My special tribute to Ma’mi — Omo-Oba, Ezinne Okwukwe, Madam Motolani Adenuwesi Mercy Onyebeadi

By Prof. Echefuna’ R G ONYEBEADI

Ma’mi, Omo-Oba Adenuwesi, Omo Daniel Openibo, Omo Laura Adekunbi Kester, Iyà mi ówòn, na so u take waka go?!... Just like that?!!

What a long walk in life into eternity?!

What a long walk with you Ma’mi!?!

So so long Ma’mi!!!..

Watching you pass away slowly in your last 7 days on earth was a very unique but very traumatic and painful experience for me.

I called out a nurse, I queried your care assistants, I admonished, I counseled, I called in the specialist doctors to attend to you, I was there physically, my siblings were there too all the way…all in an attempt to make you well again and live on but, alas that wasn’t going to be.

The hopes of seeing you return back home became a dream that wasn’t meant to happen! Your walk was into the heavenly instead and a return home was to your Creator!

You held my hands with your two hands as firmly as you could while speaking inaudible words in prayer at the last moments. Ma’mi, we communed so deeply in the Spirit in a way that no mortal can ever understand…. I groaned in the Spirit for you to come home with me but obviously, you have had enough of this world …

It was a hope against hope that you will just stand up and walk again but that wasn’t going to be again on this earth. Your walk instead was into heavenly places.

The slow journey to the end and final moments into eternity started a little over two years ago when your wellbeing wasn’t properly handled particularly in a supposedly private hospital. You walked into the hospital with your feet in what was supposed to be a routine checkup only to return on a wheelchair! What a painful experience!... nothing on earth can ever console or comfort me on this!

‘Nigeria’, unfortunately, happened to you Ma’mi. Yea, typical of you Ma’mi, you fought back gallantly and celebrated birthdays thereafter with your children, friends and well wishers. What a determined woman you were Ma’mi!

Ma’mi, ‘Nigeria’ has been happening and still happens daily to many helpless, hopeless and hapless others for whom you spent better part of your life to show concern.

‘Nigeria’ happened to you again in later life when you were frail just like you waded through many such in life hitherto.

More agonizing Ma’mi is that even in death, ‘Issele-Uku’, the country home of your lovely and cherished husband, happened to you. The people you traversed nations and tribes to marry happened to you! Your loved, trusted and cherished ones happened to you. Oh, what a world we are in?! Oh, what a deep world we are in?!!

Let your Spirit and the power of the Most High God Almighty manifest for us continually Ma’mi.

Ma’mi, your departure from this world when and how you did has left me with so much cherished memories of your uniqueness and the life you lived. You were many things in one Ma’mi. You meant different things to many people and more importantly, you wished all well.

Ma’mi, in good times and in bad times you remained steadfast! You were there for ALL and your children…

I recall with nostalgia the love and times we shared together Ma’mi. At different times in life, I was just your eldest child and first son. Then, I became your lover boy; then your co-husband; then your husband and then the father of your children; a co-warrior in the battle of life; a co-worker in the vineyard of God Almighty and much more.

All these were at very tender age when I didn’t even know what they meant!

I was just flowing with the Spirit of the Most High God and the special grace of God Almighty!

Ma’mi, together we further walked through the ups and downs of life for another 40 years after the sudden demise of your husband, my own father, Diokpa Prince Michael Ndeze’ Chike Onyebeadi, and, we overcame and triumphed to the glory of God Almighty…..

Ma’mi you walked through life on this terrestrial plain like a colossus. You were an enigma, a trailblazer, a role model, a mother in Israel, record breaker, a cherished grandmother and a beloved great grandma.

Please, be rest assured of this one solemn pledge from me Ma’mi, as you now rest in bosom of the heavenly – my head will ever remain unbowed, my Spirit unbroken and forever shall my head be lifted up far above principalities and powers to the glory of God Almighty!

Rest on Ma’mi till we meet again to part no more.

Good night Ma’mi.

Adiu Nnem. È sùn ré o Iyà mi ówòn!

This world is indeed not our home!

Professor Echefuna’ R G ONYEBEADI [DBA; PhDs, etc] is the eldest child and first son of late Madam Mercy Onyebeadi.

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