FAREWELL, EMMANUEL IWELUMO!
Sonnie Ekwowusi pays tribute to Emmanuel Iwelumo, a lawyer and a gentleman
On Friday, the remains of Mr. Emmanuel Ugochukwu Iwelumo, a lawyer and a partner in the Law Firm of Iwelumo & Iwelumo, Surulere, Lagos, who quietly slipped away in his sleep January 16, 2015, will be interred in his Village, Umuolo, Onicha-Ugbo Town, Aniocha-North Local Government Area of Delta State. There are four lawyer brothers-Andrew, Emmanuel, John (“Big John”) and Peter-in charge of the Law Firm, Iwelumo & Iwelumo. With the exit of Emmanuel, Iwelumo & Iwelumo is left with the troika of Andrew, Big John and Peter to fly the flag.
Over the years, the Iwelumo brothers have managed to court the camaraderie of many across the different divides with their enchanting open-house socialisation and outreach. If consummate wag Big John is not cracking a joke, Peter is shouting at you or Andrew eyeing you in a funny way or Emmanuel sitting quietly at a corner and telling you, “man, we are here in this chambers for business, not to discuss religion or any other things”. I remember Big John telling Ugo Njere Esq., with his characteristic sense of humour that someone called from abroad and said that he would have preferred it was Big John that died and not Emmanuel.
That is quintessential Iwelumo brothers. And that was why hundreds and hundreds of lawyers and other professionals turned up at the Service of Songs in honour of Emmanuel last week to once again fraternise and sympathise with the Iwelumo brothers. Of course, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) Fashola was there. He never forgets his roots. He rose to stardom in and from Surulere. He “tapped” soccer with the Iwelumo brothers and other Surulere boys at the Union Bank Sports Field, Bode Thomas Street, Surulere. He hanged out in Surulere with friends. I don’t know whether Governor Fashola attended Helmbridge Study Centre, Surulere. But Big John, Peter and their elder brother, Chief Kenneth Iwelumo, certainly passed through Helmbridge. Sighting Governor Fashola among the mourners at the Service of Songs last week brought back sweet memories of the good old Surulere days when men were men and women....
Emmanuel was my classmate at the Law School. And I think I did my NYSC Orientation at Yaba College of Technology with him, Henry Nwuke Esq., and other former classmates. The death of Emmanuel is still shocking to me. Three days before his death, I ran into Peter at the American Embassy. As I stood at the Embassy exchanging pleasantries with Peter, Captain August Okpe, former Chief Pilot of Nigerian Airways, a writer and the author of the Last Flight, suddenly showed up. That was my first time of setting my eyes on the author of the most fascinating book on the air strikes of the Nigerian Civil War. As Captain Okpe came closer, he greeted and said to Peter, “how is Emmanuel? Greet him for me, he is a gentleman”. And I added, “Yes, he is a gentleman”. But little did we suspect that Emmanuel, the gentleman, would die in three days.
This is our lot as wayfarers. We are born to die. In Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, Ivan Ilyich, comforted by his wife and son, wished he would not die even though death was imminent. But all men are mortal. We live as though we are in perfect control of lives forgetting that our lives are in the hands of God who bringeth and who takest at the Providentially-designed time. In his bestseller, “The Way”, St. Josemaria Escriva writes, “Have you seen the dead leaves fall in the sad autumn twilight. So fall souls every day into eternity. One day, the falling leaf will be you”. In his homily at the Service of Songs, Rev. Fr. Vincent Bankole urged mourners to reflect on the true meaning of human existence. The living should deal with the things of this passing world without neglecting the things that eternally endure. Only good deeds endure. There is judgment after death. There is reward and punishment in life hereafter, he said. In As I Lay Dying, Richard John Neuhaus, used the occasion of his near death to reflect on mortality, the mystery of suffering, the work of Providence in the sick and the entanglement of love and death. He writes that “from Socrates and Plato through the entirety of humane tradition, a secure belief has been that a verdict will be rendered upon the life concluded.”
On Friday when the body of Emmanuel is wheeled out for burial amid floods of tears from the cheeks of his wife, children, Iwelumo brothers, family members, lawyers, friends, acquaintances and loved ones, let the requiem, “farewell, mortality, Jesus is mine. Welcome, eternity, Jesus is mine…” resound far and wide in the certainty that Emmanuel has concluded his earthly journey well and is now peacefully resting in the bosom of Abraham.