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By Ethel Igboeche
My good friend and sister, Uchechi Okoli, took a bow and returned to her creator on July 4, 2022. Denial, disbelief enveloped me when the news was broken to me. “No, Uchechi can’t be gone!” I screamed. Who did she leave her husband and children for? How about all the plans and projects we discussed? I hung up my phone, realizing I was in a public place. For more than a week, I sobbed in my closet, I just couldn’t place a call to her closest family members to confirm the news or even to commiserate; I was just broken. I was lost in thought, I imagined so many things; this was somebody I saw before Easter. She was hale and hearty, still her bubbly self. How could she have gone down so quickly?
Uchechi was an angel in human form, always willing to give a helping hand. She was a star, a star in the real sense of the word. She shone, she twinkled; she glowed physically and spiritually. She exuded so much charisma and warmth. She was a friendly person; she mixed up so easily with people, not minding status, tribe or religion. She was a bridge-builder, no airs at all, even towards the lowly.
Uchechi knew God and she feared Him. She was very prayerful, her home was godly. She prayed for me and sent me Bible portions to pray with from time to time. On getting into her house, one could feel God at work in her family, as a visitor, you cannot but fall into line. Each time I visited her, I felt the need to step up my prayer life. As contemporaries and great friends, we kept tabs on each other for decades. We consulted and confided in each other, we celebrated our successes and as well as shared in our pains.
Within our circle of friends, one could say that Uchechi had everything going for her, maybe, by dint of hard work, right plans/vision and God’s grace at work in her life, she was able to achieve a lot.
She was hospitable, her culinary skills could not be matched, she had a beautiful home –one could see and feel panache from the living room to the kitchen, to the restrooms, all tastefully modest and sparkling clean.
In the Nigerian parlance, she put her friends, on a “high jump” with regard to home management.
Ucy, as fondly called by her beloved husband, Navy Commander Eddie Okoli (rtd), was a wonderful wife. I had joked before that her husband needed to come and pay Umueze 2 more dowry. She was a great mother to her lovely children and a successful career woman. She blazed the trail in all aspects of human endeavour, was a very energetic woman and handled multiple tasks effortlessly; for all I knew, her health over the years had been top-notch. I never heard or saw her sick, until last May. She took ill and, within two months, we lost this gem.
The second child to Dr. (Sir) Isaac and Lady Adeline Anyabuike of Umueze 2, Ehime-Mbano LGA of Imo State. Her late mother, Adeline Anyabuike, nee Osuji, hailed from the Osuji family of Emii, Owerri-North LGA, Imo State, also another family of technocrats and worthy academics. This gives an insight into the strong, reputable family background Uchechi had. She did not miss the mark. When most of us, her friends and contemporaries, were comfortable working with first degree or postgraduate diploma for decades, Uchechi went ahead us to garner degrees and some professional programmes from very highly rated institutions, some tuition paid ‘out of pocket.’
She was a star child to her parents and a rallying point, especially to her family members – siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and to us her close friends.
We were very close family friends while growing up, only Uchechi and I, among the children of the two families struck a perfect rhythm of friendship, right from primary school, all through the years. We found ourselves graduating from all levels of education, same year, combed the streets of Lagos for jobs, same year.
She beat me to it in marriage, she got married years before I did; I was her chief bridesmaid. It was at her wedding that I first witnessed and partook in a military wedding; it was a delight, the crossing of swords, etcetera.
I later secured a job with Guardian Newspapers while Uchechi joined Champion Newspapers but she just had a stint there before clinching a job with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). In fact, over 95 per cent of her work life was spent at the FMBN, where she rose through the ranks before quitting as an assistant general manager, recently, to pursue a career in the real estate sector. She had a very successful career with the FMBN, interestingly.
Uchechi harnessed family/friendship ties; she bonded, she connected, she placed great value on relationships.
Last April, I asked her to help pick up my daughter for the short Easter holiday in the United States where she lived. She wholeheartedly agreed and did that for me. My daughter very much enjoyed her stay with the family and she still asked my daughter to come and spend some time with them during summer and the worst happened.
Again, I expected her back in Abuja after Easter holiday, as we had so much to catch up about, but she never returned to Abuja.
Uchechi, this pain has refused to go away. I feel so very sad that we will not see again physically to gist and laugh. The hurt is too much for everyone; we look up to God to soothe our pain.
Adieu, Nwanne oma, as your remains are interred on Saturday, September 10, 2022, at Ifitte Nmaku, Awgu LGA, Enugu State.
•Igboeche writes from Abuja
