My Dearest Father,
Your life was a story of trials and triumph. From the little boy born in the farm plantation of Okuni to your time in the Midwestern State of Ogwashuku and then to the backstreets of Port Harcourt, you burnt the midnight candle in the true sense of the word and toiled your path to an education and a future.
You talked often of your restlessness as a child and the lack that marked your early years. You spoke of the first time you owned a pair of shoes. And of the time in December of 1958, when your grandmother made you kneel while she put her hand on your shoulders, weeping and crying to God to help her stubborn grandson. It worked, as you wrote in your memoir. Yes, "it did"! You became the Christian soldier, marching forever onward. Your was indeed a story of trials and triumph.
You had many children Daddy and you never stopped praying for us all; you wanted us to preserve, to dream, to become somebody.
you called me "Mummy". You always believed in me. You told me i could do anything. the day i got into the University of Oxford, i called to tell you and you cried with joy...., my daddy with the white smile and kind word. My daddy, if the bible was still being written the story of your faith would be told in its sacred pages. Yours is a story of trials and triumph.
You were the good seed, growing in the midst of thorns, but growing because the good Lord had planted you! You were like light, set up upon a hill! You were like salt; never losing your favour! Through the turbulence of life the fire of your faith was as tall as your spirit. Not once did you falter. You spoke of faith and God like a giant. And giant you were. the trails of life never dimmed your spirit, never shortened you. You behaved in death as you did in life, with Jesus in your mouth.
I carry that fire in my belly daddy! The fire of God's love, the passion for Christ and love that is unquenchable. I carry that light deep in my stomach and i promise you Daddy, that by the grace of God our father, I will carry that fire forward, forever.
And now you move on to receive your crown! You have fought the good fight Papa! You have stayed the course.
Your Daughter
Esame