Ogbuenyi Clement J.C. Onyekwe was born on November 15, 1936, by Late Ogbuenyi James Onyekwe and Omeakwu Margaret Onyekwe nee Ugbodu of Ezi in Aniocha Local Government Area of Delta State. He attended St Boniface Catholic School, Idah, from 1944-to 1951 and passed out with First School Leaving Certificate. He attended High School at Etukokwu School of Commerce, Onitsha, from 1952 to 1955 and passed out with a Royal Society of Arts Group Certificate. He started work as a Stenographer in 1956 under the then Bank of British West Africa, Ibadan. He later left for the then Nigerian Airways, Lagos, where he worked from February to July 1957. He resigned from Nigerian Airways to work under Mobil Oil Nigeria Ltd., Lagos, from August 1957 to July 1960. In August 1960, he took up an appointment with the then Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (E.C.N.). He was with the Corporation till the end of August 1962, when he traveled to the United Kingdom for further studies. From September 1962 to December 1963, he studied at Pitman Central College London, undertaking a course for Overseas Teachers and Administrators of Commercial Education. In January 1964, he returned to Nigeria from the United Kingdom to take up an appointment with the Nigerian Produce Marketing Company, Lagos, as Personal Secretary to the company's General Manager. Simultaneously, he worked in the evenings at the Secretarial Training Department of United Christian Secondary Commercial School, Apapa, as an Assistant Lecturer.
In June 1965, while working at the Nigerian Produce Marketing Company, Lagos, he was nominated to be Secretary to the Nigerian Marketing Board Delegation to tour Eastern Europe on a Sales Promotion Tour. The delegation visited Moscow in the then USSR, Bucharest (Romania), Sofia (Bulgaria), Belgrade in the then Yugoslavia, Budapest (Hungary), Prague in the then (Czechoslovakia), Warsaw (Poland), and Leipzig in the then East Germany. The tour lasted from June 28 to July 5, l965. In July 1967, the civil war broke out, and with the escalation of the war by January 1968, he left Lagos for his village, Ezi, in the interest of personal safety. At Ezi, he helped his father with farm work till September 1969. With the war mellowing down, he picked up a job with Bendel Insurance Company Benin City as Secretary to the General Manager.
His stint with Bendel Insurance Company did not last for more than two years. In September 1971, he accepted an appointment with the then North-Eastern State Government (later Borno State) as Head of the Secretarial Training Department of the Staff Training Center in Potiskum. He left this job nine months before his second contract tour ended. Almost immediately, he accepted an offer of appointment as Principal Instructor with Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State. He was with the Polytechnic until his retirement as Chief Instructor on November 14, 1996. On retirement from the Polytechnic, he accepted a contract appointment as Chief Instructor with the Federal College of Education Asaba. He was with the college for about a year before relocating to the United States in September 1997. During his time in the United States, he worked at the Kansas City Division of Youth Services. This was his job until his retirement in November 2008. His stay in the U.S.A. lasted fourteen and a half years, after which he decided to return to his country and village to contribute to the development of his local community.
His legacy has touched the lives of his children, grandchildren, many students who passed through him, relatives, friends, and his community at large.
Ogbuenyi Clement J.C. Onyekwe is survived by his wife Martina, a retired elementary school teacher, Dr. Ebele Umoye, a Professor of Nursing; Mrs. Joy Nneka Eke, a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner; Barrister Nnamdi Onyekwe, a Director-General with the Delta State Multidoor Courthouse; Barrister Margaret Unodinma Onyekwe aka Meg, Barrister-at-Law (Nigeria) & Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing (USA); Dr. Martina Tudeme, a Dentist and Implant Surgeon; Mrs. Nkechi Omozeje, a Chartered Accountant, Cybersecurity Auditor, and Business Professional; Dr. Ifeanyi Onyekwe, Medical Practitioner; Mr. Oge Onyekwe, Engineer and Cybersecurity expert and Mrs. Ogochukwu Benye, Computer Information Systems Analyst and Nurse Care Manager.
C.J.C., as he was fondly called, is also survived by his siblings Mr. Emmanuel. A. Onyekwe; Mrs. Maria . Egbunike; Mrs. Paulina .A.Offor; Mr. Clifford J.C. Onyekwe; 26 Grandchildren, Sons, and Daughters-in-law, and numerous nephews, nieces, and cousins.
