Gregory’s death: Beginning or end of life? 

By Levi Obijiofor 

Friday, 28 March 2008 

Anyhow you look at it, death is a mystery. It has no shape or colour. It does not subscribe to any religious faith. It does not associate itself with any ethnic group. Death is undetectable. It does not carry physical weapons to defend itself and it does not need the protection of official bodyguards. The reason is simple: death has sufficient lethal power to protect itself and to overwhelm humanity.  

For many years, many people have posed the question: is death the end of life or the beginning of life in another form? No one knows for sure, not even those who claim to have the supernatural power to converse with their creator. It is this unresolved question, this inability to define and understand death that continues to challenge our knowledge of life and the mysteries that underpin death. 

Death strikes when we least expect it. It comes in various forms. The death of a man or woman is no evidence of the person’s state of health or welfare. Death assaults those who are sick and those who are well. Death is not an ailment that can be treated with medicament. The most mysterious element of death is that there is no solution to it. It is no respecter of anyone’s social status or criminal record. Because death is shrouded in mystery, it is also treated with some degree of reverence or trepidation in some cultures. For these reasons, death is a perfect embodiment of an oxymoron.  

In some cultures, when death strikes, people weep and grind their teeth in pain because death signifies finality – the end of life. People often say that dead men or women can’t talk or walk or eat. They cannot participate in normal human activities. However, in some cultures, when respected elders and community leaders die, people dance to mock death and to celebrate the dead persons’ accomplishments. Why do people in some cultures grieve when someone dies while people in other cultures celebrate the death of another person? The answer lies partly in cultural interpretations of death and the philosophy that defines human life.  

Arguably, there are people whose actions tend to suggest they have the power to foresee the imminence of their own death. In the morning of July 15, 2007, as I packed my shoulder bag hurriedly to catch a domestic flight to Lagos, a boy darted into our house and announced breathtakingly that his father would like to see me. I didn’t recognise the boy. But his identity was revealed when I enquired from my relatives about his father. I was baffled how his grandfather knew I was preparing to leave that morning. But in local villages, information travels faster than electronic mail. Was it a coincidence? Was it by intuition or was it a premonition?  

I followed the boy to his grandfather’s house as soon as I finished packing. I was still mystified about the purpose of the message. As soon as I entered his house, I noticed the old man was having his breakfast. But, in my judgment, he didn’t quite look alright. He looked frail. He stopped eating and waved at me to grab a chair. He said he knew I was leaving that morning and he wanted to give me his blessings before I left. I was confounded when I heard him say he knew I was leaving that morning. How did he know?  

I thanked him for his blessings and his thoughtfulness but I also enquired about his health. He said, with the aid of a proverb, that at his age, there was no point in anyone enquiring about his health because he was used to falling sick and recovering as many times as he could remember. It was a poignant remark.    

Three months after that brief encounter, I received a cryptic message that Gregory Nwafor Obijiofor had died. He was 86 years. It became clear to me why he wanted to see me before I left the village in July last year. In hindsight, it would appear he foresaw his impending death. The death of Gregory, who also was known in Igbo phraseology as “Eziokwu bu ndu” (truth is the soul of life), came as a surprise to everyone. Death always comes as a surprise, doesn’t it?  

He fell ill in early October 2007 and was admitted into a hospital where he stayed for eight days before he went home. A day before he died, there was no sign that his health had deteriorated beyond what everyone was used to. There was also no indication that his death was imminent. He had his regular meals unaided and chatted normally with his family members, in particular his senior wife. The manner of his death underscored the surprise element of death.  

Before his death, Pa Gregory, as he was also known, was the traditional head of the Obijiofor family, as well as the chairperson of the Umu No’Ulum kindred. He was a bighearted man, a tireless and selfless worker who received satisfaction by engaging in philanthropic activities designed to prop up other people. During his time, Gregory lived an exemplary life. It is said that a man or woman should be judged and respected by their contributions to their society and the values they cherished and upheld during their lifetime.  

Gregory was committed to the highest standards of ethical behaviour and integrity. He was a strict disciplinarian but he was also a great listener, a remarkable philosopher and an exceptional peacemaker. His life was distinguished by the values he propagated. He believed it was better to tell the truth and to bear the consequences than to stitch up lies and live in a perpetual state of restlessness and panic. These attributes earned him the respect of his community and the reverence of other community leaders in the Orumba north local government area of Anambra State. 

Gregory had a humble upbringing. He spent the better part of his childhood in the village where he assisted his parents in farming. In 1941, driven by the exuberance and adrenalin that seizes every youth in the village, he enthusiastically enlisted in the Nigerian army. It was a decision that surprised even his own father who never expected his son to join the army. He was the only son of his parents and no one in his family wanted him to join the army. Against all expectations, Gregory completed his military training and was posted to Enugu.  But that was not the end of the story.  

No sooner did he begin his service in Enugu than he was subjected to irresistible pressure to quit. The strategy worked because just a few days to his scheduled departure to serve with the British soldiers in Burma (Southeast Asia) during World War II, Gregory decamped from the army in deference to the wishes of his parents and some village elders.  

After his premature departure from the army, Gregory began retailing yams before he moved to Abakaliki and launched into full-time yam business and rice farming. In no time, he prospered in rice farming. He expanded his rice business, bought and installed six rice milling machines at Abakaliki industrial layout and employed 20 workers (including clerks, machine operators and manual labourers) who assisted him in his rice processing business. 

At the end of the 1967-1970 Nigeria-Biafra hostilities, Gregory diversified his business domain and developed a large palm plantation in the suburbs of Abakaliki (Ebonyi State). The business side of harvesting, processing and marketing the palm produce was handled and supervised partly by his younger wife. With the foresight of a seasoned businessman, Gregory used the profits that accrued from his vast businesses to acquire 10 plots of land in different parts of Abakaliki central business district. 

Gregory will be buried today in Nanka town in the Orumba North Local Government of Anambra State. It is quite appropriate and fitting that the Obijiofor family, including Gregory’s sons and daughters, his two wives, his in-laws and his relatives will pay their last respects today to a man who symbolised honesty, hardwork, integrity, human discipline and communal peace. Death may have struck down Gregory at an old age but his achievements and the values he transmitted will remain forever.