BY TONY ERHA
When in the morning of 8th August, 2021, the news passed around from the United Kingdom that Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo, had passed to eternal glory, through a cancer-related illness, not many people took it as real. “Izogie khien emwanta”. The Benin people of Edo State, Nigeria, would say; “Doubts has turned to reality”. It was not until his burial rites and anniversaries of his death that it finally dawned on some that the beloved Captain ‘Hosa, Capitano, Cappy and other aliases for which he was fondly called, had truly gone.
A man of the people and of many valuable parts, Cappy was an easy-going trained pilot, Pan Africanist, cultural leviathan, billionaire-business man, mentor and caregiver extraordinaire, who lived and conquer poverty, ignorance, and unhappiness.
“It can’t be true that Cappy is gone!”… “I am sure he will come back soon!”. These were some of the wailings of many half-minded admirers, when his remains were laid in-state and being lowered to the grave. The most tragic moments laid ahead for them, when in Christmas and New Year yuletide, their beloved Captain Hosa, the kind and generous one, who mitigated thirst and hunger’ was no longer at his doorstep, to minister to their needs”.
But it isn’t often that writers dedicate their syndicated columns, which they hold cautiously, to folks, unless the ones on which the writings are premised, actually have distinct characteristics that are worthwhile, to sustain the regular opinions that are anchored for a perceptive readership. At the backdrop, a writer is the bee that nips the nectars that makes the sweet honey.
“When a loved one dies”, is about the most articulate and soul-wrenching treatise I have read. ‘Awake!’, known for its insightful and down-to-earth magazine stories, once featured “When a beloved one dies.” The inspirational and research-based staple of The Watchtower is published and spread around the globe, by its parent Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“When a beloved one dies,” similarly poses the puzzles and upsets triggered by the irreversible loss of ‘Cappy’. He was the ‘people’s toast’ and a ‘Destiny Helper’, whose large alms had incubated multitudes of persons, and humankind that were agonized, when he died at his boom and when his society needed him the most. ‘Awake!’ further tells all the usual thoughtless cries when a ‘dear one’ is lost to the cold hands of death. “It can’t be true!”; “What am I going to do?”; “What does life hold for me, with his demise?”; “Is he going to come back?”
Over four long years after his painful demise, Captain ‘Hosa is still fondly cherished and remembered by all and sundry, as if it’s just a-day-after he departed a well-fulfilled lifetime.
“Owina gha wu obore ighi fo vb’ agbon”, is an epithet by the Benin people, translated as; “When a blacksmith passes on, his great work immortalizes him”. In the same Benin, ‘a cradle of black civilization’, Captain ‘Hosa was born in 1958, to a disciplinarian and clergyman of a father, Rev. Amos Okunbo and Mrs. Helen Osazemwinde Okunbo. Both had also passed on.
The good acts of great men always remind the living to live a life sublime. So, there is no gainsaying that Idahosa, the late son of Rev. Amos Okunbo, led a life worth emulating by the living persons. In life’s aspects, where he made indelible marks, which are vast, the late refined man had been acknowledged, so much so that many people marvelled how he was able to achieve so much within a 63 years span.
As far as one could say, Sufuyan Ojeifo, a fastidious essayist and veteran journalist, had described ‘Hosa’s meekness as “an enthusiastic personality with the heart of gold.”
About his resourcefulness, Ojieifo drew a congruential to Midas, a mythical Greek king of abundance wealth that turned everything he touched into wealth. Of course, after his very successful career as a commercial pilot, he went into business, with an Octopus spread into marine business, oil and energy, brokerage, leisure, agriculture, security and many others.
I had a longstanding closeness to Captain ‘Hosa, although we severally disagreed on some issues. He was seldomly a hot boiled egg that soon gets cold. After each disagreement, I would give him a break, but only for him to call me shortly. “Ovbie edionmwan, vbua ye?” Where are you, little old man?”. He would further ask, if you’re in Abuja, let’s see in the evening. If not, call Kareem (his aide) to give you a flight ticket and logistics to Abuja. It is very important we meet tomorrow evening”.
‘Idahosa’ was a king of hearts, who easily forgave others, who wronged him. Once upon a time, I was shocked when ‘Hosa cautioned me not attack a friend of his, whom I assumed to be an ingrate, because he plotted against him, after he rendered him a huge financial assistance. He simply asked me; “Do you want to kill him with this hard article? He has denied me though. But if I fight back all my friends because they offend me who will be my friend on the long run?”.
No one could to be closed to Capt ‘Hosa, without noticing his virtues; meekness, unconditional giving, hard work, diligence, truthfulness and selflessness. It was severally said that after meeting ‘Hosa, one will never be the same again. This also testifies to his second nature for freewill philanthropy, that made him special to lots of those he had helped and others who got to know about his easy disposition to charitable giving.
During this (2025) Igue, a Benin equivalence of the Christmas and New Year festival, held about the same time, Captain ‘Hosa is sorely missed by a lot of people, who depended on his large heartedness, with material gifts and money.
“May God Almighty and our ancestors raise another great man like Idahosa Okunbo for Benin Kingdom,” moaned a traditional chief from the Benin ruling house!
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