First In His Class: Tribute to Bishop Hilary Okeke at 70
Bishop Hilary Odili Paul Okeke became my friend long before he got to know of my existence! I was deeply touched by an article he wrote in 1973 when he was features editor of Torch, the student magazine of Bigard Memorial Seminary. I was in a village primary school then, but already well known as a voracious reader who was once in a while flattered by teachers as a precocious child. The next year when the young seminarian who would become my bishop was appointed editor of the magazine, I went out of my way to devour not just every issue of the magazine but also all its contents, including the word puzzle page. The magazine helped deepen my understanding of the Catholic Church and helped to arm me with facts in what would be my perennial polemics with non-Catholics and failed Catholics.
I was so pleased when Okey Ndibe, now a novelist and professor of creative writing in the United States, rushed to my class at St Michael’s Secondary School in Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area, and announced gleefully “C. Don, your friend, Hilary Okeke, made a first class in his degree examination”. Okey had seen the result, complete with photographs of the magazine editors, in Torch.
My interest in Father Hilary was deepened in 1975 when I realised from my first cousin, Peter Adinuba, that my priest friend who still had not known me had become his Bible Knowledge and English teacher at the newly opened Ogbaru Boys High School in Atani where he was also the parish priest of a community infested by mosquitoes and sand flies; it was without the basic facilities of modern living like tarred roads. I still remember the first lesson he taught the fresh year students of the school which I read from my cousin’s notebook. It was an introduction to the Gospel of St Mathew where the etymology of the word, “gospel”, was explained and the difference between the three synoptic gospels and the gospel of St John explained. I learnt a lot from my cousin’s Bible Knowledge notes.
Bishop Okeke has enjoyed a rapid rise in his career, which was not expected of someone who, I am told, was not regarded as an exemplary seminarian because he was argumentative, like most brilliant people. He is the first in his 1974 set of priests to become a Vicar General. He is the first in the class to be made a Papal Chamberlain, or a monsignor. He is the first to become a bishop. He is the first bishop of the Nnewi Diocese. The list goes on.
Despite his high office and numerous accomplishments, Bishop Okeke remains very simple and, as I once remarked, quite informal. He treats everyone, however lowly the person may be placed in society, as if or she were an old friend, an equal. Before “servant leadership” became a common expression among the Nigerian political class, even though it is observed more in the breach, the bishop had demonstrated arresting modesty in his leadership style. The origin of the servant leadership concept is the New Testament where Jesus Christ counselled his apostles who were struggling for leadership that whoever was going to lead must be prepared to serve others. Christ showed what Chinua Achebe would describe as leadership by personal example when he washed the feet of his apostles, rather than allowing the apostles to wash his feet. Servant leadership is marked by modesty, humility and simplicity.
Bishop Okeke leads a very simple life as an individual. A cousin of mine once brought out choice drinks for him after he led a mass for the repose of his stepmother, only to learn that Bishop Okeke’s favourite drink is Sprite! He insists on eating always with his aides whom he treats as his peers. This is very important in Africa notorious for what the preeminent Dutch social scientist, Geert Hofstede, calls high power distance index. This is to say a society where there is a very huge gap between, on the one hand, people with power or authority or money and, on the other, those without power or authority or money; and those who don’t have do not see this situation as an abnormality. Those who do not have actually think that very soon it will be their turn to enjoy the perks of office and position in a very unequal society.
Our bishop may be sociable and friendly, as expected of any team player, but he will never allow any social issue to interfere with his ministry. His pastoral duties are regarded as truly sacred. I once brought a number of prominent political actors from Abuja and elsewhere to help raise funds for our church building in Ihiala and expected him to acknowledge their presence as they arrived one by one during mass. He ignored all of them completely and made no reference whatsoever to the fund raiser; he spoke only on spiritual issues. He welcomed them only after the mass was over and he had removed his vestments! To him, status is far a secondary issue.
As Bishop Okeke, philosopher, theologian, canon lawyer, educationist and scholar, attains the biblical age of three score and ten, I join millions of people across the world in wishing him a most rewarding birthday. Ad multus annos. – C. Don Adinuba.