3
0
By Godwin Eduok
A 30 year old Nigerian lady who was born and raised in the United States returned to Nigeria this year, built a house in her village and brought back her 75 year old father from the United States after he left Nigeria more than 50 years ago!
The story of Itoro King William Atakpa makes everyone rethink the idea that the girl child is as valuable as any other gender. Among her other siblings, she traced her way back to Ikot Ekpeyak Ikono, Uyo, Akwa Ibom, to build a magnificent house on her father’s portion of the family land.
The construction of the bungalow took a couple of years with labour from locals she intentionally hired, as a means to empower them and utilize their skills. The artisans built the house according to specification and now the edifice is a landmark in the neighborhood of Ikot Inuen Hamlet.
Itoro walks through the village streets to catch a glimpse of the local ambience which had eluded her for many years and mingles with the villagers, young and old, to hear the stories of her home place as told by her real people. She eats and drinks all the local delicacies along with her family.
Itoro has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Master’s Degree in Energy Engineering from the University of Michigan. She values her roots deeply enough to get assimilated into the culture, and she even married a life partner who is also from Ikono Ibom Clan, though her accent easily gives her away as someone who spent her life abroad.
On Saturday, November 23, she gathered her kith and kin in a family party to celebrate the return of King William Atakpa, her father, to stay in his village for the first time since immigrating to America more than 50 years ago. She and her husband hosted him in their solar-powered bungalow, fitted with CCTV cameras and other modern facilities, which they developed on his former compound.
Over 300 people gathered in King William’s old family compound behind the new house to celebrate with Itoro King! She provided a buffet and bandstand for all to eat, drink, dance, and merry.
She read the story of her father’s life and ushered him into the arena, and shouts of joy mixed with surprise erupted from the crowd as King walked in, dressed in traditional attire and visibly excited to meet his family members, many of whom were born after he left Nigeria.
His daughter spoke well of him, stating that in his absence from his people, he continued to send help by way of sponsorships, welfare, and upkeep allowances.
Federal Character Commissioner Obonganwan (Pharm) Dorah Ebong, who witnessed it all alongside Dr. Clement Usoro and Dr. Mannaseh Udoh, also testified of King: “King is a good man. He heard of my mom’s demise today, and the next day, he sent a live cow for her funeral!” Obonganwan (Pharm) Dorah added.
Itoro featured a contest at the party to test knowledge of family history, and some members participated by attempting to arrange an accurate family tree. It was beautiful to behold the elderly figuring out the birth ascension order. It was also historic to see the formal unveiling of the family tree by the family head, Obong Enefiok Benson Atakpa.
It was an unprecedented event and sent a very strong message to all present that every child, male or female, is important and that King William must have been telling his children good stories about his birthplace. If he had portrayed his village and people to be black, wicked, evil, and so on, then nothing would have attracted young, beautiful Itoro back home. Or what do you think?
Photos from Itoro’s husband’s Facebook.
