Another Christmas and New Year Feasts Without Capt. Hosa Okunbo!

By Tony Erha

“Owina gha wu obo ‘re ighi fo vb’ agbon” An octogenarian traditional chief of the Benin kingdom, had put it so concisely, nodding his head, and giving darting glances, as if seeking the endorsement of his remarks by those other elderlies who clustered around him.

Some could only shakily affirm by nodding the head. Others had responded in affirmation.

“Aimie omo no ye vbe egbore”, retorted another chief, a Benin expression for – “there was no son like him”.

Suffice to say that, “When the great brass-smith passed on, the good work of his hands is never lost”, is an English rewording of the first Benin idiom, which opened this piece.

This writer, while holidaying for the Christmas and Newyear seasons in Benin City, the state capital of Edo, stumble on different enlightened circles of people, including some of its aforementioned-revered traditional chiefs, who had fondly echoed and re-echoed the person and good deeds of Captain Wells Hosa Okunbo, the debonaire billionaire, former commercial pilot, socialite and caregiver extraordinaire, who passed on to the great beyond, on August 8, 2021, at 63 years of age, following a bout with cancer.

Like the elderly Benin chiefs, Capt. Hosa (a.k.a. Cappy or Capitano), the refined ‘one-man-crowd’ and Edo cultural leviathan, had been badly missed by all, who claimed be regular beneficiaries of his large-heart, unrestricted generous giving, much more that they are also satiated and consoled that there was a great son of the Benin Kingdom and Edo State, who was an ‘Adaze’ (a hero) that wasn’t only honoured by outsiders, but by also by his fastidious Edo kinsmen.

As far as one could say, Mr. Sufuyan Ojeifo, veteran journalist and Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of THE CONCLAVE online newspaper, was one of the very close friends of the late philanthropist and he has this to say about him and his readiness to free giving.

“Captain Hosa was an angel in human form. I met him while I was media assistant to Chief Tony Anenih, and our relationship began and grew robustly until he answered the final call. I have always testified of Captain Hosa’s eleemosynary act.

“I benefitted so much from his large-heartedness. His Chiristmas gestures were always significant, yes humongous. He was unmatched in giving.

“The gate to his house was always flung wide open, and therein, he received and ministered to the feelings and needs of his people. Without complaints, he took off financial and material pressures from them.

“In this gloomy era, where Nigerians lose their lives on long queues and stampedes for free rice and other palliatives, Captain Hosa would manage his annual rituals of giving with tact.

“Then, he would send his gifts to the homes of his recipients with a list he had meticulously prepared with road maps to boot.

“Indeed, he was an organised and empathetic personality who never stressed anyone just because he wanted to assist them. If he asked for your account details and you gave them to him, you did not have to revert to remind him before he would do the needful. He always acted with immediacy. We have missed a great giver, a great man with a heart of gold.”

Chief Owen Chamberlain Obaseki JP, the Otaifoh of Uromi, was the ‘same ten and ten pence’ with Captain Hosa, an epithet for intimate relationship. A question put to him had precipitated a somewhat mournful response.

“My big brother, Tony Erha, just jolted me back to reality by asking about Christmas and Newyear yuletide without the ‘Philanthropist-in-Chief,’ the inimitable Capt Hosa Okunbo. I had avoided speaking about him in the past because, to me, Captain never dies – to live in the hearts of those who love you is not to die.

“As I reminisce in my mourning mood, I recall the irreplaceable Captain of the Air, Sea, and Land. He was a man who gave shade to wealth, feeding thousands more than the government during Christmas. He selflessly gave of himself and his resources. Captain is simply irreplaceable and unforgettable. My consolation lies in the fact that a man’s birth is a poignant reminder that he must one day depart. Captain lived life, and life knew he lived”.

And so, many a respondent, who was close to him and appreciative of his generous nature, also volunteered fondly comments.

Hon. Emmanuel Odigie (a.k.a Ghadafi): “Few days ago, many persons had called me on the phone regretting that Captain Hosa, who used to give them cash, rice, cow, sheep and other gifts at Christmas, was no more and the gifts were no longer coming. Year in year out, Captain Hosa had asked me for the listing of people he never knew, giving them succour with his hard-earned resources. So was the good heart of a great personality, who always meant well to his people and the humankind, at large.

Captain Hosa had the milk of human kindness, relating to everybody he had met despite their social status. There were some persons`, who would have unreasonably taken his meekness and philanthropic nature for granted, who now live in the regrets that they had done so. Remarkably, Hosa was a great mind that easily forgave others who offended him. We are sorely missing him”

Dr. Victor Egharevba is an indigene of the Orhua community in the Uhunmwode local government area of Edo State, Capt. Hosa’s aboriginality, who currently holds brief in the administration of Orhua, for its Odionwere (traditional head), HRH, Pa Augustine Osawaru Ayere.

Dr. Egharevba, who was an Airforce officer, before serving as Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council, Abuja, said: “After a long time, I met Capt. Hosa again in Abuja, and he was the same polished and selfless gentleman that I had known.

In my Orhua community, the common testimony of the indigenes is that of a very generous man who sent them huge gift items every Christmas and New Year season.

With his passing, there are numerous of the people who had missed his annual gifts and his philanthropic outreach”

Hon. Orobosa Omo-Ojo is a former Edo Commissioner for Transport. He is also Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the Midwest Herald. He was a close friend to the late pilot and businessman.

Read him: “There is hardly any foot to fit into the giant footprints, Capt. Hosa had left behind. The vacuum his demise had left is too massive for another Edo person to fill.

But the people could only hope that such ebullient and inscrutable personality emerges soon again. Indeed, Capt. Hosa was a great community leader and a champion of the oppressed, who did not only have that rare courage in free-giving and lending his ears to the poor of the poor.

He had stood firmly for the defence of the poor. He was a rare advocate and the light that ignited the hope of the poor and the mighty as well. He was a genuine friend who benefitted so many people”.

“Egui ighi z’ ikpakpa, n’ ovbiere ze iroron” – The Tortoise can’t have the scales only for the offsprings to bear furs”, the Edo worldview would pontificate. And it goes accordingly that Captain Hosa’s children had taken after their father’s prodigies, especially his benevolent venture of unlimited giving.

Lo and behold, Captain Hosa’s eldest daughter and Queen of the great Warri Kingdom of Delta State, Her Royal Majesty, Olori Ivie Atuwatse III, like her late father, has taken caregiving to greater heights.

Born on May 22, 1986, “Mama Iwere”, the trained lawyer, social entrepreneur and wife of the Olu Of Warri Kingdom, Ogiamen Atuwatse III, who also sees her husband as the greatest supporter of her philanthropic ventures, had been honoured at the global stage, with the Freedom of the City of London, a prestigious award, once given to notable figures like Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II, Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana and others.