By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
The best way to send a sweet mother home to the angels in paradise is through the vehicle of iconic music being played by legendary musicians.
It shall stay with me for a lifetime celebrating the profound forte of bearing witness to the phenomenon in Amawbia town in Anambra State on Saturday, March 1, when “the beautiful, smooth-skinned and baby-hearted matriarch, late Mrs. Felicia Ifeonu Nwokoye, popularly known as OJ, short for her hail-name Ojemba,” was serenaded on high by luminary musicians that included the immortal Bongos Ikwue.
Mama Nwokoye who passed on January 9 at 90, who added two years to her time on earth through dedicated caregivers, could not have asked for a better send-off than the one arranged by her ever rendering son, Sir Willie Nwokoye, Ibobo Amawbia.
History was writ large that day, and it’s incumbent on me to record landmark history anywhere it’s happening.
The surviving unforgettable musicians who played the pop, afrobeat and highlife music for the Igbo people to rise from the trauma and ashes of the Nigeria-Biafra war in the 1970s were gathered in the commodious tent on Community Primary School, Amawbia.
Ex-Rangers International football players who also aided the Igbo resurgimento after the tragic war were also around.
The still-alive old musicians played their everlasting hit songs released by the 1970s bands such as Apostles, Wings, Wrinkars Experience, Foundars 15, Funkees, Aktion Groove Funk, Semi-Colon – and there was also the inimitable Dr Bongos Ikwue in his wheelchair in the tent!
Iyke Peters of Foundars 15 flew all the way from Sweden to croon the evergreen chart-topper “Be My Own”, and everybody rose up in salute to the lyrics: “I’ll never hurt your feelings/I’ll never make you cry/I’ll always be with you till I die!”
Chyke Madu of Funkees raised the roof while belting out the hit song of madness called “Akula” – obu onye-ara!
Walton Arungwa and Benjamin Davidson of the Apostles basked in the glory of their inimitable hit songs such as “Highway to Success.”
The stand-in emcee, the pioneer one-man actor Prof Greg Mbajiorgu of Theatre and Film Studies at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, then yielded place to the celebrated Nollywood veteran actor Bob-Manuel Udokwu.
Irrepressible Lasbery Ojukwu of Semi-Colon, as Sir Willie Nwokoye had earlier revealed, adopted Semi-Colon as his band’s name when the seizure of his musical instruments by soldiers did not serve as a “Full-stop” to his career after they were released! The accomplished owner of hits like “Slim-fit Maggie” and “Ochonganoko,” sent the hall dancing with the singing of his afrobeat hit “Kaya Mi Kaya Ganja” which some people mistakenly credit to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti!
Emma China of Original Wings relived memories of the mourned vocalist of the then Aba-based band The Wings, Spud-Nathans Udensi.
Renny Nwosa of Aktion Groove Funk brought back the 1970s afrobeat feel with the rendition of “Celebration” while Soki Ohale thrilled with “Dance on the People.”
Ginger Forcha of Wrinkars Experience reinvented the ever popular “Fuel for Love” as arranged by the late Dan Ian, thusly: “I want you to be my baby/I want you to be mine/I want you by my side, be my girl/I want you to be my angel/To guide me when I do/I want you by my side/Be my girl… I shall give you fuel for love/That′s what she told me the other day/Then I want, and she gave me that funny kiss/Then I understood what she meant by Fuel for Love…”
Now it was time for the crowning glory as per the performance of Bongos Ikwue, but there was an entrance into the hall that raised so much excitement.
The immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano (Akpokuedike), whom Sir Willie Nwokoye had served as Principal Secretary (PS), had breezed into the tent with his charismatic eclat.
There were resounding screams of “Akpokuedike” as ex-Governor Obiano, accompanied by Willie Nwokoye, went round the hall shaking hands and embracing most of the guests.
It needs a recall that Obiano was with his able lieutenant Willie Nwokoye earlier in the church, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Maryland, Amawbia, where the Catholic Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, Most Rev Jonas Benson Okoye undertook the Pontifical Requiem Mass.
Former Governor Obiano commiserated with the Nwokoye family, revealing that he had a longstanding fellowship with Sir Willie Nwokoye from their days at St. Gerald’s Catholic Parish in Lagos, and added for good measure that the mothers of the Two Willies died at 90!
The Pontifical Vigil Mass which held at Ibobo Square, Enugo-Umueze, Amawbia on Friday, February 28, was presided over by the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Rev Paulinus Ezeokafor.
Incidentally, most of the musicians of yore had performed in the Obiano-sponsored “Ozoemezina” fiesta in honour of the fallen heroes of the Biafra war which was masterfully coordinated by Sir Willie Nwokoye in 2017.
The rousing entry and exit into the tent of the Two Willies – former Governor Willie Obiano and his PS, Sir Willie Nwokoye – heralded the climatic performance of Bongos Ikwue from his wheelchair set at the foot of the high stage in the tent.
The crowd rushed forward and encircled Dr Bongos Ikwue, and everybody sang along, as the Oturkpo maestro mellifluously rendered the sweet lyrics of “Sill Searching” thus: “Men, I’ve been searching for, for true love/Gotta keep right on searching till I find/Nothing good comes easy, this I know/ Gotta keep right on searching till I find…”
Bongos Ikwue upped the ante with his next song, “Amen”, and wrapped things up with the rendering of “Eche Une” following a special request by a lady.
I had to share in the celebrity wavelength by planting myself right behind the wheelchair of Dr Bongos Ikwue!
Sir Willie Nwokoye truly deserves celebration for making history by bringing legendry musicians to serenade his departed mother, Mrs. Felicia Ifeonu Nwokoye, into paradise.
