MADAM EGHIMHEGIE ITSUOKOR (NENE-NOKHUA)
A Pioneer in Women’s Leadership, Commerce, Politics, Education, and Cultural Heritage
Nene-Nokhua, widely known as Eghimhegie Itsuokor, occupies an important place in the history of the women of Ogbona and the wider Avhianwu Clan. She was a woman of strong character, discipline, enterprise, and conviction whose long life spanned a period of profound social, economic, political, and cultural transformation.
She is remembered for her forthrightness and intolerance of hypocrisy. A strict disciplinarian, she believed strongly in fairness, proper conduct, and the protection of the interests of ordinary members of the community. Together with her close friend and fellow community activist, Madam Ododoibo Obeakemhe, she was known for speaking openly against injustice and practices she considered unfair or detrimental to the welfare of the community.
Her influence extended across several spheres of community life. She was a successful merchant, a pioneer of women’s political organisation, a supporter of education, a promoter of women’s cultural expression, and a benefactor of younger women and children. Her life provides an important example of the many ways in which women contributed to the development of Ogbona before and during the early decades of Nigeria’s independence.
FAMILY ORIGINS AND ANCESTRY
Nene-Nokhua was born into a family with connections to different communities within the Avhianwu area and its wider historical network. Her father was Akhenavianwu, whose family was believed to have roots in Fugar, particularly in the family of Etu. Her mother was Aniboku, from Dunia, with family connections to the Orbih family.
These maternal connections are reflected in an important aspect of Nene-Nokhua’s family history. She was buried in the Orbih family cemetery, where some of her daughters were also buried, including Madam Omekiobha and Madam Abakhue Comfort Atsegwasi. The burial arrangement provides a tangible link between her family and the wider kinship relationships that formed part of the social structure of the period.
A WOMAN OF COMMERCE AND ENTERPRISE
Nene-Nokhua was an accomplished merchant whose commercial activities contributed to the economic and cultural life of Ogbona.
She specialised particularly in the trade of women’s traditional costumes, adornments, cosmetics, and jewellery, dealing in items associated with traditional women’s appearance, identity, status, and ceremonial life.
Among the articles in which she traded were Igbogane, Isaamah, Ukpuwaelamhi (horse tail), Eka, Ififia, Itsavhe, Igbagho, and Ume, among others. These were not simply commodities. Many were important elements of women’s material culture and were used in ceremonies and other expressions of traditional identity.
Her commercial activities also extended to traditional soup ingredients and indigenous food materials, including Igbanwenwen, Uvhavha, Ikpei, Itsiora, Ilosamhi, and Atsie. Through this enterprise, she participated in the network of women traders who supplied households in Ogbona and neighbouring communities with essential cultural and culinary materials.
Her success as a trader was accompanied by a reputation for generosity. She was particularly supportive of young women and children, providing assistance and encouragement to those within her social and family circles.
Her life therefore illustrates the important relationship between women’s economic enterprise and community welfare in traditional Ogbona society.
A PIONEER OF WOMEN’S POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
Nene-Nokhua was also actively involved in the political life of her time. During the 1950s and 1960s, she served as a Women’s Political Leader of the Action Group (AG) in Ogbona.
Her political activities placed her among the women who participated directly in the political mobilisation of the period. At a time when women’s formal participation in politics was considerably more restricted than it is today, her involvement demonstrated that women in Ogbona were active participants in the political consciousness and organisation of their community.
One episode from the 1964 election period has remained particularly prominent in accounts of her political leadership.
According to family and community accounts, during the political contest involving the NCNC and Action Group, Chief M. C. K. sent a message to Ogbona late on the night preceding the election indicating that it appeared that ballot boxes might not reach the community.
Faced with the possibility that the people of Ogbona might be unable to vote, Nene Eghimhegie and the women under her leadership quickly mobilised members of the community to travel towards Jattu or Auchi to exercise their franchise.
The movement reportedly took place during the night, with a large number of people carrying bush lamps as they made their way from Ogbona. The procession reached as far as the Ogio River before a subsequent message arrived reversing the earlier information and indicating that the anticipated problem would not occur.
Although the journey was ultimately halted, the episode remains significant in the oral history of Ogbona because it illustrates the organisational capacity of Nene Eghimhegie and the determination of the women working with her to participate in the political process.
It also demonstrates that the political activities of women in Ogbona extended beyond attendance at political gatherings. They could mobilise people, communicate political information, organise collective action, and influence community participation in elections.
INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION
Nene-Nokhua was a mother who understood the importance of education and made a deliberate effort to ensure that her children received formal schooling. Her commitment to education became one of the enduring aspects of her legacy.
Her children included Okolo Thomson Itsuokor, Madam Omekelua, Madam Abakhue Comfort Atsegwasi, Chief Augustine O. Itsuokor, Madam Onoku Asaya, Eramha Idesimi Benson Itsuokor, Madam Lucy Charles Akhigbe, and Dr. Dennis E. Itsuokor.
Two of her sons, Augustine O. Itsuokor and Dennis E. Itsuokor, were educated and became teachers, contributing to the development of formal education in Ogbona.
CHIEF AUGUSTINE ITSUOKOR AND THE UTOROKHE BELL
Chief Augustine O. Itsuokor served as a teacher and subsequently became Headmaster of the RCM School at Utorokhiye during an important formative period in the development of formal education in the area.
During his tenure, he is remembered for erecting a large bell at Utorokhiye, which became an important feature of the community’s daily life.
The bell served a practical purpose beyond the school. Its daily ringing provided an audible signal to the wider community, reminding school pupils, teachers, and other members of the community that it was time to rise and begin the day’s activities.
The sound of the bell therefore became part of the rhythm of community life. It helped regulate the beginning of the day’s educational and other activities and served as a simple but effective means of communicating time in an era when modern timekeeping devices were not readily available to everyone.
The Utorokhiye bell remains a memorable example of how the work of an educator can extend beyond the classroom. Chief Augustine Itsuokor’s role was not limited to teaching and school administration; through initiatives such as the bell, he contributed to the organisation and daily routine of the wider community.
DR. DENNIS ITSUOKOR AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Dr. Dennis E. Itsuokor went on to pursue an extensive academic career. He was a graduate of the Department of Education, University of Ife, and subsequently obtained his PhD from the University of Ibadan (UI), specialising in Educational Management.
Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Dennis Itsuokor served as a lecturer at the College of Education, Abraka, and later at Delta State University. He also served as a Visiting Lecturer at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma.
The educational careers of Augustine and Dr. Dennis Itsuokor represent an important dimension of Nene-Nokhua’s legacy. Her decision to educate her children produced not only teachers and school administrators but also an academic whose career extended into higher education and educational management.
Through her sons, her investment in education reached successive generations of students. Their careers therefore form part of the broader history of the development of education in Ogbona and the contribution of Ogbona indigenes to education in Edo and Delta States.
FOUNDER OF THE IZI EGHIHEGIE WOMEN’S CULTURAL DANCE GROUP
Another important dimension of Nene-Nokhua’s legacy was her contribution to the preservation and promotion of women’s cultural heritage. She was the founder of the Izi Eghimhegie Women’s Cultural Dance Group, a popular women’s cultural organisation in Ogbona.
The group provided women with an organised platform through which aspects of traditional culture could be expressed and transmitted through dance, music, traditional dress, communal performance, and social participation.
Its establishment also demonstrated the capacity of women to organise themselves around cultural institutions and to preserve traditions at a time when many aspects of indigenous culture were undergoing significant change.
For Nene-Nokhua, cultural expression was therefore not merely entertainment. It was also a means of preserving identity, strengthening community relationships, and transmitting elements of Ogbona’s cultural heritage to succeeding generations.
ADVOCATE FOR JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY WELFARE
Nene-Nokhua’s influence was not confined to commerce, politics, and culture. She was also remembered for her strong sense of justice.
Her friendship and collaboration with Madam Ododoibo Obeakemhe became part of the oral history of Ogbona women. The two women were known for their strong personalities and willingness to challenge practices they considered unjust.
Their activism reflected a broader tradition of women’s participation in community affairs. Through informal networks, personal influence, economic independence, and collective action, women could exercise significant authority in matters affecting families and the wider community.
Nene-Nokhua’s reputation as a disciplinarian reinforced this aspect of her character. She expected proper conduct from those around her and was not known to remain silent when she believed that an injustice had occurred.
A LIFE SPANNING GENERATIONS
Nene-Nokhua lived to an exceptionally advanced age and became regarded as the oldest woman in the Avhianwu Clan.
Her lifespan enabled her to witness several generations of Ogbona people and major changes in the social history of the community. She lived through the transition from the colonial period into independence and witnessed the expansion of formal education, the emergence of modern political organisation, changes in commerce, and the continuing transformation of traditional social institutions.
Her long life therefore made her not only a participant in history but also a living link between different generations of Ogbona society.
LEGACY
Nene-Nokhua (Eghimhegie Itsuokor) occupies a distinctive place in the history of Ogbona women.
She was a merchant and entrepreneur, a women’s political organiser, an advocate for justice, a supporter of education, a benefactor of young women and children, and a promoter of cultural heritage.
Her establishment of the Izi Eghimhegie Women’s Cultural Dance Group, her political mobilisation during the formative years of Nigerian electoral politics, her commercial enterprise, and her commitment to the education of her children all form important parts of her historical legacy.
Her story also reminds us that the development of Ogbona was not shaped solely by formal institutions or male political and traditional leadership. Women such as Nene-Nokhua exercised influence through commerce, family, education, political organisation, cultural institutions, and community action.
She belonged to a generation of pioneering Ogbona women whose activities helped shape the social, economic, political, educational, and cultural life of the community.
Nene-Nokhua (Eghimhegie Itsuokor) remains an important figure in the history of Ogbona women and deserves to be remembered as one of the pioneering women whose courage, enterprise, leadership, and commitment to community life left an enduring legacy for succeeding generations.