My dearest wife, Mum,

I still find it difficult to accept the fact that you have ‘slept on’, waiting to wake up on the resurrection morning. On this day, July 4, 2016, God, your maker, who gave you to me decided to call you home without any prior notice. I just want you to know that it has not been easy; not for me, not for our children, and not for all those who truly loves you. I still dial your numbers from time to time in my usual way to share both my good and bad moments, to seek your input on issues and to gossip. It is always my worst and down moments as the realities dawn on me that you cannot take such calls anymore. Nobody assures me and says to me, Safe, be strong, you can make it.

Mum, I wish you are here to realize and appreciate my usual joke about your friends. If you recall, I always reminded you that ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed but a Friend in NEED is a BLOODY NUISANCE’. How true those words have become. Most of them swarmed around you because of the benefits they derive from you--they are no more. They dispersed as soon as the chicken that lays the golden eggs departed. They were not friends…they were friends who came around because they needed your help. Those who promised your children that in them they have another mother…none of them have even called to find out how your children are doing. Thank God I knew there can never be another mother for them. Thank God I made them realize that as soon as you slept –on. Yes, I did make them realize that we are on our own. The good thing is that we promised ourselves to be united and stand for one another. I made a promise to you, my wife, that, as long as I live, I would do all to ensure you and our children are happy always. By the Grace of God, I have not failed in that promise and I hope not to fail. Be assured also that I would preserve your ideals and would cast your name on stone. Generations to come would know that a virtuous woman; Nwamaka Onyemaechi Chiwuike-Uba lived in this world. You cannot be forgotten. Never ever!

I and the children had our fair share of crying this morning. We did not plan to cry. Yes, we didn’t, we have resolved to be strong for you. We know that our crying breaks your heart where you are; but as I reminisced on our life together, our journey, your struggles and your contributions, I could hear your voice calling out to me as you did that morning, saying, Safe, should I apply it again…I couldn’t hold myself … I wept uncontrollably. Our children couldn’t hold theirs seeing their father cry. It is well! 

Mum, lest I forget, I and a few others shall be on radio this morning to talk about the Asthma--the diagnosis and management. We shall talk about the scheduled Conference coming up on the 6th July 2017---the 1st Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Annual Asthma Conference. We shall also have a spot on the Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF). I was just wondering if you were able to follow the reportage on the event…more than 596 mentions in media outlets all over the world! Mum, Idi egwu, your spirit lives!

Before I end this message, kindly permit me to thank you for making me a better man, a better husband and a better father. You never saw my weaknesses; you saw and appreciated my strengths. You never saw my poverty, you saw a man who has great future, you saw a rich man, and you saw the best man in the whole world in me. Despite my flaws, you believed you are safe with me. You called me Safe till your last breath. To ensure that all you saw in me materialized, you never stopped praying for me. My confidence grows each time I hear you praying, speaking in tongues. You indeed prayed me into success. You are rare, very rare and irreplaceable.

Mum, I love you. Continue to rest in the bosom of our God, king of all glory and He who knows the end from the beginning. Sleep on till we meet to part no more. I love you!