By: Forcebray I. Inegha
When you take the princess, you must be ready to welcome the King himself. Princess Mrs. Warigbani Noite Ine Ikobho (1944-2025) is a great daughter of His Majesty Igoinboalabotogugha Brillingtone Benjamin Warri, Mein VI, Amanyanabo of Opu-Nembe Kingdom from 1928-1965. He is popularly known as King Benwari in Nembe history. He was a devoted Christian and Godfearing ruler of his people, who fought for justice, equity and fairness in Nembeland and beyond. He had the best of education in Cher-borne Dorset in England and was called home in 1899, to serve his people. He was elected president of the Nembe District Court from 1964 – 1965 and made Chairman of Nembe District Council in 1957. He presented the Nembe case during the Robinson Commission of Inquiry into the Okirika and Kalabari Boundary Dispute in 1949. King Benwari received King George VI Coronation medal in 1937. In 1954, he allocated or donated for free, land to the Baptist Church Opu-Nembe.
Human history is a series of cycles, and a realm of endless recurrences. The spirit of man expresses itself in vital energies as well as in harmonizing force of mind. Man stands at the juncture of nature and spirit. Secularism is a social pressure on the Christian faith. It becomes a religion and establishes its own code of ethics and push Christians in various directions. Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho kept her Christian faith as a spiritual heritage from her parents. R.C. Sproul points out that, “the word of God can be in the mind without being in the heart: but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind”. For precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (Psalm 116:15). Mama Ikoo, as she is fondly called in her faith Community – Believers’ Baptist Church, Amarata, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, is a woman of peace.
It is an established fact that Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho was sisterly, and peace loving in her creatureliness. She worked out her salvation with service to God and love for humanity. George Seaver reasoned that, “the worth of life is not to be measured by its result and achievement or successes but by the motives of one’s heart and the efforts of one’s will”. Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho was an illustrious daughter of Opu-Nembe Kingdom. Her lifestyle and practice of faith were influenced greatly by her parental upbringing. She was born July 1, 1944, to the family of Legendary King Benwari and Opou Priscillia Benwari.
Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho had been inducted into the heavenly choir, at death, on July 2, 2025. Spirituality is the deep sense or state of relationship with God. Samuel Johnson said, “it matters not how a man dies but how he lived”. The superstructure of culture is built around human ideas and understanding within a belief system. Hereditary advantages create dynamic rather than static social relationships and naturally see human history as a realm of human decisions rather than that of inexorable destiny. The seed plot of religious faithfulness reveals our humanity in social context.
The providence of God is purposeful. It is directed to an end. Our lives are our own construction. Life is an adventure in a zero-sum-game. Inner directedness of action must be faith based spiritual integrity. William Gurnall opined that, “if faith is a Jewel, a good conscience is the cabinet in which it is kept”. There is God beyond our knowledge. We can know him by faith or by reason. We can preach better sermon with our lives than with our lips. Princess Mrs. Warigbani’s life was a gospel of inner character and inner make-up of godliness. She chooses to be faithful rather than being famous in her Christian life.
God is reality, all else is illusion. Good name is the immediate jewel of the soul. Perfect is the end of a righteous person (Psalm 37:37). Cicero said “… faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellencies and endowments of human mind”. The journey’s end to our earthly existence is otherworldly. We would be oppressed by two weak evils, age and hunger. Beauty exists in the mind which contemplates it. Adolf Joffe said, “human life has meaning only to that degree and as long as it is lived in the service of humanity”. Mama Ikoo is attested to be a philanthropist and a hero of faith.
The way to look beautiful is to have beautiful thoughts. Mama Ikoo’s beauty is expressed through service to God and humanity. She lived exemplary life worthy of emulation. Carnally, beauty is bought with judgment of the eyes, spiritually, beauty is expressed with godliness. Life as publicly observed reveals similarities and differences in character, habit, and behaviour. It provides the framework or frame of reference to understanding others.
Experience refers not only to that complex of events which shape one’s life but also to the worldview that results. Rev. J.B. Heard said, “Death and sleep are only difference of degree, in one, there is the suspension of sense, in the other all of the functions of life”. Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho was a dedicated Christian and a committed church member. Members of Believers’ Baptist Church, where she worships, describe her as an “encourager”. This suggests the fact that her faith is very inspiring. She was elected president of the Baptist Women’s Missionary Society (WMS). Thereafter, she was made treasurer of the WMS, a position she held till her demise on July 2, 2025. Ma Ikoo is a missionary minded Christian.
Princess Mrs. Warigbani’s life itself is a theology of symbolic actions. Her life becomes a sign or symbol of divine goodness. The question is at death, what would we be remembered for, after we had been called home, to be with our creator? The simple answer is that we will be remembered for what we have done. Mama Ikoo’s life embodied godliness, love, sacrifice, humility, compassion, generosity, and genuine faith. Our character, attitude, behaviour and actions must be shaped with Christian ethics. Goodness is about our ethical conduct while righteousness is about our standing or relationship with God through Christ Jesus.
Christianity is a philosophy of consolation. All that lives; must die, passing through nature to eternity. Life and death are seasons of life. An adage says, “the old man goes to death, but death come to the young man”. The nothingness of life is proven by the facts of death. Spirituality roots us in purpose, faith grounds us against life’s storm, and offers us stability. Montaigne said, “the soul that has no established aim losses itself”. Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho’s life is Christ-centered, and God focused. She held unto Christ as the anchor of her salvation.
Indeed, she had fought the good fight of faith and had finished the race of life as a champion (2 Timothy 4:7). God had planted eternity in the human heart and a pathway to salvation. Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho had been sowed on Saturday, 11th April, 2026, as a trophy of God’s grace. Her life is shining example to emulate.
Sir Walter Scott asked, “is death the last sleep? No, it is the last and final awakening”. Also, William Penn said, “the truest end of life is to know, the life that never ends”. Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho knew Christ savingly. John Henry Newman opined that, “growth is the only evidence of life”. Princess Mrs. Warigbani aged gracefully and died at 81 years. She lived a fulfilled life. Montaigne said, “all day’s travel toward death, the last one reaches it”. Death came for the Princess on July 2, 2025, with the crown of life.
Joyce Cay said, “I look upon life as a gift from God. I did nothing to earn it. Now that the time has come to give it back, I have no right to complain”. This is very instructive. Life is an opportunity to serve God and humanity. Mama Ikoo exemplified saving faith and serving faith. Saving faith is the confidence in God’s promises and provisions. Serving faith is the use of God’s gifts and opportunities to serve God and humanity. Faith needs a generous soul, one that will rise above the weakness of human reasoning. God had given us the gift of self-analysis. God consciousness is a fact of life.
Princess Mrs. Warigbani Ikobho had proven to be a worthy daughter of God, and the King Benwari’s parental legacy. There is eternity (everlasting life) beyond the grave, for the righteous in Christ Jesus. Rest on, great soul.
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