A socio-cultural group, Warri Ladies Vanguard ( alias Agura Iwere Erun) National, has donated palliatives to the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Ikenwoli as part of their contribution to the fight against COVID-19 in Iwere land.
The items donated include 200 tubers of yams, 10 bags of rice, 3 bags beans, 15 bags Garri, 3 bags of salt and 5 cartons of groundnut oil.
National President of the group, Mrs Florence Oritsegbubemi Onomokpe, who led her team to the palace of the Olu of Warri to make the donation, said that as one of the oldest groups in Iwere land they find it necessary to join the Olu in the fight against COVID-19.
She commended the Olu of Warri for who has been donating palliatives to his subjects since the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus diseases which has ravaged the whole world.
Speaking to journalists during the donation, Mrs Onomokpe, said, “We are here to support our Ogiame with these little Palliatives because we have seen that he has been supporting his people since the breakout of COVID-19.
“You can see that we the Warri Ladies Vanguard, National from all over the world, we are here to present these palliatives to the Olu of Warri as sign of our little contribution to the fight against COVID-19.
“We have here representatives from all over the world to do this presentation as a body.
“We have discovered that since the outbreak of this novel Coronavirus disease, the Olu of Warri has being donating palliatives to his subjects to help cushion the effect of the lockdown that was put in place by the government.
“So we decided that as one of the oldest groups in Iwere land we want to contribute our widows might to what the Olu is already doing since we know that there are a lot of the aged people in our rural areas.”
According to her also, “The Warri Ladies Vanguard is a group of well disciplined sisters, wives and mothers from Warri. We are dedicated to the promotion of Itsekiri culture. Our motto is service to the nation. There are no men in this group but the only men we have in the group are our patrons.
“We have with us the immediate past President of the group, Dame (Mrs) Stella Popo,”
On how to protect themselves from the Coronavirus, Mrs Onomokpe advised women in the state to follow the rules and guidelines put in place by government to protect them from contracting the Coronavirus disease, stressing that “we do not know what is truth and what is false anymore.”
“We have to obey the government of the day. If they tell us to sit at home then we should sit at home. If they tell us to cover our noses then we should also cover our noses because all we want is that we do not want to be infected with this COVID-19.
Receiving the items on behalf of the Olu of Warri, Chief Clement Maleghemi, thanked the women for their contribution to the fight against COVID-19.