BENIN CITY – THE Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, has condoled with the former Chief Whip of the Senate, Sir Rowland Owie, over the death of his wife, Lady Helen Owie, where Owie revealed how his marriage to his late wife made it possible for late Pa Alfred Rewane to sponsor late Professor Ambrose Alli’s election in 1979, as the governorship candidate of the then Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, despite supporting another aspirant during the primary election of the party.
The delegation of the Olu of Warri was made up of the Chief Yahya Pessu, the Ojomo of Warri Kingdom; Chief Brown Mene, the Ogwa-Olusan of Warri Kingdom; Chief Lawrence Wilbert, the Agura Tete of Warri Kingdom, who led other delegates made of men and women of Itsekiri extraction to the Benin residence of Owie.
Delivering the message of the Itsekiri monarch, Chief Mene said Lady Owie’s death was painful but that there was solace in the fact that she was not bedridden that those around her would now wish her dead.
He said: “There is nothing in this world that happens without God designing it, even the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, God knew it from the beginning. Our sister lived a worthy life. God is the only one that gives and takes, we know that a time will come when you will be down, when that time comes, take heart, remember the legacies she left behind.”
Responding, Owie said his late wife brought unity and love to his immediate and extended family, including his mother and it was because of her that Pa Rewane acceded to his request to sponsor Alli’s governorship election.
“Your daughter followed me to Pa Rewane after the primary where his preferred candidate, late Air Iyare, who is my family member lost. He told us to go to Benin to M and K Shop, when we got there, we were given 21 buses for Alli’s campaign, one for each of the 19 local government areas and two for the secretariat, your daughter, who is my late wife, accompanied me on that visit.
She stood by me martially, politically and in all aspects of my life.”
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