By DADA AYOKHAI
One of the celebrated events during the Sallah holiday in Auchi kingdom in Etsako west Local Government Area was the coming together of many in honor of the matriarch of the Ahmed family of Usogun village, Alhaja Unera Ahmed in celebration of her 84th birthday .
The low-keyed birthday ceremony was held at the palatial country home of Engr. Saliu Ahmed, who is one of the 12 children of Alhaja Unera
Engr. Ahmed is also the managing director of the Benin-Owena River Basin Department Authority, BORDA.
The birthday bash was, indeed, a homecoming for the Ahmed siblings, the majority of whom are pulling their weights in several fields of human endeavor across the globe.
Besides, the birthday event also served as a platform for a family reunion as well as the consolidation of the ties between the celebrants family, the Ikharos, and that of the late husband’s family, the Kadiri’s.
According to Engr. Ahmed, the birthday celebration was a collective decision by the children to publicly acknowledge the unique role and sacrifices their loveable mother, herself a princess by birth, made in bringing up her 12 surviving ering children and to also thank Allah for bestowing her with longevity and good health.
Engr. Ahmed read the mother’s citation at the ceremony, including her winning a beauty competition as far back as 1956. By winning the beauty competition and thus becoming a beauty queen, known then as the “gomina”, the young Unera became a local hero.
Additionally, one of the functions her official position imposed on her young shoulders then involved presiding over the affairs of her age mates as well as the settlement of disputes.
The high point of the birthday ceremony was the cutting of the cake by the celebrant surrounded by her children and well-wishers
