Augustine Ukattah
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Augustine Echewodo Ukattah was born at Ahaba-Oloko, in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State Nigeria, on August 28, 1918. He was the fourth son of the Royal Ukattah Nkor Abajuo and Ejighiato Nwamgbede Ukattah, both of Ahaba-Oloko. His father died when he was very young and he had to grow up under his uncle, Chief Mathew Ugoani. He attended Christ the King Primary School. Aba and St. Theresa’s School. Okigwe. After a brief spell as a Pupil Teacher, he entered the prestigious St. Charles Teacher Training College Onitsha in 1941. He qualified as a Higher Elementary Teacher in 1944, and passed the Senior Teachers’ Examination in History, in 1948.
After he left St. Charles Teacher Training College. Onitsha in 1944, he was sent to Holy Cross School, Uturu – Isuikwuato, in 1946, as a Certificated Teacher, and that became his very first teaching assignment. From 1946 to 1950, he was the Headmaster of St. Patrick’s School Ogudu-Asaa, in Isiukwuato. In 1951, following his outstanding record at St. Patrick’s School, he was posted to head St. Bernard’s School, Okigwe. He was later sent to Umuahia, in 1952, as the headmaster of St. Michael’s Township School, known then for outstanding results in both academia and sports. He headed St. Michael’s Township School, from 1952 to 1959. Between 1960 and 1962, he became the Catholic Mission Inspector General of Education. In 1963, he became Assistant Superintendent of Schools, a position he held until the end of Nigeria Civil war. He retired from active service in 1973.
While he was the headmaster of St. Michael’s Township School, he was also active in politics hence became secretary of (NCNC) National Congress of Nigeria and the Cameroon - the popular political party among Eastern Nigerians at the time. He became first son of the Old Bende division, to be elected member of the Federal House of Representatives from 1954 - 1959 when he became a Senator, representing then Umuahia Province. In 1961, Chief Ukattah acted as Senate President of Nigeria, holding brief for Barrister, Dennis Osadebay. He was appointed leader of a High-powered Nigerian delegation to the Republic of Mexico via the United States in 1963 by then Prime Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Tafawa Belewa, when he, as leader of the delegation, was privileged to have addressed a joint session of the Senate and of the Deputies of the Republic of Mexico. On return, he authored a book titled; ‘My Trip to Mexico’. He also served for many years as a member of the Bende Native Authority, and Bende County Council. He was equally, first Chairman of the defunct Ikwuano County Council, now known as Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State and for many years, President of both Ikwuano and Oloko Clan Unions.
He was very broad minded and objective. He showed benevolent to his relations, friends and the needy at the expense of his comfort. He was industrious and fore–sighted. In the late fifties, he sponsored the education of his youngest brother Ferdinand I. E. Ukattah in Great Britain, where he qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in 1960 thus, became the first Ikwuano and Umuahia indigene to qualify as a Lawyer and later, the Chief Judge of Imo and Abia States, of Nigeria. Sir Augustine Ukattah was an ardent Catholic. In 1976 he received a Knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory, from Pope Paul VI. Also, in 1977, he became a Knight of St. Mulumba and until his death in 1996, he was the Grand Knight of the Order of St. Mulumba in Umuahia Catholic Diocese. And in 1991, was appointed a Justice of the Peace (JP) by the State Government.
