By Ingram Osigwe
“There is something about losing a mother that is permanent and inexpressible — a wound that will never quite heal” — Susan Wiggs
Though she departed at the glorious age of 88, a fulfilled woman, if the Ezenna family of Owerre Akokwa in Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State had the power of life and death, they would have certainly decreed extra more years on earth for their mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and matriarch, the late Mrs Comfort Mary Ezenna (Ada Jesus).
Indeed, to all those who had encountered Mrs Ezenna during her earthly life, an irreplaceable angel has departed to join the pantheon of angels in heaven. Many who tapped from Mrs Ezenna’s salutary, virtuous life are still in denial of her death. They are finding it difficult to come to terms with the grim reality of her departure.
And for those who have accepted the finality of her exit, Mrs Ezenna’s name is engraved in their hearts in capital letters. She will live in their hearts forever, thus underpinning Marcus Tullius Cicero’s assertion that “the life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.”
A woman of faith and prayer, Mrs Ezenna exuded empathy and compassion. Till her death, her heart beat unceasingly for the poor and the vulnerable.
Mrs Ezenna was an Amazon, a disciplinarian, an entrepreneur, and a woman of uncommon courage and grace.
These qualities are evident in how she lived her life, testimonies of people who knew her, and the numerous milestones she made in life. Her exhilarating life and time have been a subject of discourse in Akokwa and beyond since November 8, 2025, when she died.
Like her son, Sir Tony Ezenna, Mrs Ezenna was a selfless giver, a lover of education, an unassuming philanthropist and a devout Catholic who gave out to the downtrodden ceaselessly. She was a great source of support and hope for indigent members of society, including establishing a tuition-free primary and nursery school where many pupils received free education. Her service to the poor and needy is legendary and will not be forgotten in a hurry by the numerous lives she touched.
Born on 1 August 1937, at Owerre Akokwa, she attended St Paul’s Anglican Church Primary School, Ogidi, in the present-day Anambra State, where her early life began. Sending the girl child to school at that time was not fashionable, but the young Comfort broke the barrier and got to Standard Two (equivalent of today’s Primary Two) before proceeding to St Peter’s Anglican Church School, Akokwa, where she continued to Standard Four in 1954. She could, however, not continue her education as her mother could no longer afford it, and the scholarship given to her had earlier been withdrawn, forcing her to opt for a career in dressmaking, known in those days as seamstress.
It was in the course of this trade that a dashing young man from the same village, Owerre Akokwa, Ernest Ezenna Ebiliekwe, met her, and thereafter they got married in 1955 in Port Harcourt, present-day capital of Rivers State. The marriage was blessed with nine children — five boys and four girls — including Sir Tony Ezenna (Ijele Akokwa), Chairman of the Orange Drugs Group. Sadly, however, the couple lost two of the children, reducing the number to seven.
A consummate entrepreneur, Mrs Ezenna honed her business and entrepreneurial skills at a tender age of 15 upon the completion of Standard Four. That was when she proceeded to a vocational institute to learn dressmaking.
Even after marriage, she continued acquiring entrepreneurial skills with her enrolment into the Home Management and Catering Institute in Port Harcourt, where she learnt everything about home management and catering services.
With the support of her loving husband, Mrs Ezenna, now a young wife and mother, established her own company called Mecon’s Industrial Sewing Centre in Port Harcourt.
Mrs Ezenna was a community leader; a resilient and enterprising woman who overcame vicissitudes and obstructions after her husband’s death to single-handedly train her children.
Having lost her husband, Sir Ernest Ukwandu Ebiliekwe Ezenna (who was Chairman, Eastern Industrial Chemist), at a young age almost 42 years ago — precisely in March 1985 — the late Comfort Ezenna became a young widow and stood like a rock for the family, stoically filling the void created by the painful demise of her dear husband.
The late matriarch of the Ezenna family was a devout Catholic, a crusader of Christ, lover of the things of God, a woman of valour and purpose, who, in her later years, lived a puritanical spiritual and Oblate life that led her son, Sir Tony Ezenna, to establish Pora Caeli Cistercian Monastery in Owerre Akokwa.
She was a dedicated Christian woman with absolute trust and belief in God, an avid member of the Catholic Charismatic Movement and a soldier of Christ who, as a fearless, firebrand Christian, single-handedly destroyed the idols in her family despite threats on her life and to the astonishment of the whole village.
She encouraged her children to embrace the work of God, and it was to her credit that one of her sons is a Catholic priest, now a monk, while her first son, Tony, built a Catholic monastery in Akokwa and did numerous other things for the propagation of the Catholic faith and growth of Christianity in Akokwa.
Imbued with uncanny entrepreneurial skills, it was to Mrs Ezenna’s dexterity, entrepreneurial spirit, sound moral and Christian impartation on her children that her first son, Sir Ezenna, built a thriving business conglomerate, the Orange Drugs Group, from the relics of the Eastern Industrial Chemist.
Of course, like every other family in Igboland that started life afresh from ground zero after the Nigerian-Biafran War in 1970, the Ezennas had to relocate to Onitsha, and there, the ever-resourceful Mrs Ezenna refused to be weighed down by the economic difficulties created by the war as she swiftly started a petty business of frying bean cake (akara balls) to support her family. This small akara business later blossomed and metamorphosed into a food canteen business which flourished to the amazement of people around her.
Having shown remarkable strength in her small business, her husband asked her to join him in his own line of business of drugs and cosmetics merchandise. As a dutiful, supportive and submissive wife, Mrs Ezenna wasted no time in acceding to her husband’s request. The couple jointly managed the business until the death of Mr Ezenna in 1984. With a wife like Comfort, business continuity was not a problem; thus, with the support of Tony, her first son, the family business continued uninterrupted and grew to an enviable position. However, Tony later branched out to establish his own company called Orange Drugs and Cosmetics, now known as the Orange Drugs Group. An offshoot of the Ezenna family business (The Eastern Industrial Chemist Ltd), Orange Group has since emerged as Nigeria’s leading indigenous business conglomerate.
As Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 Verse 2 says: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted…”, after leading a quality, salutary and exemplary life on earth, impacting lives, serving God and humanity, Mrs Mary Comfort Ezenna peacefully transited to join the saints in the blaze of glory on Saturday, the 8th of November 2025.
Because Mrs Ezenna lived a fulfilled and impactful life, her glorious departure at 88 and her funeral ought to be a celebration of a life beautifully lived, but it is understandable that as mortals, those she left behind — children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — are heartbroken. After all, never again will they be serenaded by their matriarch’s angelic presence, and as profoundly put by the iconic John Donne, “any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”
Indeed, for the Ezennas, it is obvious that, as Mahatma Gandhi said, “there are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.”
Ada Jesus’ memory is our keepsake with which we will never part. God has her in His keeping while we have her in our hearts!
Continue to nestle in the Lord’s bosom. Keep enjoying the angelic and ecclesiastical company of the angels, Ada Jesus! You are missed and loved.
Osigwe is the media adviser to Sir Tony Ezenna and MD of Full Page Communications Ltd, Lagos.
