the two sides under the umbrella the Ojoto Akanasato Union (Women’s Wing).  For uniting the two sides, she was made leader of the Council of Elders in 2006. In 2008, she was awarded the town chieftaincy title, Ezinne, which means “Good Mother”.  

She joined the exclusive Odu society, which gave her the right to bear the prefix Iyom to her name.  The two titles are combined Ezinne-Iyom.

Church Activities

Iyom was a very committed volunteer for Catholic organisations. Her main role for the church was in organising the women in the Lagos and Ojoto churches.

It was in the village during the war that she got very seriously involved with church work for the Catholic Women’s Organisation (CWO). She had a reputation for being a problem solver and the female members of the Church had a great deal of respect for her.

During her seven-year tenure as President General of St. Odilia's Christian Women organization (CWO), the church was elevated to the status of a Parish, which meant that they could have their own resident Priest. She worked diligently for the birth of the Parish and supervised the completion of the Parish house.

Iyom corresponded with the shrine of St. Odilia in Minnesota in America who sent her prayer cards and leaflets on the life history of St. Odilia, which she provided to the new Parish priest. The CWO constructed a lovely shrine of the Saint and that helped people understand that St. Odilia had been a living person. St. Odilia was a young martyr who was killed with about three other teenagers.

During her tenure, she started up CWO branches in big towns, counseling them to organise themselves, and to hold their own CWO meetings. By the time she handed over to the new President General they had 15 functioning branches. In1989 they bestowed her with the honour of Life Membership of CWO. The Certificate of Merit followed in 2008 and then the Grand Patron award in 2010.

Iyom was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Apapa. The Parish did not have a CWO at the time and she immediately set about, with her friend Mrs Onyia, to organise the CWO for the Parish. Iyom was given a Certificate of Merit for her work in establishing the CWO at The Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Apapa.

Iyom’s work for the church extended to sponsoring seminary students. The first, Anthony Okoye was ordained a priest on the 3rd January 2012. She also sponsored another boy from the village, as well as a girl who became a reverend sister and took her final vows in 2010.

Iyom went on a ten-day pilgrimage in 1981 to the Holy Land, Rome, Assisi and Padua. She visited Jerusalem and saw the Church and the Wailing Wall; visited the tomb of Jesus, the garden of Gethsemane and saw the stump of the olive tree that Jesus knelt over to pray. She went to Mount Zion and saw where He stepped off. She also went to the River Jordan where Jesus was baptised and also went to Jesus’ birthplace. She also went to Assisi in Italy and visited the family house of St Francis and Anthony of Padua.

In addition she went to Rome where she saw St Peter's Basilica, attended the Pope’s Audience – where he gave her his blessing – and saw the relic of the Cross of Jesus. Finally, she went to Lourdes in France and visited the shrine where Our Lady appeared to Bernadette.

Social Life

Iyom and Okosisi had a very active social life.  Okosisi and a few friends formed the “Okaa Social Club” and renamed it “People’s Club of Nigeria” after the war.  Iyom was extremely fashionable and loved to dress up for special occasions when the members would meet for functions and celebrations. People would often wonder aloud what she would wear to the next function.

Another club organised by Okosisi and his friends was “Club Nine”, which consisted of nine couples who were close friends from the People’s Club of Nigeria.  The women had their own club, called “Kwuba-Aka-Oto Social Club of Nigeria”, of which Iyom became a member in about 1974. Later, in around 1980, she was asked to organise a branch in Lagos and she became chairperson. They continued with the club until 1990.

Iyom also was involved in one of her town’s unions, comprising of young women from the town. It is called “Ifunanya Sisters Club of Ojoto”, meaning love. Iyom was their Patron. Their aim is to help each other in any way possible.

Illness, Faith And the Power of Prayer – A Life of Grace

Iyom was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. She immediately went to London for the medical curative procedure, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions for several months.

Eight years later, in 2009, an aggressive form of the cancer returned and spread to her lungs, liver and bones.  She maintained steady confidence right through.  She said: “Prayer is the only solution. It’s like when there’s a war, you are looking for the enemy location. So God shows you where the enemy location is and it’s left to you to carry the assault to the enemy. We are now going to carry the assault to the enemy location through prayers. Jesus is going to be the Commander-in-Chief. We will be the infantry and Mother Mary will be the mother looking after the infantry, cooking for us, making sure we are alright. All this we will do through prayers.”

The Lord has answered so many of Iyom’s prayers and in her illness she turned to her favourite patron saint, St Peregrine. She was very inspired by the story of St Peregrine: He is a saint who intercedes and prays for people with cancer. St Peregrine was ill and had dreamt of seeing Jesus raise one hand from the cross to touch his leg. When the moment came to amputate his diseased leg, the wound had miraculously gone. He eventually died from cancer so God gave him the privilege to pray for people with cancer and find healing for them.

After the second diagnosis, Iyom carried a prayer card amongst her prayer books and, that night, prayed to God to heal her. This was the prayer:

Oh Glorious St Peregrine, devoted servant of Mary who patiently endured his lifelong suffering. I ask you to plead to Our Lady who art in Heaven to ask her Son to grant my request that I too may prevail over suffering and lead a truly Christian life.”

The first night she said the prayer, Iyom had a very peaceful sleep. The next morning she woke up and felt a boost of sustained energy.  Three weeks after that prayer, Iyom was informed by her doctors that her tumour was shrinking – to their bewilderment and contrary to even their most optimistic expectations.

Iyom later found a church in Chelsea that prays to St Peregrine and worshipped at the healing mass in honour of St Peregrine every month.  She also gave her testimony at the church.

At the time Iyom always said: “If you pray to him with faith and you must have faith, it will work. Other saints are also powerful but he got me real results. My life has been a life of grace, of God’s grace. If it wasn’t for God’s grace, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Iyom was convinced that God kept her here to use her as a leading example of His grace and His miracles. She was keen to promote St Peregrine and God’s miracle to show people what God is today and what He will be tomorrow.

Her family fondly remembers one of her favourite quotes: “There must be total faith. With faith, our hope must be positive. We don’t spend hours talking to God, but show him our Faith and leave everything in his hands and hope for the best. If you adopt this style in praying, then you will find peace.”

Ezinne Iyom is survived by five children, eleven grandchildren, one great granddaughter, four sisters and many nephews and nieces as well as her numerous non-biological children and grandchildren.

 

The Triumph of Faith

October 21, 2013

Ezinne Iyom with her indomitable spirit never saw a fight she backed away from. So it was, when she was stricken with cancer. First of the breast, then the lungs, the spine, the liver, and the bone. She embarked on this fight of and for her life in the same way she fought every battle, with faith and conviction. By sheer force of will aided by medicine and her fervent belief in God, she battled this monster for 14 years, while living life to the fullest. In the process she went through several sessions of chemotherapy, which in itself is destructive. She was the opposite of everything you hear about a person on chemotherapy. She was radiant, she put on weight, and was, as always full of life. A lover of song and dance, she was determined to dance on her 80th birthday and boy did she dance, for five hours.

Her determination inspired her doctors, and provided encouragement for others in similar circumstances. She brought new meaning to the term- mind over matter. All of which was possible because she had undying faith in God. Almost 5 years ago, she was told that perhaps she would live no longer than 12 to 18 months. Her response was characteristic of her faith in God “Now I know what the problem is, I can focus my prayers on it” Her prayers were answered. Cancer never impeded on her zest for life. Closer to the end, she prayed that she would not suffer the debilitating pain of cancer and God granted her wish- she died only one day after the severe pain began, of cardiac arrest.  She believed in the power of prayer and wanted this epitaph to be her testimony from beyond the grave that even in dying, it was with God’s grace.