NOTE: This is a poem like piece coated with scriptures written and read by Balogun Omeiza David (BOD) as Adm. Umaru Oricha Shuaibu empowered some widows on Wednesday 4th February, 2026 at the Glass House, Government House, Lokoja.
Oricha did not pass them by like a hurried priest on a dusty road, nor did he look away when grief sat quietly in their wrappers.
He saw the widows and he stopped. Where loss had emptied their homes, he brought hope to the doorstep. Where silence had swallowed laughter, he gathered them together and reminded them that God had not forgotten their names.
Psalm 68:5 told us, “A father to the fatherless,
a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.” Oricha in Ebira means God and here our father Oricha is a demi-god playing out the divine God’s script on how to treat widows.
In that sacred calling, Oricha Shuaibu walked gently, yet firmly, in God’s footsteps. He gathered broken stories and turned them into shared strength. He turned tears into tools, and sorrow into seed— yes, seed planted in empowerment, seed watered by compassion.
For Scripture commands us plainly:
“Give proper recognition to those widows
who are really in need. This you can find in 1st Timothy 5:3.
And he did not merely recognize them, he restored dignity to their bowed shoulders.
In his hands, charity was not noise, it was purpose. Not pity, but partnership. Not handouts, but a hand up.
James 1:27 expressly told us that, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widowsin their distress.” Oricha has just done this.
By this measure, his services rose like incense, acceptable, fragrant, and true. Today, widows smile again, not because pain vanished, but because someone remembered them. Because one man chose compassion over comfort, and action over applause.
May heaven record this gathering, may angels echo these deeds. May history continue to say and remember our father Oricha as a soul that stood where God stands beside the widows, and lifted them up.
Adayi Oricha, be well aware that as the agama lizard nods its head when it falls down from the great Iroko tree to praise itself, it is in the same vein that God Almighty your maker is sitting down on His throne nodding His head for this positive step you have taken to alleviate the plight of the widows.
Picture credits: Hon. Joshua Mekaku Ezekiel (JDVJosh), Official Photographer of the DG Government House, Lokoja.
