Martins M. I. Chukwulobe is currently the Chairman, Otolo Nnewi Family Meeting in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In this interview with ABBANOBI-EKU ONYEKACHI, Chukwulobe, the Managing Director of Newworld Electronics Company Ltds, said Nnewi people have lost a juggernaut in Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah, urging all to ensure the Ubah legacies don’t die.
Distinguished Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, until his demise was from your community, Otolo Nnewi, how do you describe him?
Describing Ifeanyi Ubah will take more than a day, because it is like counting one, two, three to ten billion. By the time you start from one to twenty million, you start all over again, because there is no amount of words you can use to describe or qualify him. So, his qualification or description is so massive and positive.
Does this his goodness stop in Nnewi alone or he extends this to neighbouring communities?
I haven’t benefitted directly from him, but the impact of his generosity spreads across everywhere. His generosity isn’t for my people alone, but for anyone that comes across, because everyone benefits from his love, understanding and he is compassionate, to make things done better. One thing about him is that he likes to improve the lot of all. He likes to get closer to the people, get across to the people. To me, he was God-sent.
Although he died quite early, at 52, but I want to tell you that, had it been that he lived up to 80 years, he wouldn’t have achieved what he had achieved, because, if you see him, you won’t believe that he is the one that has come up with what he had achieved. He must have had a mission with God which he accomplished.
Can you mention some of his achievements?
He has mentored a lot of people; helped a lot of businesses; awarded lots of scholarships in Nnewi and a lot of people benefitted from his magnanimity. He touched a lot of lives positively and these are there for everybody to see. Ebubechukwuzo likes to assist people who are in trouble and ensure the person doesn’t only laugh, but heave a huge sigh of relief. He would demand for your phone number, and give you his own and if you don’t call him, he will call you, so as to proffer solutions to your problems. In fact, apart from security escorts that go with him, he will ensure that you come closer to him, so as to carefully hear your own problem patiently.
Are you not giving him this positive appelations because he was from the same Otolo Nnewi as you?
No! That I am from the same Umuanuka, Otolo in Nnewi as he was, and that his house is a stone’s throw from mine is not the reason behind what I am saying. Look, the truth about me as a person; I am just two months old on the seat as the Chairman of Otolo Nnewi Family Meeting.
In fact, I saw lots of prospects in Ifeanyi Ubah as the new chairman of the family meeting. It isn’t about him coming from my constituency or not, if I have benefitted directly from him, I will be singing his praises, but I have just made it clear that personally, I haven’t benefitted directly from him. But, people around me who benefitted from him directly, are the ones telling Nigerians what they benefitted from. I have met him several times and I will tell you that he is a nice person.
Now that he has gone to be with his maker, what’s next for Otolo Nnewi people?
I am yet to believe that he is gone. The only thing that makes me feel that Ifeanyi has gone was when we paid a condolence visit to his family and I remember how his wife felt about it, then I had to believe. Ifeanyi was too good to have died so early.
Now that he is no more, what is your message to the Otolo Nnewi people?
My message is that the shock of his death is still there, as I am yet to come out of it. Although, he may have died, but to me, he has continued to live, because he created a lot of good legacies. So I am yet to see who can fit into his shoes.
I advise our people of Otolo Nnewi not to allow his good legacies to fail, because we, people from Otolo Nnewi, are hardworking and the only thing I pray them to do is to ensure that those legacies, even if we can’t fit in, let us leave no stone unturned, to ensure that those legacies are maintained. He has a lot of philantrophric Foundations he set up and with the way we go about doing things, the Foundations should continue to be supported to exist and their aims and objectives should continue to be met.
