Onwu bu onye oshi! O zulu oyi!
Israel Kabonye! He had a protracted illness. He is now asleep!
I am yet
to find a fellow native who complained that Israel Kabonye had an axe to grind
with them (him/her). Perhaps there was
someone who nursed a grudge against him, but not the other way round. I reckoned with him as a jolly fellow –
always aiming to be at peace with everyone.
Israel
Kabonye had such a focused look as someone looking intently toward a goal. Yes, you could see this from his calm and smooth
face. He was indeed a fine
gentleman. He looked too youthful for
his age of 59. That could be an
indication that he had a happy home.
Israel
Kabonye went on to his final rest Monday, 15 February, at about 8 pm in his
Ketu residence. It was good enough that fellow natives in the neighbourhood
summoned themselves and braced up to do the needful. They proved that they were true-born of Owerre-Olubor
in that noble act.
The
ancient man Job, in his travails, asked the question: ‘If a man dies, will he live
again?’ (14:14) Now let us come down to
our present circumstance and plight and then ask: “Can Israel Kabonye live
again?” If your answer is “Yes,” as Job
himself implied in his latter statements, then we can take it that the fine
gentleman is asleep and that the One who is the “resurrection and the life” (Jn
11:25) can bring him up in the New World.
Therefore, though we may mourn, let us keep this glorious hope in view!
As the
late Israel Kabonye is being interred today, may I echo the dirge, “O wutele
ayin …!” –
O wutele ayin,
wutele
ayin,
wutele ayin;
O wutele ayin,
mgbe ayin nulu ’ya.
Frank
Monye
Umuikpulu: Fr1day,
11 March 2016
