"CC, THE MAN" - An eulogy of Chief Christian Chukwuma Onoh, delivered by Professor CN Okeke, Ph.D!

Facilitator's note:- This eulogy was delivered on the occasion of a prayer-vigil held on June 14, 2009 at Oakland, California, USA; in celebration of the man CC! We are publishing it today on his burial for the interest of those who did not make the United States of America event. Happy reading and may the soul of CC rest in peace.

Ladies and gentlemen, good-evening and welcome! We are here gathered for a prayer-vigil in honor of a great man, a Nigerian of Igbo extraction, Chief Christian Chukwuma Onoh, alias CC.

In this world, it is not necessarily how long one lived or how much wealth one acquired that is important. No, it is how beneficial one's life has been to his or her fellow humanity:- the people, the co-travellers in this journey called life that really counts. For the man in whose memory and honor we are here assembled, he had it good both ways! He lived long, very long life; and for an African, with our not so long life span, he lived a very, very long life! His life was distinguished as it was extra-ordinary; and highly beneficial to his people - the Igbo people of Nigeria. Many of you have heard about him; some had met him and even shook his hand; some merely sighted him; some had spoken to him; some dined with him and above all, few possibly have had the privilege of being invited into his home? Not many of us here however, experienced all the mentioned encounters with CC; which begs the question, how many of us here really know the enigma, CC?

Ladies and gentlemen, I happen to be privileged of CC's full acquaintance! We shared common struggles together, having come from the same geographical area of Igboland. We also worked together on several issues and corroborated on many more others! We are both lawyers and have held several meetings both professionally and otherwise! We have shared confidences and counsels! We attended many weddings and celebrations together! In short, I have heard, seen, met, shook his hand, spoken to him, and have shared his homes and have also hosted him in my home too. I also had the singular privilege of writing his citation when he was conferred an honorary doctorate degree in Law by the Enugu State University of Science and Technology in 1993. Simply put, I know CC Onoh very well:- he was a brother and friend of mine! For this, I shall forever treasure his memory. Now permit me to bring CC to you, on this occasion of a prayer-vigil in honor of his memory; holding at Oakland, California, USA. My name is Professor Christian Nwachukwu Okeke, Ph.D and I teach law at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California. I now present to you, his eulogy, titled "CC, THE MAN"!

Aninefungwu-Okaa Omee 1 of Ngwo; husband, father, grandfather, lawyer, civil-servant, community-organiser, leader, author, influential, wealthy, war-hero, administrator, businessman, politician, activist, statesman, parliamentarian, great philanthropist and former governor of old Anambra State, Nigeria; Chief (Dr.) Christian Chukwuma Onoh, deceased, was born on 27 April 1927 at Ovim in the present day Abia State of Nigeria and died in his country home, Ngwo, Enugu State on May 4, 2009. The very essence of this eulogy is most aptly reflected in one of my most favorite biblical verse:- Romans 13:7.

“Render to all, their dues;
Tax to who tax is due;
Toll to who toll is due,
Reverence to who reverence is due; and above all
Honor to who honour is due!”

To CC, we have gathered this evening, to honor! As I stand here before you tonight, I am humbled with memories of deep, mixed feelings of a personal nostalgia about CC. On April 4, 1993, as the Chairman of the Ceremonials Committee and University Orator of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, I delivered a momentous citation on CC. The event was the 9th Convocation Ceremony of the University, where CC was awarded an honorary doctorate degree. CC was so moved by the citation that he paid me a personal thank you visit, a week later at my independence layout home in Enugu. He said to me, "Prof Nwa Nnaa, do not bother attending my funeral whenever I die, as you have already performed my funeral rites with your very moving citation of last week. I am very pleased with what I heard you say concerning me and I thank you very much for doing that, it means so much to me. I shall never forget"! That is the nature of the man we are here gathered to honor; a man who would take out time to go and express appreciation for a heart-felt gratitude!

Today, the 14th day of June 2009 in Oakland California, several thousands of miles from Enugu; what a providence and somewhat coincidence, that once again, I am playing similar role as did in 1993, reading an eulogy for CC? The only difference being that his citation was witnessed by him and today's eulogy is post-humous! To CC, provided you can hear me from the land beyond, tonight, Nigerians of Igbo extraction resident in Northern California, United States of America, and their numerous friends, have assembled to salute and honor you, for what you represented. You were such a great, illustrious son of Wawaland, Enugu State, Nigeria, and indeed, Africa!

CC went to Umuabi Udi and St. Peter’s Primary Schools, Ogbete-Enugu. He attended the College of Immaculate Conception also in Enugu. On leaving C.I.C. he took up a job briefly as a produce inspector with the Department of Marketing and Export at Ibadan between1949 and 1951; and later left to start his own business at Zonkwa, Plateau State, trading in produce including ginger, groundnuts, palm oil, coconuts, e.t.c. CC later left Nigeria in December 3rd, 1952, for Harlech Colllege, North Wales where he studied law at the University of Aberysworth Wales and graduated in 1957. He was admitted to the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple in Wales and upon his return to Nigeria in September 1957, was enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

A son of a man of means, CC was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth; he became a millionaire at 30 upon the reading of the Will of his late father who had left him a moderate fortune. He opened a law office at No. 7 Silver Smith Avenue, Coal Camp, Enugu immediately upon his return, from where he engaged in active legal practice before duty called, and he entered politics in 1958. In 1959, CC contested and won a seat in the Federal House of Representatives Lagos, from where he voluntarily resigned to return to Enugu to be closer to his people; preparatory to the beginning of his fight for their liberation; which continued till God called him home. During his lifetime, CC served in various capacities including, first indigenous Chairman of the Nigerian Coal Corporation in September 10, 1959; Chairman, Enugu Market Authority during Ajie Ukpabi Asika administration, Sole Administrator of then East Central State. He was elected Chairman of Enugu Urban Council; Member of Nigeria Constituent Assembly; Appointed Chairman of Associated Ore Mines in 1982; Elected Executive Governor of the then Anambra State in October, 1993; Fellow of the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu in 1992; Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Enugu; Awarded LL.D. Honoris Causa by the Enugu State University of Science and Technology in April 4th, 1993.

CC was a man of honesty and courage; of singleness of purpose and steadfastness of conduct; of tenacity and endurance; and of zest and activity. He was a dogged fighter of good causes. A human pit-bull, of sort? His life exemplified the creative dialectic of opposites often seen in politics. His was a bold prudence, a lively sobriety, a complex simplicity, an inelegant elegance, a rough civility, and an everlasting immediacy. He believed in both armed conciliation and/or armed peace; CC also believed in natural artifice and in creative compromise. He was a reforming conservatist, a skeptical believer, and a pluralistic moralist; shrewd and innocent; firm and gentle; magnanimous and friendly; but you must earn his trust. In short, CC cannot be fully explained or completely understood; and borrowing the words of Sir Winston Churchill, CC was a man, who like all great men in history, was “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

His name, whenever mentioned, either evoked the profoundest respect or the deepest disgust or the most shattering trepidation; and sometimes, a mixture of the three in varying degrees. But never none of them, as he had a name which commanded unyielding reaction. CC, easily calls to mind memories of such other leaders of nationalist struggles and/or freedom fighters movements, and reformists of great nations of the world who were regarded by their people as their gods and goddesses because of the good they did to free their people from the shackles of oppression and bondage. This breed of humanity are rare, but permit me on this occasion of remembrance of CC, to mention just three of them: -

1. Irish native Daniel O’Connell, like CC, was a landlord, a lawyer, a nationalist and a member of Parliament. He made speeches in and outside Parliament that were more stirring and more intoxicating than the strongest wine. He was the heart and soul of the Irish Independence Movement in the 1920s. However, unlike CC, who lived his full life and died peacefully in his home; Daniel was arrested, probably tortured, tried and executed for “treason against his Majesty, the King”, by the British authorities. But to his Irish people, Daniel O’Connell lives on and forever remains "THE RESCUER OF THE IRISH"! Daniel helped free the Irish from the shackles and oppression of British Imperialism; and CC shared this trait in helping the Wawa people of Igboland attain some dignity.

2. Next is the Frenchman, Orgetorix. What a great French nationalist, Orgetorix was and still revered as, till this day. He was the arrow-head of the French nationalistic opposition movement to the then Roman occupation of France. To the French or the Gauls (as they were then so called), Orgetorix was, and still remains "THE SAVIOR OF THE FRENCHMAN". CC will forever be as well remembered as the man who empowered the Wawaman!

3. What Napoleon Bonarparte was to the French, Onoh represents for the Wawaman. Napoleon, a military genius that defied accurate analysis, was the mentor and stimulus of the French wars against the rest of the European powers in the early 19th century. To the French Napolean will, until Doom’s Day continue to represent "The Ultimate in French patriotism".

CC was a man of deep and probing energy. He was the Bravest of the Brave. He was as controversial as he was famous. He will forever remain as elusive at capture as the mirage in the desert or the objective reality; – the “nounmenon” of Emmanuel Kant articulation, what a great German Philosopher, Kant was? CC was arguably one of the most incorruptible of all men Nigeria have ever seen; and he waged his own one-man's war against corruption. He fought like a man, a general with courage, relentlessly, both against corruption as well as injustice; a fight he continued till death. He won some and surely he did lose some; but he took them heads-on, against both military and civilian governments as well as private citizens, provided he had reasonable basis to go after such person. He fought also within his locality to preserve his honor and maintain his family's very many realties and not yield any inch to would-be land-poachers? He worked hard and expected same of all.

He reputedly to forgo his tenants December rents as Christmas bonuses. He was quite at home with peace but never shies away from wars. C.C.’s name is synonymous with Enugu State; and in the protracted struggle for the creation of Enugu State, he with other illustrious sons of Enugu State, including Chief Barrister Charles Abalu Abangwu, the Ezeigwe of Eha-Alumona in Nsukka, Enugu State constituted themselves the arrow-head of the struggle and they were handsomely rewarded when the state was created in August 1991. He equally had his fair share of political detentions in Nigeria as a result of his unabashed activism, on behalf of his people.

As they say in Igboland, there is a reason why the ceremonial’s flutist calls a particular person by his flute for public recognition and acknowledgment! "Onye Oja Na akpo nwelu ezigbo Ife oma ona eme. Opi ike ada akpo onye mpkumkpu na nkiti"! CC was severally called during his life time, which continues in death; as we join his numerous fans and mourners the world over, in again calling his name in death, and for a reason. C.C. had admirably played his part in life and can rightly exclaim, like Julius Ceaser, “Veni, Vidi, Vici – I came, I saw, I conquered”! Also, like Horace, the Roman poet, he may chose to scream, “Exegi monumentum aere perennius” “I have put up a structure that would outlast metal.” Further, if he so desired, he can take the voice of Saint Paul the Apostle, and shout, “Bonum certamen certavi. Cursum Consumavi. Fidem servavi” - I have fought a good fight. I have completed my assignment creditably. I was weighed in the balance but was found not wanting in loyalty.”

Permit me to also share with you some of the interesting obituaries so far written for the departed CC:- He was a hero who died still fighting for the betterment of his people! He should be praised for his doggedness and courageous spirit! His life ran on a vortex of struggles! He was a philanthropist extraordinaire, an iconoclast and a controversial figure! With CC you know where he stood, no man intimidated him! He criss-crossed the political firmament like a colossus! Ndi-Igbo and Nigeria have lost a great man! He was a moving history of Enugu, the city, the people, their culture and their lives! He lived and died for Enugu, and it was something he could never have been ashamed of or pretend it was an unworthy cause! Love him or hate him, but there was never any doubt about where this man stood on any issue! He was an astute and fearless politician who genuinely criticised all governments without reservation!

In closing, cold lay waiting for burial on July 3, 2009 at his country home, Ngwo, Enugu Nigeria; a man whose complexities are such that even his detractors acknowledge, albeit grudgingly, his tenacity, sagacity, magnanimity and generosity. For his effort, many peoples life were greatly improved; by his watch-dog attitude, many governments were extra-cautious! CC gave life, his all! He left his giant footprint in the sands of time and such a phenom seldom comes by. With his exit, Nigeria, South-East, Igboland and Enugu State in particular have lost a real patriot! A man who always spoke his mind irrespective of whose ox is gored, and who once blamed the numerous problems facing Nigeria today on an existing structural imbalance in her 48 years of existence. It was his believe that Britain is the root cause of Nigeria's problems as not only did they unwillingly grant Nigeria Independence in 1960, but went on to rig the 1962 election to produce a Northerner as Prime Minister; when the Sardauna of Sokoto Ahmadu Bello, leader of the North then, never wanted one Nigeria! This, according to him, began Nigeria's problems, - an unwilling leader leading a reluctant people!

Simply put, CC was a man! Like Igwe Charles Abangwu rightly surmised of CC, and I affirm, "He fought for the people and I hope that the people will remember him"! Like Ikemba Nnewi Odumegwu Ojukwu said of CC, and I concur, "Everyone knew where he stood, unlike some of our present leaders"! A website www.icheoku.com wrote of CC, an "Iroko tree has fallen and politics in Enugu State will never be the same again, with the exit of this indefatigable leader of the people". I couldn't agree with this apt description more?

Finally, like the elephant the six blind men of Hindu went to see, Chief Christian Chukwuma Onoh was so many things to so many different people; but above all, he was CC, the man! CC was a man of be-numbing complexities whose detractors, and they were really many of them, was unable, incapable and failed woefully to decode until he transmuted into eternity, thus becoming a legend. Like all legends, he yet again defied everybody, died on his own terms and in a place of his choosing, his country-home. He took his password with him unto the land beyond, still not fully understood or explained; and now lives in the minds and memories of his people, who loved, adored and owe him a dept of their gratitude! He was simply put, one of a kind! A quintessential being!

Heyi! Heyi! Agu Anaa!; Heyi! Heyi! Heyi! Okosisi Enugu Adaa!; Heyi, Heyi, Heyi, Agada Gbachiliuzo Ndigbo Anwuo! Chi ejie noke efifenabo!! May his tireless soul now find perpetual, peaceful rest with the Lord, Amen! Adieu C.C., Naa nke oma, Amen!!!

CC will be laid to rest in his country-home at Ngwo on July 3rd 2009. Please I urge you all to remember him in your prayers!

Thank you,

_________cno__________________________

Professor Christian Nwachukwu Okeke, Ph.D.
Osuofia of Obinofia, Ezeagu Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Dated in June 14th, 2009 at Oakland California, United States of America.