Of late, I have really started to think seriously and deeply about life. I have been pondering over a great many things such as why we were created
By Clement Afe Afemikhe
“All the World is a Stage, And all the Men and Momen merely Players.”
….@William Shakespeare
Of late, I have really started to think seriously and deeply about life. I have been pondering over a great many things such as why we were created on the earth. I know and believe in God: I also know that there’s some kind of a reason for everything and life is not in vain. I think, I believe, too, that when people die something happens to the soul.
Since the sad news of the death of Barrister Dr. Ayuba Giwa filtered to my ears, I have not really been able to come to grips with the reality of it and man’s journey through life.
Till this moment of writing this tribute, I can’t explain what terrible sorrow, grief and despair Dr Ayuba Giwa’s death has brought over me and majority of our people in Okpella.
No doubt, recent events in Ukhomunyio pitched the legal luminary and me in two very different and opposite camps. No doubt, too, we did banter words over some crucial community matters via the new media handles. No doubt also that I used acerbic tone on him in some of my correspondences because of my belief that certain of his decisions and standpoints fell short of expectations. A vitriolic critic I was in all ramifications. But only that and it stopped at that. Our obvious bifurcation in matters arising from Ukhomunyio and Okpella development agenda vis-a-vis our mineral deposits didn’t get us into deep enmity. No. I knew Dr Ayuba Giwa very closely and respected him greatly.
For someone as me, therefore, it would be quite pesky to join the mass who begrudged, envied or even hated barrister Ayuba Giwa for all his services to Okpella clan and its people. For all such persons who probably hated barrister Ayuba Giwa for his courageous life and selfless services to Okpella, all stops are down in terms of where to end in piercingly cold invectives and skimpily veiled scorn. It’s shocking that even the Roman Maxim that says “Of the dead, nothing but good should be spoken” does not appeal to their vulgar consciousness.
For me, and I dare to say for a great majority of Okpella people, late Dr Ayuba Giwa was one man who believed that a leader’s role is to ensoul, inspire and direct the community’s vision within the context of a dynamic society.
Late barrister Ayuba Giwa very well understood that community growth and stability stem from internal strengths, unity and shared purpose and vision. He very much appreciated the fact that they are mutually exclusive. And for that he fought! Late barrister Dr Ayuba Giwa fought for Okpella’s progress and he fought for the people’s welfare in the understanding that one cannot come at the expense of the other. Alhaji Ayuba Giwa understood that a community’s strength is in the sum of all its people’s strength, individually and collectively.
The departed illustrious son of Okpella took too much personal and professional trouble to wrest our clan out of the grips of the Ebirra people in the protracted boundary dispute and such other matters that are tantamount to community retrogression.
And, oh, I remember that eloquent personage, he had a way of speaking that endeared him, particularly to power and fellow community members–a way of reducing problems or things to a common denominator easily grasped by the average person.
Over the years, barrister Ayuba Giwa had his own peculiar charm and gallant grace of bearing. Yes, he always stood grandy apart from his contemporaries, a statuesquely figure of brilliance and patriotic radicalism.
Yes, while alive, my ‘big brother’ the late Barrister Dr Ayuba Giwa, understood that we are currently living in an Okpella clan that now entertains vast amount of hatred amongst the people; Okpella clan where bigotry, violence and divisiveness have become the norm rather than the exception; Okpella clan where truth has been banished and a generation of liars and wicked men and women now reign and bestride the land in bucaneering binge. These and more are some of the reasons some of us have continued to urge us all in Ukhomunyio community and Okpella clan generally to regather our strengths to fight against every expression of evilness.
Late Barrister Ayuba knew the tragedy of looking the other way and keeping quiet by men who should know and lead the fight. How painful that such a man is today being addressed in the past tense. Sad. Lesson: We are all mere humans with all the frailties of mortal man and, death is inevitable!
Well, it’s the way of all mortals and our beloved brother and our unsalaried sentinel, Dr Ayuba Giwa, has played his part and gone to rest peacefully with his Creator.
Today, Okpella is in mourning mood but giving Allah Subuhana Wa’taala all the praises and glory for the great life he gave to Barrister Ayuba Giwa.
Our dear brother, friend, motivator, and defender of Okpella, Ayuba Giwa, your death is a big loss for Okpella and humanity.
Need I remind us all that today Okpella is in dire need of men and women in the mould of the late legal luminary and voice of Okpella, Barrister Ayuba Giwa. For me, the life and time of late barrister Dr Ayuba Giwa is a chronicle of our collective struggles, past and present, in Okpella and therefore his death presents us a veritable opportunity to reflect and be able to determine our going forward as a people.
We need men and women like barrister Ayuba Giwa who can serve the constructive needs of the clan, who can work out ways to improve the living conditions of our people.
I am very saddened that I was unable to be there in person in Okpella with the Giwas and other loved ones during the burial of the great son of Okpella, late Barrister Dr Ayuba Giwa.
I want to express my deepest sympathy and condolences as well as prayers to the immediate and extended family members he left behind and all others connected to him.
May the trumpet of lasting fame and glory continue to sound triumph for you Dr Ayuba Giwa and every other benevolent leader, dead or alive in Okpella and beyond.
May Allah Subuhana Wa’taala forgive late barrister Dr Ayuba Giwa all his earthly shortcomings and grant him aljana fidaus.
We miss you and we think of you each passing day but God loves you more.
Continue to rest peacefully with your Creator!
Adios, the sentinel of Okpella, Barrister Dr Ayuba Giwa.
………..
Clement Afe Afemikhe, Abuja-Nigeria
