By Sylvia Akpan
The Cross River State Women’s Memorial Project has paid tribute to a “phenomenal” professor of history, Prof. Stella Attoe who was called yonder after a brief illness.
An evening of tribute held in her honor at the Women Development Center, Parliamentary Road Calabar on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, was graced by profiled individuals in the State.
The event was declared open by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hon. Edema Irom who welcomed everyone and solicited their cooperation as part of her welcome address.
In a brief sermon, Rev. Ini Ekong drew his exhortation from the book of Numbers 23:10 where he charged all not to only live by affluence but by the number of lives they can impart and urged the living to live a life worthy of emulation.
Shortly after the night of tribute, the Chairperson of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) Cross River State eulogized the late Prof. Stella as “She was a phenomenal woman who made an impact in the educational sector. She is an astute politician, a community builder, a mentor, and an erudite professor of history.
“We are here to celebrate her life and time, though she has left us but we have hope in the resurrection. As Christ rose up, as many that die in Him will rise again so we are encouraging other women in Cross River State to emulate her good qualities.
“Her absence is really going to affect us because she has been there like an icon taking other women along as she progresses in her career as a political figure so we are really going to feel her demise but we are praying that God in His infinite mercy will fill the vacuum that is created,” prayed.
The State Assistant Woman Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Maria-Assumpta Offiong, pated the late Professor Stella Attoe who served as the National Working Woman Leader of the People’s Democratic Party as “just a simple woman in her own way,” adding that “she was a woman who was passionate about women.”
She recounted: “I remember as a child when she was Commissioner for Education here in Cross River State, I don’t know how I got to admire her maybe her name, I just don’t know but that name really stuck into my head and I was asked in school ‘Who was the Commissioner for Education’ that time and in my class, I was the first to say ‘Mrs. Stella Attoe’ so that means this woman has been in my heart as a young girl and I simply want to say that she was an amiable woman.”
The event had in attendance, the Commissioner for Social Welfare Community Development, Bishop Dr. Margaret Ene-Ita; the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof. Florence Banku Obi; Rev. Mrs. Grace Ekanem, and dozens of women among others.
