IGUMALE (Sundiata Post) – American humanitarians braved terrible roads to conduct a medical mission in Igumale, Benue State last week in honor of late Vice Chancellor of University of Jos, Prof Ochapa Onazi. The medical outreach was organised by international human rights lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe.
The medics from Florida and Ogebe’s base, Washington in USA, also partnered with the Federal University of Health Sciences Teaching Hospital, Otukpo, to attend to hundreds of patients who traveled from far and near especially from conflict-ravaged communities providing free surgeries, examinations and medications.
Prof Onazi, the first professor from Benue state had been pivotal in the establishment of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo.
Ogebe tells the full story in a statement sent to Sundiata Post.
“As a child I distinctly remember asking my uncle Professor OC Onazi, while on holiday at his home in ABU (Ahmadu Bello University) Zaria a question that agitated my young mind, ‘if Judas was merely fulfilling a prophecy that Christ would be betrayed, then why should he be punished’?
“Till this day I don’t know why I felt comfortable sharing with him this query that I hadn’t even raised with my parents but I guess it was just the way he was. Like a true academic, he was open to dialogue even with the least of these in search of knowledge. I just didn’t realize then what I had gotten myself into…
“The very next day, uncle OC called me to the parlor after he returned from work at the faculty and asked me to repeat the question I had asked him the day before in front of a professor of theology whom he had brought home. Chai! See me see trouble o!
“Since I was a child not supposed to be talking to adults, I kept shyly quiet much as I would have loved to. The comfort I felt talking with my uncle was not the same talking to anyone else. Not many Nigerian adults have that capacity to engage with younger folk like peers!
“That’s one thing about uncle OC. He saw something in me as a child and related to me as an adult unlike other grown ups.So uncle OC was unique in that way…Maybe it was his American training or maybe it was just him,” Ogebe wrote in a tribute to the late VC.
“But the story doesn’t end there. Many years later, I got to go to university. He was my Vice Chancellor. There was a protest in the school that threatened to close things down when a student died of meningitis.
“Final year students worried that their graduation could be delayed formed a mediation team to negotiate with the administration. Although I wasn’t a final year student, due to my writing skills, I was appointed the secretary of the mediation team – the only non-final year student.
“Many years later, uncle would laugh when he told the story of how he came with the university’s senior management to the conference room for talks with the protesting students’ leaders and there was little me on the opposing side!
“It is a tribute to him that he was simple and always willing to meet with students to hear their side. Most VCs wouldn’t do that or would delegate it.
“But now as I think of it, he actually won after all. He may not have gotten me to speak in front of the theology professor in his home as an eight-year-old but he did get to see me speak in front of the top management of the university!
“Twenty years ago when I was posted to Nigeria as Country Representative of a U.S. donor agency of the White House, he learnt about it and invited me for discussions proffering advice on waste to wealth energy projects that could be done in Benue State under then Gov Akume (now SGF.)
“More recently, I learnt that he nominated me as a candidate from our area for a particular political office which I declined. However, I was deeply touched that he was still thinking of me despite the distance abroad.
“What is interesting is that he admitted me to the university on VC’s list at age 15 because of that inquisitiveness I displayed at less than 10 years of age. Yet despite my being a student activist, he didn’t take it personally. For me too, principle transcended familiarity.
“Indeed after my release from detention by Gen Sani Abacha in 1996 for my pro-democracy advocacy he was the only one I confided in on my plans to go into exile which is how I ended up in Diaspora. We started the medical outreach in September during his burial and I returned again in October with humanitarian partners to do more. We have seen almost 1,000 patients and performed about 100 surgeries to give back to his community in total,” he concluded.
Dr Aboje, a UniJos alum himself and opthalmic surgeon, performed numerous cataract and pterygia surgeries restoring gift of sight to many.
A young victim of herdsmen attack in Agatu was also treated for arm slashed with a machete. However a proposed spinal surgery for a victim of Boko Haram bombing from northeast was postponed.
Humanitarian organizations in the consortium included the NOIYA Foundation, ServeWell USA (formerly PLEA), US Nigeria Law Group USA and Widows and Orphans USA.
