Follow Us on Google
“By choosing his own way of life
Bishop Dei Portillo did in a way choose his own type of death.”
Francis IK Onaga was profoundly unique. We his relations, his close friends and faithful classmates would mourn the passage of an irreplaceable peculiar soul who in all his life excited extraordinarily his environment, shared his fortune, loved humanity and in the end accomplished his mission on this planet.
Francis Onaga set out early, imbibed in the liberal independent, debating, outspoken philosophy ascribed to the children of the Coal Camp residents, products of the historic freedom quest of the Coal Camp and Iva Valley forebears. IK landed at St. Teresa’s College in majestic luxury, escorted in by the London-trained Onaga matriarch.
There were other under-10 freshmen: Dr Johnny Bosah, Cornelius Uba, Benji Anigbo, Chief Raph Ugwu and Justice Raph Agbo. Onaga’s “Camp” liberalism, courage, preparedness, coupled with God’s special gift of the garb, his prodigious child charisma, his uncanny polyvalent talent to tell stories, arresting his audience both in the class or in the dormitories, thrust him into the lead.
In those days, in our class, we had classmates who were 28 and 30 years old! It was frightening to grace in common with those gentlemen, bellowing in deep decibels, exchanging banter with teachers of their age! Francis handled them for us and every night, as we returned to the dormitories, when they were getting out of control, Onaga pacified those ogres. Freely, offering his beverages and provisions to those forest dudes who had walked miles to the college from their Enugu Ezike abode, carrying their wooden boxes on their heads. As they Oliver Twisted towards my corner to grab all my cabin biscuits and provisions, Francis mounted his own wooden bed to tell the epic stories of the Christmas encounters of the great Igbo masquerades that rumble, confront, to determine who rules the streets of Enugu Edinburg!
“Obeisie’s brand is the Coffin and no other masquerade is expected to show up once the Coffin troops out of Camp… Agaba Idu is rolling through Zik Avenue Uwani to look for trouble. That was before Ogbamgbada Akokwa, Iya Agba Oku Akaegbe and Odenjinji Siding decided to hold their own seminar at the same dangerous but jam-packed Obiagu Road. Ogene! Ogene!!.
“Onye isike pua nu ozo… maka mmuo anyi egbue mmadu, onyi egbullu ona ninyi…”
Onaga was Homer and, like the poet in the Iliad, he rang the bell, and like Ajofia in Chinua Achebe’s greatest climax, right before our Things started Falling Apart. Onaga’s sudden guttural voice was as a result of the cotyledon layers of onions he had fastened under his tongue. Onaga had transformed, like the masquerades, the spirits of our fathers, he had the powers to arrest and prepare his shaking audience to herald and experience the battle featuring Ogbamgbada Akokwa sitting on his Akpati Ogwu, and Obisei, leading the machete brandishing Campers still carrying the Coffin to the dreaded direction of the Iya agboku. Iya agboku did not notice the Coffin as he was busy tearing up all the ECN electric wires, putting down the poles and eating up the consequent explosions of fire. The hilarious Campers then pushed their coffin to Ogbamgbada…
“Giant hooded cobras slithered out off the Akpati Ogwu and sprang into attack!! Odenjinji Ndi Siding without any provocations released the poisonous African bees.
“Iya agboku Akaegbe perching on top of the tallest building in response exploded a tsunami of fire and Edinburg erupted into pandemonium!” Francis Onaga the expert storyteller, in knocking down his plot catharsis, with one haymaker also knocked out his immediate audience, sending everybody to sleep.
Our Homer could have been a historian or a linguist (as a student in JBC’s Latin class he was already speaking and writing French after two years in French class). He was also a deep Catholic, served mass and also led the class in Bible studies. Whatever, his eclecticism was demonstrated after his first year when he resolved to overtake the contending leaders of the whole classes A-C. Onaga by the second year was scoring distinction marks in Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Geography. From St. Teresa he was at ABU, where he read Geology and from there he left for the United States.
In America, his academic excellence earned him a big job. Established early in the US, he used his status and opportunities to help friends, relations and mostly St. Teresa’s old students who were still on the road.
He was an untiring alumnus who on many occasions used his money and time to visit St. Teresa and more than any other old boy in the US contributed to the new St. Teresa.
We will continue to struggle and hope that we eventually come to unravel why such a great man was so unlucky with equally his great women who in their dramatic journeys Francis gave so much and loved beyond love. Why, towards the end, a consummate extrovert recoiled into his shell. Whatever, St. Teresa and his friends are grateful, and would not forget the pathfinder whose life explorations, gargantuan accomplishments and horizontal education in many ways defined his generation.
