TELL
This emotive tribute by Olori Atuwatse III, the Queen of Warri Kingdom, and first child of billionaire business magnate and philanthropist, Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo at his Funeral Service on Friday October 8, 2021, in Benin City, Edo State, will blow your mind. She declares on behalf of her siblings that:
“We Will Strengthen Our Father’s Legacy”
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for being here as we honour my dad and lay him to rest today, Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo. I want to thank you for your love, your support; it has been tremendous for my siblings and I, my step-mum, aunty Nosa, and just the rest of the family. I want to say thank you very much.
It is humbling to see this room filled with so many people who knew and cared for my father. I would like to specially thank my loving and caring husband, Ogiame Atuwatse III, for his tremendous support for me in this most difficult time of my life. I want to thank my people, the chiefs and all the Itsekiri people here represented. Aghan Dede Mo Kin o! Thank you so much. To all that have attended today, I say thank you. As you have honored my father, you also will be honoured.
I want to share a story about my father that I actually shared at the service of songs in London. I want to share it here today because I find that it was a very significant and interesting story. On my last trip to London just before my father passed to see him, I travelled through the Abuja airport as I had travelled many times. However, on that particular trip, it was very different. It was like as the protocol officers introduced me as Captain’s child, the face of all the people in the airport lit up. They were so full of joy; they were happy and they shared stories, every single person, from people at the checking desk, to immigration, just everywhere around the airport – and the stories were one of your father helped me. We’ve seen this through the week; we’ve seen so many testimonies of daddy’s love and intentionality with people. Even at an airport, a place that is for transiting, he was intentional enough to impact the people around him. Oftentimes, we who travel through the airport are so busy to just get to our next destination that we are not so particular about engaging with people.
But as I heard the testimonies of these people my father helped, my father uplifted whether by paying school fees, or it was just giving a listening ear, I was reminded almost of the analogy that life is. They say that life is a transiting point, with heaven being our final destination. And Captain shared this even in life. He wasn’t too busy to impact people. He wasn’t too busy no matter the height he got to, to touch lives. And to me, this is what embodies the greatest of virtues – Service.
Christ’s words said he who is the greatest amongst you shall be your servant. My father was a great man; he lived in service to humanity. My father was my hero long before I understood what public power and impact of his life had. I grew up watching him make choices to dissolve the walls of impossibilities and other things, and hardships that he faced. Captain Hosa worked in purpose; and in doing so, he encouraged others to find their path. Everything he was, he taught us to be. I cherish memories of my father leaving important things to attend to his children whenever we needed him. His family always came first and everyone who knew him can testify of this.
To us, daddy’s love was a safe haven; one firm enough to see us through tough times, yet soft enough, and tender enough when we needed the warmth that only his love can give. He loved us all so genuinely, so intentionally that if you were to ask all of us individually who his favourite was, we would all say that we were. But for the purpose of this eulogy, I’m going to take that title and say that I was his favourite.
As we grew older and carved our paths for ourselves, he kept tables on all of us. He never stopped being an incredible father. He was a delight to see his grandchildren; how his grandchildren brought joy into his life. I remember when my first child was born and I brought her to see him and the joy in his face; he was dancing and singing Ghomo, ghomo ghomo. It was just so powerful, and he did that with all his grandchildren. No matter how busy he got, he was such a great father.
Seeing my father trust God this past year through the toughest fight of his life, taught me something. It has taught me how to trust God through the most difficult times. And so today, I stand here before you, not unaware of the vacuum that he has left; not unaware of the fear of the future that we feel, but still hopeful that the God who kept him and took him in His time, will keep us.
Through the week, listening to many tributes, I have been overwhelmed with all as I reflect upon his impact and his legacy. My pain is assuaged by the confidence that even as we mourn his passing, daddy is dancing and praising God with angels and the 24 elders in heaven. My father had innumerable children, as Oghogho, my sister said in her speech yesterday. And I would like to liken my father to Joseph’s coat of many colours.
He oftentimes says he was Abraham, and Abraham’s blessings were his, in all 12 of us. However, for the purpose of today, I want to liken my father to Joseph’s coat of many colours. He was a man of many parts, a man of many personalities; each unique. And through the stories through the week, and through the months since his passing, we have seen a different side of daddy, and it has been incredible. However, I reflect upon my siblings, and I see how each and every single one of us are like a stripe in that coat of many colours.
Osahon, for example, is dogged and he is able to take risks like my father. He’s creative; impossibility is nothing when he decides to do something. Adesuwa- our very own minister of finance! Always with her calculator, able to pioneer able to break through. Hard work is her ethic. Deborah, she is disciplined and extremely principled. Osariemen, with her kind heart; no, you don’t just have daddy’s face, you also have his heart – so jovial, always quick to forgive; always quick to laugh.
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