In what appears to be a signal of what is to come in the oncoming year 2021, and a step in rekindling the hopes of senior citizens and elderly residents of Bonny Kingdom, given the harsh realities of the outgoing year 2020, the Monarch of Bonny Kingdom, His Majesty, King Edward I, has doled out food items and cash gifts worth millions of naira to cater for the Christmas welfare of elderly residents of Bonny LGA, Rivers State.
The beneficiaries were overwhelmed with joy and gratitude as they received bags filled with food stuffs and envelopes containing undisclosed sums of cash from one community to the other across the length and breadth of the island.
The message accompanying the donations was unambiguous and from the highest authority himself to the elderly, both men and women, “Please, enjoy the Christmas with me. I care about you but you may not be able to come to the palace, so, I’m sending you these packs of foodstuffs”.
The messenger was no less a person than the Public Relations Officer of the King Perekule Palace, Bonny, Reginald Hart, and the message was from the Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of Bonny Kingdom, His Majesty, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III, CON, Perekule XI.
This over 15 year old annual charity drive, which took place on Tuesday, December 29, 2020 saw a retinue of volunteer community members and palace staff assist in conveying the foodstuffs from Madupolo to Manilla Pepple, Finecountry, Allison, and Ezekiel-Hart Compounds and then through Cable Road to Park Community, Hospital Road, all the way to Attoni, Brown and Tobin compounds in Finima Town.
King Perekule XI, through his PRO, thanked the elderly for holding forth in their prayers and support for his leadership, noting that the challenge of mobility due to old age on their part necessitated sending the yuletide packages to them in their homes, expressing his affection for them and their families.
He noted that no particular criteria was used in deciding the beneficiaries of the charity scheme except their age, explaining that the youths and other middle aged members of the kingdom could make their way to the palace but they may not and he thought it wise to reach out to them in their various homes.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Banigo, who is popularly known as “I die for Mama, Mama die for you”, expressed gratitude to the King for his kindness extended to her and other beneficiaries, saying that the compassion he has shown to them would be requited to him in double folds.
Another of the beneficiaries, Princess Christiana Alfred Brown prayed fervently for the King, Bonny Kingdom and the King’s staff; in her petition which she rendered in Ibani, the language of the Bonny people, she asserted that for the King of Bonny Kingdom to think of her and deem it necessary to avail her these goodies, the Almighty God, the God of the Ibani (Bonny) people, should never stay His blessings on King Pepple III.
The Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of Bonny Kingdom, His Majesty, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III, CON Perekule XI, has a legendary record of philanthropy that transcends time, place and people such as scholarships, funds for business startups or growth, food supplies, and other forms of charity.
This year’s drive was a consolidation of those done before, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Bonny LGA in conjunction with the Rivers State Government, Bonny Local Government, Nigeria LNG, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), among others.
The King Perekule Palace PRO, Reginald Hart, who doubles as Chairman of the Bonny Kingdom Palliative Committee, told Kristina Reports that the initiative by his boss, the Bonny Monarch, was borne out of a compassionate heart focused on cushioning the effect of the countrywide harsh economy, noting that it would remain an ongoing process as the positive impact on the elderly and less privileged in Bonny Kingdom was becoming more profound.
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