Three Years Without Uyi By Chief Owen Obaseki

THREE YEARS WITHOUT UYI

It has been three whole years without my Uyi.

You remember those prior times we spent together; the great things we achieved; the victories we won; the battles we lost. Those were the days, my friend, we thought would never end. Sometimes we never truly know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Uyi, we really miss you!

A lot has happened these last 1,095 days since your exit. The hall at the Egor Local Government Council which you presided over as Vice Chairman before your untimely exit has been named Hon. Uyi Amegor Hall. The former Egor LGA Chairman, Hon. Eghe Ogbemudia has immortalized you. Your acts in your lifetime were terrific. Your legacies have continued to build monuments that would linger till the rust of gold. Generations yet unborn will come to know of a gentle, harmless gentle man called Uyi.

Truly, the memories we make with our family and friends is everything. Such memories have overtaken us today on the wings of nostalgia, leaving us in this pensive mood.

The family and friends you left behind remain inconsolable. Worst hit is your inimitable father who confessed to me that he thought nothing in life would ever make him shed a tear again until he read my elegy on the irreplaceable Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo, who himself slipped through our fingers into eternity not many days ago.

Your dear wife, whom you loved to a fault is managing to cope. It is obvious the void created by your exit is huge. I pray God to console her.

We lost our father, who you adored very much, Chief Oyuki Jackson Obaseki on Sunday the 18th day of August barely four days to your 1st memorial. I recall how the Chief wept and cried when he learnt of your passing. We also lost the most benevolent Captain who wept when he learnt of your demise and who was also a huge tower of support during your funeral. Captain bowed out on the 8th day of August, 2021. August took all three of you, August, the birth month of MKO Abiola.

If you see Captain Hosa and Aare MKO Abiola, would you please extend my greetings to them and all the other good men and women like you on the other side of the divide. Tell them we keep your banners flying. I hope we the living do not disappoint you. I hope we make all your dreams come through.

We can never forget you in a hurry my dearest Uyi. Truly, memories may fade as the years go by but they won’t age a day. The thought of you has become a part of our daily lives. Time they say heals all wounds but like Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, I disagree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never really gone.

We will continue to keep you in memory. Like Thomas Fuller wrote, “Memory is the treasure house of the mind wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved”. You remain a monument that would one day be studied as a wonder of the world.

May God continue to grant your gentle and loving soul eternal repose my dearest Uyi.

Kept in evergreen memory by,

Chief Owen Chamberlain Obaseki, JP
Otaofoh of Uromi