Okrika has worn a new look since the date for the burial of Charity Oba, the late mother of First Lady Patience Jonathan, got close.
Okrika is a town that shares a border with the Ikwerre people of Rebisi and the Eleme people. It is also famous for the school, Okrika Grammar School, also known as OGS, and in recent times the home of the former militant leader, Ateke Tom.
Okrika main town was also famous for its very narrow roads as back in the days, cars could not drive beyond the bridge.
But moving away from history, the first mother will be buried on Friday, November 1 and things must be ready for the large number of dignitaries coming in.
A facelift
The town, Ambelebiri, where the burial holds, has received a facelift and visitors to the town will be led to believe it had always looked that pretty.
First, the multinational company, Setraco, was commissioned to rebuild the roads in the town, something they have been at for the past month.
Then solar powered street lights have been installed all through Okrika and they all work, while power supply to the town from the national grid has been 100% constant.
A big water tank was also built in the village to supply water to every one interested.
Food everywhere
Okrika has about one hundred family groups, known as War Canoe Houses.
One of the committees setup for the burial proposed that to keep people happy during the burial, they should be eating and drinking and there would be no problems.
Each War Canoe House was given one cow, three bags of rice and close to N100,000 to drink, eat, be merry and don’t come out on the streets whilst esteemed visitors were in town for the burial.
Guns everywhere
Not only Okrika people that have benefited from having the first mother’s burial in their territory.
Kelvin Okezie, a Port Harcourt-based banker, tweeted on Wednesday: “Port Harcourt is so safe, especially the GRA, that I can sleep with my doors open.”
He was obviously referring to the number of regular and anti riot police as well as soldiers on the streets of the city and largely concentrated at Old GRA where Mrs Jonathan lives.
Four men, one chopper
Members of (Minister of State for Education) Nyesom Wike’s Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) tried to block Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s convoy in a bid to stop him from going to the airport to welcome President Goodluck Jonathan, who arrived the state on Thursday.
When they didn’t succeed with that, they booed the governor as he approached the tarmac to welcome the president; but that soon turned o shock as Mr Amaechi was joined by Mr Wike and other VIPs to welcome the president.
Both men, as well as another arch enemy of the governor, Peter Odili, walked calmly side by side with the president and boarded a chopper from the airport to Okrika.
The security in the state has been water tight for a week; power has been up in Okrika for a week; everyone has plenty food to eat; and at the same time, the great adversaries, Amaechi, Odili and Wike walked side by side without an altercation; all thanks to the first mother.
By Monday, I bet we will all return to the trenches.