Your picture is everywhere on social media, but not for the reasons any of us would have wished. I had hoped to see your face flood the Anambra social media space, a space you nurtured, built, and stood as a veteran of, changing the lives of many youths along the way, mine inclusive. They were all waiting to celebrate you as the next crowned Igwe of Ogbunike, our beloved community. I had already begun calling myself “Nwanne Igwe.” We had a date with destiny, and it was meant to be.
You were strong, unbroken, with a heart full of plans for our people. But fate chose otherwise. Instead of captions of congratulations and jubilation, the images of you now bear the weight of grief, captions of your death, prayers for your soul, and sorrow beyond words. If pain has a name, surely this is it.
You were my strength, my compass, my beacon. I would never have come this far without your deliberate counsel, your steady support, your brilliance, courage, and the joy of a father proud of his son.
Yours was never a fight to finish, but a journey of selfless service, of love poured out without measure. That is why it feels impossible to say goodbye, because in truth, you are not gone, you live in every heart you touched.
In the words of Irving Berlin “The song is ended, but the melody lingers on.”
Chibuike Uloka
Yours truly.