Good Bye, Chike Amobi!

Dr. Chike Amobi was a guy so alive that death would hardly come to mind when one thinks about him. So it was for me when I learnt that Chike was ill and had to be flown to the United States. I shrugged it off, knowing our vivacious Chike would outlive whatever it was and return full of life. Sadly, on Friday night I was woken to the heart rending news of my friend and brother’s demise.

I didn’t know Chike while in school. I met him in the course of duty. I had been spending nights in his hotel in Awka without meeting the owner of “Parlos Verdes” until the night it happened.

I was at the hotel’s beautiful restaurant; just about finished my dinner. As I rose to leave, a bottle of vintage wine was placed on my table by a beautiful waitress with the words, “It’s on the house!”
Stunned, I asked, “For what and why?”
The lady smiled and said, “Our boss said we should give it to you.”I asked if he was the tall, bespectacled gentleman that greeted me when I was dining. She gave me a yes nod. I moved the bottle to the bar section of the hotel, asked for glasses and sent for my colleagues upstairs. We opened the vintage wine–a Merlot from California –and shared heartily.

On my way to my room, I met him descending the stairway. I thanked him for the drink and he said I looked quite familiar. I changed my mind about returning to the room, and returned to the bar with him. There, we began to chat through our paths of life to locate the exact spot they had crossed.
None, it seemed for a while.

I didn’t school in ABSU, I didn’t school in America, I was not a lawyer and I didn’t live in Abuja. But just as I was about to give up, he asked if I was in Christ the King College and I said yes. He was my junior for he belonged to the class of ‘85.  He screamed and gave me a bear hug. Instantly, the walls between strangers fell off our meeting and we became brothers.

From that day, until we got our official residence in Awka, the Brande Aristotle family lived in Chike’s hotel for six months and we “word-of-mouthed” the place to every and anyone we met. Chike was one of us and would remain a visible footnote in our history.

Chike and I remained brothers. He was one of the few people who ensured that my book, “Sons of a Priest” was published last year. He was also the Master of Ceremonies at its launch in Abuja.

Chike, was everything you would want your son or brother to be. He loved life and worked hard and was a very kind mind. He was so caring he visited our past principal in the old priests’ home in Odoakpu, Onitsha any time he was in town, until Rev. Fr. Tagbo died. Chike was so keen on celebrating Tagbo that on the day the priest was buried in Onitsha, he offered himself to carry chairs and tables in service of guests who weren’t probably as distinguished as he.

He distinguished himself in several ways. He was a brilliant lawyer, a degree he took in the United States of America after a Bachelors in Estate Management here in Nigeria. Chike, practised law in the United States as a jurist doctor. He had a thriving legal practice in America and did it so well coast to coast. When he returned to Nigeria, he chose a humble beginning following his life’s mantra “choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong.” Within a few years, his brilliance blossomed within the Nigerian legal-sphere and was quickly identified as a courtroom warrior.
A craftsman of words and niceties, man of style and savoir fair, one with sartorial taste and the best of gentlemanly manners. Yet, a man who loved God and His ways! Chike, you leave us soaked in tears, but we know you and what you stood for. You didn’t live in vain. You led an enviable and inspiring life. I will never forget you.Goodbye, good friend.

May the fame of our college last forever!

Odili Ujubuoñu, Novelist and Copywriter