Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper, Mr Celestine Okafor, has lost his mother, Mrs Benedette Okafor.
Mrs Okafor died in Lagos, on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. She was aged 75.
She hailed from Ishi-Ozalla Autonomous Community in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu East Senatorial district, Enugu state, South East, Nigeria.
The journalist’s deceased 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 its 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 hometown, Ishi-Ozalla.
A mother and grandmother, Mrs Bene Okafor has five surviving children, including Mr Celestine Okafor, a renowned journalist, editor, communication scholar and Publisher/Editor-in-chief of Nigerian NewsLeader [an online newspaper] based in Maitama, Abuja.
According to a press statement by her first son and head of her family, Mr Celestine Okafor, her burial plans were ongoing 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.
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