AHEAD of the Christmas celebration, a non-governmental organization (NGO) at the weekend donated relief materials to widows and orphans in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as part of its humanitarian programme.
Founder/President of the Foundation, Chief Ndubuisi Nzenweofor, while handing over the materials, which included food items and toiletries to the Esu Bwari, His Highness Ibrahim Yero at his palace, said the donation was part of efforts by the NGO to alleviate the suffering of widows in the country and to eradicate extreme hunger among them.
The materials, received for the widows by the traditional ruler through one of his chiefs, the Damidamin Bwari, Timothy Dakwoyi, included bags of rice, bags of cereals, cartons of noodles, cartons of milk, cartons of biscuits, packs of soft drinks, and packs of toiletries.
Nzenweofor, said though he’s not a politician while his Foundation is purely a charity organization, the gesture was part of his contributions to rally support for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, towards the 2019 general elections.
“I am not a politician, but a Nigerian. We don’t need to belong to any political party or the same party before doing the right things for our people. If you love your country, you must love your people.
“This gesture is just the beginning of our charity to the widows because as someone who was trained by a widow, all the women here are my mothers and my sisters while the orphans are my brothers and my sisters.
“This is not a political campaign at all, because, after the election, we’ll still continue to support the widows, the orphans and the people generally.
“It is high time we start to support our people. We can do better and we will continue to do our best to support the presidential candidacy of Atiku Abubakar who we believe can govern this country better and bring succour to every Nigerian, especially our widows, the orphans and other less privileged”, he stressed.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs Laraba Dalo, said that they appreciate the Foundation for the donation and the assurance of further support to make life bearable for widows in the area.
“We are happy for the relief items and we thank the Foundation for helping us, the widows by putting smiles on our faces. It is our prayer that the founder and other staff continue to prosper, in Jesus name,” she said.
Speaking earlier while paying home to the Esu of Bwari, Ibrahim Yero, founder of the NGO, informed the traditional ruler that the gesture was borne out of his goodwill for many of the women who have found themselves living in abject poverty and lacked the right and necessary assistance.
Nzenweofor said as somebody trained by a widow, he was ready to partner with the traditional institution to give adequate attention to the widows with a view to making life worthy of living for them.
In his remarks, the monarch commended the Foundation for the initiative and for complementing the government’s efforts in alleviating the suffering of the people of his domain in particular.
Yero said a lot had been done to assist the widows in the past, but pointed out that the NGO’s gesture was the first of its type and expressed the readiness of the palace to partner with any group or individual that was ready to bring succour to his people.
He, therefore, called on other wealthy Nigerians to emulate such gesture by helping the needy especially the poor widows, saying: “whatever that affects the widows affects us and that is why we see your gesture as a good idea worthy of emulation by other groups and wealthy individuals as well.
