Abdullahi M. Gulloma
This week, the State House family, especially the State House Press Corps, was thrown into a very dark moment following the sudden departure of one of us to the great beyond. We received with rude shock the death of our colleague, Mr. Chukwuma Onuekwusi.
Onuekusi, the State House correspondent of Channels Television, died in the early hours of Tuesday at the age of 55 after battling with kidney and other related ailments for about six weeks. He covered the State House for the Channels Television since 1998.
Many people have, expectedly, condoled with the family of the late journalist cum gentleman. Specifically, the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, said that he received the news of the death of Mr. Chukwuma Onuekwusi with great sadness. In a statement issued by the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, Osinbajo condoled with the family and the Channels TV family on the passing of Onuekwusi.
He also commiserated with the State House Press Corps over the passage of their colleague, considered as a friend to all the State House correspondents and, who, according to Osinbajo, combined high professionalism, wit, dedication and patriotism in his diligent reportage of activities in the Presidential Villa.
Also, a State House correspondent of the Punch Newspapers, Mr. Olamilekan Adetayo, described the deceased as a good man. “He was a very hardworking man, one of the attributes that attracted him to me,” Adetayo said. “He was always holding the Channels Television-branded microphone as if his life depended on it.”
Recalling a particular episode when the correspondents went to homage to former President Jonathan on a Christmas Day, Adetayo said that the former president, referring to Chukwuma and his trademark microphone, said “You are still holding this your thing today again?”
Adetayo said: “When it seemed Chukwuma is talking angrily, just interject with one funny statement and he will burst into laughter and say, ‘these people won’t allow one to talk.’ The case has ended.”
On my part, I believed that the late Chukwuma was a person of great power and ability who managed to perform his responsibility with amazing skills. He was full of life, energy, focused and ambitious to excel in his chosen profession. And he did. I believed for a long time Chukwuma’s only reason for living was his desire to excel in his job, which he was devoted to, until I later came to find out the substance behind the rare gentleman.
Chukwuma was selfless, and we freely and joyously talked about our work and how it ought to be with him. A real professional that he was, Chukwuma was always ready to offer an advice on any issue and I will not forget in a hurry some of the good times we shared together.
From the moment I met him, I never had any doubt about his career being amazing for he truly loved what he was doing. As Adetayo observed, Chukwuma loved holding the Channels Television-branded microphone as if his life depended on it. Though, now it’s hard for me to believe it did not. Why? Because he held on to it until death separated them.
