Obituary: BENJAMIN SUNDAY EBAJU

 

Benjamin Sunday Ebaju

Sunday, 29 December 1946 to Monday, 9 June 2025

Born on 29 December 1946 in Owerre-Olubor in the then Western Region of Nigeria, the late diokpa Benjamin attended Western Boys’ High School in Benin City for his high school education.  Coincidentally, that school features as its alumni the late Midwestern State military governor Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia and Mr Emmanuel Charles Osigbeme Ikazoboh – a former managing partner of Akintola Williams Deloitte, one time sole administrator of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and later Chairman of Ecobank.

I remember diokpa Benjamin as a dynamic and handsome man in the 1970s.  He was a capable mobilizer of men and resources.  He opened up Ikorodu to many sons of Olubor for them to put up their own houses – just as he himself had done in the 1970s upon returning from working with UTC Ibadan branch to settle in Lagos.  Diokpa Benjamin never liked working too long as an employee and so, on quitting UTC, he pursued his dream of having other streams of income as a self-employed person.  That was at a time when self-employment had not become popular; he was a trailblazer in this respect and therefore an example worthy of emulation.

In another respect, as a community builder, diokpa Benjamin spearheaded the founding of the first Owerre-Olubor Quarter Union in Lagos when the Umuikpulu Progressive Union (UPU) was established in the house of the late diokpa Pius Okorie Monye in Maryland, Lagos on Sunday, 25 November 1979. In fact, it was the then young Benjamin Sunday Ebaju who wrote the first draft of the UPU Lagos constitution.  This Owerre-Olubor Quarter union (UPU Lagos) was the first and remains the only one still functioning today in Lagos as the four other Quarter unions which had copied from it have all wound down ignobly.

Lest we forget, UPU Lagos was formed immediately after the death of the teenager Benjamin Pius-Monye who had drowned in the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos. He had gone to swim as he used to do in Accra but he never came back!  Benjamin Monye, a namesake of Benjamin Sunday Ebaju, was the son of diokpa Pius Okorie Monye; no wonder that Benjamin Sunday Ebaju was affectionately treated by diokpa Pius.

As the late diokpa Benjamin Ebaju advocated at the formation of UPU Lagos, it would serve as an internal bastion of support in case of any emergency arising upon any Umuikpulu indigene in Lagos and also as a firm foundation of diaspora support for Umuikpulu Quarters in Owerre-Olubor. Today, UPU Lagos has surpassed the other such Owerre-Olubor unions in Lagos in terms of organization and finance; thanks to the vision of the late diokpa Benjamin Sunday Ebaju.

Of course, as every mortal will eventually pass, Benjamin Sunday Ebaju has passed away.  But we pray that his demise will not be the death knell for the outstanding union which he headed and which has been meeting in Ikorodu house up till the time of death last Monday.  Let us keep the flag aloft and fluttering and flying forever!  This is how to keep the memory of the last head of Umuikpulu-in-Lagos, the late Benjamin Sunday Ebaju evergreen!

 

Frank Monye

Nwa Ogude Ndudi Smart Monye

13 June 2025

 

 

In Memoriam

 

Lucky Okafor

“The web of our life is

of a mingled yarn,

good and ill together.”

– William Shakespeare in All’s Well That Ends Well.

 

And our own prominent transporter, Edwin Nwaiye, says:

“Uke emene onye,

O ga dua.”

 

In June of 2019, the Afam Family of Umuikpulu lost the one who proved true to his name – Alexander (a Greek name meaning benefactor)!  Yes, Onyebaolonwanne Alexander Nkennor-Monye.  Now, fast forward to June 2021.

 

On Sunday, 13 June 2021, the Afams lost the handsome and dashing Chukwuma Awunzie, an Abuja-based pastor, to the cold hands of sudden death in the prime of his life!

 

Barely two weeks after Chukwuma Awunzie, and while still in the month of June, someone was jolted with the sad news of a fatal auto-crash which claimed the life of Lucky Okafor, a pastor of The Apostolic Faith Church in Otolokpo.  The late Lucky Okafor, though of Umunofo, was of the Afam tree branch of Monye – through his grandfather!  We, of the Afam tree, therefore mourn Lucky Okafor.

 

Our consolation is that those three late brothers of ours left offspring – good enough to carry on aloft the banner and light of Afam.  We thank God for this.

 

And may we draw the necessary lessons from the above quote of Williams Shakespeare and also the saying of Edwin Nwaiye.

 

Ebon Afam of Umuikpulu

25 June 2021

***

 

Vincent Uyanwanne (July 9, 1962 – August 16, 2021)

The sad news hit me like a thunderbolt at midday on Monday, August 16. And it was a phone call announcing that Vincent Uyanwanne died in the morning of that day! Upon enquiry, I was informed that he had an excruciating stomach upset all night the previous Sunday till the morning of that Monday.

 

I suppressed what would have been my emotional outburst but my fleeting thoughts presented a panoramic view of how Vin, as I fondly called him, used to speak so logically and convincingly in all deliberations at our Owerre-Olubor monthly meetings in Lagos.  I sighed and asked myself, “So, that eloquent nwa Olubor is gone forever?”

 

No amount of tears, no amount of grieving, and even no number of entreaties to the Almighty Creator could bring him back from that place of no return.  It had become too late!  And the loss is heavily more to our beloved hamlet Owerre-Olubor than to Vin’s family!  It is extremely sad, even revolting that the cream of Owerre-Olubor is so steadily wearing off and being washed away.  Our leading lights are being extinguished so very often.  Well, as they say, “God sees and he knows ….”

 

Then my fleeting thoughts led me to some observable coincidences, as I still remember that the late Vincent Onyemaibi of Idumu-Etiti died in August - precisely, on Sunday the 5th of August 2018.  And now, his namesake, Vincent Uyanwanne of Umu-Agboma, died also in August – Monday the 16th of August 2021.  The latter being only a few hours after Sunday.

 

The second observable coincidence is that the late Vincent Onyemaibi's wife is the elder sister of Vincent Uyanwanne's wife.  And the third, but saddening, coincidence is their sudden and mysterious demises – both reported to be “hale and hearty a moment ago ….” 

 

The two men are Vincent by name and they both died in the month of August and their respective wives are siblings and their deaths mysterious.  I am still awestricken – no, not in a cheerful manner!

 

Be that as it may, O, how I pray that Yahweh would console our hometown Owerre-Olubor with more men like the meticulous Vincent Onyemaibi, and our Cicero – the eloquent Vincent Uyanwanne!

 

 

Frank Monye

Umuikpulu, Owerre-Olubor

August 19, 2021

 

 

 

Okafor Mokwunye, the Ogwude of Owerre-Olubor

Okafor Mokwunye becomes

the Ogwude

Ada Nkakaakpa performing the invocation for installing the Ogwude

Okafor, the son of Mokwunye, the son of Ugbe!  His wiry and diminutive build should not be mistaken for smallness and inconsequence when it comes to the customs and traditions of Owerre-Olubor.  He is not at all a dwarf in these regards; rather, he is a giant of robust intellect about the ancient lore of the land.

Looking at his trajectory, it would appear that providence has preserved him for the Ogwudeship despite his foibles and his many disputations in the Umuikpulu milieu.

Born about a century ago, Okafor Mokwunye has witnessed many crests and troughs in the undulating wave of events in the land of his birth.  He could be described as a thorough-bred denizen – having lived all his life in Owerre, the land of his nativity.

Okafor Mokwunye of Umuikpulu will go into history as the second Ikpulu, after Ndudi Smart Monye, to take the coveted stool of the Ogwude of Owerre-Olubor.  This is coming right on the heels of Ndudi Smart Monye’s regal authority over the land.  Ndudi Smart had fought to the finish the fight to assert and establish the right of Umuikpulu to the Ogwudeship despite the intrigues of twisters of the Ogwudeship history.

The Bible says that by the mouths of two witnesses, the truth shall be established.  O, yes!  We can similarly say that by the advents of two Ikpulu sons as Ogwude, the truth is already established that Umuikpulu Quarters have the incontrovertible right to the Ogwudeship of Owerre-Olubor.  The matter is signed, sealed and delivered!

Umu-ada joyfully dancing as they herald the arrival of Ada Nkakaakpa

Today, Okafor Mokwunye relishes the glory of that diadem, which had been won by the immediate past Ogwude Ndudi Smart Monye of Umuikpulu extraction.  May Ogwude Okafor Mokwunye’s reign be long!

Umuikpulu: 23 November 2019