Dateline 04 March 2017

3 March 2022 , Comments Off

Dateline 04 March 2017
by Kunle Ojeleye

“๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘—๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ข๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก 10 ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘œ…๐ผ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐ท๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘“ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘“๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘Ž๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก. ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘, ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘, ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›. ๐ท๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘š. ๐‘‚๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ, โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘‘, “๐‘‚๐‘š๐‘œ, ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘“๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘“๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐ผ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ, ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘œ.” ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘š, ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘ข๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘™๐‘ฆ. ๐‘‡๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ, ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘™ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ.”

Late 2015. He was going to turn 80 in August of the following year. I had convinced him that his autobiography must be completed and presented to mark the milestone.

Early in 2016. We were still debating the nature of the birthday celebration when the unexpected happen. He went to a function to celebrate the 80th birthday of one of his close friends. Service ended in church, and he was unable to get up from his seat. Stubborn as he can sometimes be, he forced himself up with help, unbelievably got himself into his car, and drove home.
All talks about a birthday went out of the window. Focus was on getting him back on his feet from the stroke incident.

Towards the end of 2016, we were in a phone conversation, and he said to me:
โ€œOmo, can I please make a request? Can we publicly present my autobiography without any birthday celebration?โ€
โ€œWhatever you want, Dadโ€, I responded. โ€œWhen do you want it to take place?โ€
โ€œOmo, can we hold it the first week of March next year? It would be a way of giving thanks to God for keeping me alive, a year after I suffered stroke.โ€

So, on 04 March 2017, by keeping extremely quiet about the event and ultimately offending many, we were able to limit the number of guests to about 300 men and women that gathered to honour Dad as he publicly presented his autobiography โ€“ A Grace-Filled Life.

In our human desires, we had hoped that he would attain another major milestone for us to celebrate the faithfulness of God in his life. However, a number of circumstances conspired together to rob us of Dad, 17 days after his 85th birthday.

Despite our loss and the absence we feel, we are grateful to God for A Grace-Filled Life indeed.
And I remember with fond memories those who were with us five years ago, but have also journeyed to the other side.

๐‹๐ข๐ง๐ค
Special audio recording by @[100004411206802:2048:Samuel] Udoh for the occasion – https://bit.ly/34aPYHp

 

Facebook Post: 2022-03-03 T19:32:14