… as Jibunoh, Anyafulu, others stakeholders to sustain her legacies
By Patrick Ochei
Arising from a meeting of the Omu Soars Higher Committee which held at the Mandela Garden & Hotels inside Asaba International Airport on Tuesday 10th September, 2024, stakeholders agreed to commence Obi Martha Dunkwu Annual Memorial Lectures anytime soon as a way of immortalising her and sustaining her ideals and legacies.
The meeting which had about 30 critical minds who were drawn from various walks of life, including the academia, legal profession, media, traditional institution and NGOs in attendance, had the Desert Warrior, Chief Newton Jibunoh as Chairman and the member representing Oshimili South Constituency in Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Barr. Bridget Ifechukwukwu Anyafulu as Host.
Anyafulu who was the Chairman of Omu Soars Higher Committee that planned the Obi Martha Dunkwu’s Memorial Farewell and Night of Tributes appreciated all members of the Committee for their show of commitment and strength during and after the burial of the legendary Omu Anioma.
She narrated the story of Omu Dunkwu whom in her life time mentored many from different traditional backgrounds and changed the narrative around her, especially as regarding promotion of proper womanhood, responsible motherhood and progressive leadership at all levels.
According to her, “I want to use this medium to appreciate you for showing commitment for a woman who is not your biological mother. I praise your courage in protecting the strength of a woman that Omu Dunkwu represented in her life time. You made a statement that indicated that somebody like Obi Martha Dunkwu came and left a signature that can never be erased.
“She came for a mission and all that mattered to her was that she achieved that mission. In the passage of Omu Dunkwu, her mission was completed, because you also helped to protect her wishes in spite of all odds. Her life and times was an eventful one, and it should be a lesson for us to begin to ponder on with regards to God’s apportioned mission to us as individual creatures.
“Another reason why we have gathered is to ask ourselves – where do we go from here? What do we do to advance the legacies left behind by our dear amiable Omu Anioma? With what she had impacted us with, our goal as her mentees would be to recognize her ideals and vision for humanity in terms of reinventing our cultural values and projecting the best leadership system.
“Omu Dunkwu had done her part as envisioned to advance development. We must develop our society and humanity from where she stopped. The essence of development is all encompassing; money may never be the major factor for it. When the objective and purpose are well spelt out, there would be people and organizations ready to partner, especially when Omu Dunkwu is an established institution and research centre for generations to cultivate from.
“Let’s think a way forward to keep her ideals, mission and memories alive. She was legendary and she impacted humanity in positive ways during her life and times. Let’s begin an annual memorial lecture in her name and honour”, Anyafulu posited.
In his well established comment, the almost 87 years old Desert Warrior and CEO of Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE), Chief Dr Newton Jibunoh spoke succinctly about his relationship with Obi Martha Dunkwu which he said dated back to his 60 years old journey to rediscover himself within the cosmic culture of Africa.
He narrated how as a young scholar in the United Kingdom, he stumbled into artefacts in the British museum, whose stories were mainly originated from this part of Nigeria and Africa. He said such discovery ignited his desire to return home to seek answers to his cultural confusion.
Jibunoh affirmed that arising from this quest, he started writing, speaking and advocating for a return to true African culture and from there he was enlisted as a member of the Colloquium that planned the FESTAC ’77.
He said the journey of FESTAC ’77 led him and others to the UK to beg the British Government to release the artefacts, especially the Ivory Mask which were taken from Benin Kingdom and other places. On my return and after the FESTAC ’77, I started my own Didi Museum in Lagos through the help of Obi Rufus Osemene of Issele-Uku Kingdom, who donated the Royal Bronze Mask that I used to set up.
According to Chief Jibunoh, “In this my journey, I visited the Oba of Benin from where Omu Martha Dunkwu was introduced to me. My knowing her greatly lightened my burden and she became one person that helped to drive my mission of revolutionizing my dream for African culture.
“We became so close from there. I never saw her as a woman but as a man or something strange and extraordinary from a mere human. I chaired her 50th Birthday Celebration and she was always at every of my events. She greatly impacted my person and what I stood for as regards my dream.
“Omu Dunkwu took over a dying Omu institution and revived it to the envy of all. She taught us that we are very rich in culture but the challenge is that we don’t know that we are very rich. I am an advocate of bringing back our culture and traditional ways of doing things, because our children are fast beginning to lose touch with our values. These were the things she was teaching with so much passion, committing her resources to seeing that our culture is rebranded yet retaining our values as it has always been. To me, Omu Dunkwu didn’t die, she only went on a journey”, affirmed Jibunoh.
In a well coordinated interactive session, other prominent stakeholders of the group like Prof. Joyce Ogwezi of Dennis Osadebey University, Mr. Godfrey Osakwe, Chairman of Delta State Chapter of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Comrade Churchill Oyowe, Chairman of Delta State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Lucky Okolo, National President of Okpanam Youth Organization and Mr. Casimir Enedouwa from Benin spoke extensively on the ebullient person of Omu Dunkwu by eulogizing her legendary and sterling leadership disposition that propelled a lot of people into choosing to become community service oriented and selfless individuals towards achieving humanitarian tasks for societies.
As a way of saying thank you to Omu Dunkwu’s vision believers and bearers, as well as reaffirming commitments to the advancement and sustainability of her legacies; Omu’s son, Dr. Afamefuna Dunkwu-Okafor appreciated all and sundry for keeping faith his mother in death, maintaining that he hadn’t gotten over the challenge of existing without his dear mother, thereby pledging he would do everything possible to keep her dreams alive.
Meanwhile, speaking on the same terms, Omu’s mentee and Omu of Obior, HRH Omu Onyebuchibe Okonkwo and Omu’s special son and media consultant, Comrade Patrick Ochei thanked the Omu Soars Higher Committee members for standing solidly to ensure that nothing went wrong on how Omu Martha Dunkwu had wished she should be buried. They therefore encouraged members to continue to support and contribute their quota towards sustaining her indomitable spirit and dreams for humanity, especially as it relates to the true African culture and inculcation of moral values in our society’s leadership orientation.
