AMAOKPU, NKPA: In The Throes Of Multiple Grief

From AKUNNE CHUDI UWANDU, In Amaokpu, Nkpa

DEATH, THE TERRORIST, THE HEARTLESS BANDIT, has run amok through our villages like the angry Fulani mad cow and left us soaked in grief.

GRIEF, has in turn, poured, not just rained, on my motherland, Amaokpu, Nkpa, in Bende Local Government of Abia State. Our hearts are drenched and soaked in the filthy pond of emotion it left behind.

We are weak, severely whacked and overwhelmed. Yet, we remain unbowed and undefeated. Our faith has been shaken and we have been nearly run to tether’s end. Haven’t we been so crushed?

We have been physically and emotionally drained.
Grief, has boxed us to the tight corner of the ring of life and bloodied us to a stupor.

We have cried, yelled and wept and our tears have dried up. We have lost our voices and sack cloths do not even slightly express the depth of our mourning.

My fingers have gone limb, and my ink dry. Otherwise, how on earth can the calamitous deaths that have covered our sky like a nimbus these past weeks be understood?

Never, in recent memory have a people been so struck with BEREAVEMENT OVERLOAD or CUMULATIVE GRIEF as Amaokpu, Nkpa.

Late Prof. Godswill Obioma

Yet, it is not the first time death would pounce on us. Indeed, death is a fact of living, but the recent incidents that have claimed five of our eminent citizens in a row, from two families, in about a fourth night, is a disaster too difficult to comprehend.

I am, thus, compelled to ask whomsoever is conversant with the cosmos:
HOW COULD IT HAVE HAPPENED TO US? WHO SAW IT COMING? WHO HAS SEEN IT HAPPEN BEFORE? Rhetorical questions, yes, yet nagging for urgent answers.

Late Pa  John Uguru

The scenario has sent me to live in self-denial since this our trampling by death with its jackboot. I have continually prayed and wished it would be a dream.

I had hoped to wake up one morning and realised it was a nightmare. But the gruesome reality stares! I had tried to protect myself by refusing to accept the truth of this catastrophe. But no more!!

I have come to terms with the fact that Daa Erina Obioma, the mother of Professor Godswill Obioma our erudite frontline Mathematician of international repute, has died and that her loving son, Godswill, the erstwhile Registrar/Executive Secretary of the National Examination Council, NECO, also passed on while planning her burial.

Late Chuks Uguru

The Mother of professor Obioma has been buried on the 15th and her son, Godswill will be buried today the 17th of September 2021.

It is also true that Chukwuma (Chuks) Uguru, one of our finest, died while arranging for the burial of his parents, Elders John and Mary (Daa Ada Johnson). Pa John was arguably the first International Civil Servant outside Pa Kanu Offonry, to come from Nkpa and perhaps Umuimenyi.

He was an Ambassador for Biafra to Eastern Europe. His wife, a renowned teacher, whose contribution to humanitarian efforts to save children from hunger and starvation in Biafra, was widely recognized.

Nnenna

Chuks, an Author and Scientist had retired from the top echelon of Shell Oil Company, after a meritorious service. Professor Obioma, until his death was about the highest Federal Government appointee from Umuimenyi, if not the entire Bende.
He had distinguished himself in the several Departments and Agencies he headed for the Federal Government.

He would be the second Professor to die from Amaokpu. Professorships are tough to attain and it’s heart-wrenching losing the very few in a community.
Two years ago, Henry Ihemelandu Onuigbo, (Omerada), also a Professor of mathematics, died in the United States. He, too, was a member of our first eleven. The young lady, Nnenna, who died most recently from a motorcycle accident was his blood sister.

So, death has ravaged and plucked two, from the Onuigbos, two, from the Obiomas and three from the Ugurus. The Onuigbos are from Eluogbaa. The Obiomas are from Amaukwu, while the Ugurus are from Ndiagbo. What a devastating fate!

Can my devastation and trauma be understood now? Can reasons be seen why my faith has been shaken, though not lost? Can it be seen why the foundation of our hope as a community has been rocked?

WHO DID THIS TO US? WHY DID GOD ALLOW IT?
That is the basis of our grief.
Please pray for and with us.

It is our belief that the greatest honour bestowed on the dead is a befitting burial. We have already begun to do our best in that regard for these great souls, beginning with that of Prof. Obioma’s mother, last Wednesday, the 15th, instant.

We shall appreciate the presence and support of all Nkpa citizens, their friends and associates possibly, when we honour and pay our last respects to these our Patriots.

Please, pray that Amaokpu and Nkpa may be healed, thereafter; that we will be able to rebuild ourselves around these losses we have suffered.

We believe that “Death takes the body. God takes the soul. Our mind holds the memories; our hearts keep the love. Our faith let’s us know, we will meet again” (Anonymous).

Adieu Ndi anyi ji aga mba!!!

-Akunne Chudi Uwandu, Is The
President General, Amaokpu, Nkpa, Autonomous Community(ANAC)