I was driving to Nasarwa in Nasarawa State to visit my son in the Federal Polytechnic there today, Tuesday, when Elizabeth Archibong posted in the State House Press Corps WhatApps group: “Guys, Chuks has passed…” either I didn’t quite understand the message or I was dodging the implication of the four words: Guys…Chuks…Has…Passed.
What followed immediately were a deluge of lamentations coming from over 100 members in the group. And I didn’t know when I wrote simply: “Whaaaat!”
As a matter of fact, because of the shock that seized my psyche, I parked the car by the road side for a while, reflected briefly on the Chuks that was said have, in diplomatic language, “passed” which simply means dead. Chukwuman Oneokwusi dead?
The Chukwuma that, not quite two months ago, was bubbling with life and was downed only by two deadly diseases: Liver and Kidney…the Chukwuma that was full of life; the man who always brought conviviality to even those who might not want to associate with him? In any case, would anyone in his right sense not want to associate with him?
Was it Chukwuman I personally visited in a private hospital at Garki Village a fortnight ago, who, as usual, hailed my name: “Ozi my men!!! Even when he was sick?…the Chukwuman who said Amen, Amen, Amen to prayers I offered for his quick recovery? Which Chukwuma?
Indeed, when I found that I could no longer drive, I handed over the steering to my son. And throughout the journey to Nasarawa and my return to Abuja, the feeling was noggin at my heart like a bad dream that refused to go away. And lo! The news came that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki sent condolence messages to Chuks family. Another news came that a five-minute silence in prayer was observed for him when the three Presidential spokesmen: Femi Adesina, Garba Shehu for President Muhammadu Buhari and Laolu Akande for Acting President Yemi Osinbajo met with the state House Correspondents for a different purpose.
So, true, Chukwuman is dead????
In the many years I had practiced Journalism and interacted with people across the country and the world, I found Chuks to be one of the few people, of the Igbo extraction who was proud of his birthplace without being malicious about it. He was an Igbo man who genuinely respected other peoples’ views, ethnic, religious and regional backgrounds.
Besides being a thoroughbred Journalist who took his job with all the seriousness it deserved, Chukwuma was a jolly good fellow who was easily attracted to lively people. So good he could mix with people that he and I became more of a family friend than colleagues on the same beat. He and his wife had cause to pay me and my family me visits on more than two occasions. When I broke the news to my wife that Chukwuman was dead, she virtually rolled on the ground, wailing. Chukwuman was a Christian and I and my family are Muslims, but our relationship transcended all such sentiments.
As a matter of fact, Chukwuma was so free-minded that at times, I would wonder whether he was brought up in Igbo land, because he was not behaving like typical Igbo men who choose friends on the basis of some kind of sentiments (apology).
Late Chukwuma introduced me to one of his friends and brothers to partner with me at the time I wanted to go fully into online publishing. He was always there encouraging me to move on, citing the example of Channels Television where he worked and made name up to his death.
He told me that when John Momoh, a veteran broadcaster, started the Channels TV, he and those who believed in him (including himself) would go for months without a single advert coming to the station. He said that they used news items, most of them irrelevant, to fill the airspace, just so as to remain floating.
Today, he encouraged me; Channels TV would even turn down some adverts because there would usually no airtime to allocate to such adverts. He would encourage me not to lose hope but to continue publishing and that someday, the business would pick up.
And so, how easy was it for such Chukwuma to die? How easy? [myad]
