By Tony Erha
Deliberations of the long-expected event had culminated in a grand style, at the Table Tennis Section of the highbrow IBB Country Golf Club, located in the same high-brow, but peaceful dead-end of Aso Drive, an offshoot of the ever lively and elitist Asokoro District of Abuja, the very metropolis and Nigeria’s presidential seat of power.
By Onomatology or Onomastics, the study of names, there wouldn’t be even a whiff to dispel the imports of ‘Imonbhio’, the middle ‘native’ name of the celebrant, Chief (Prof) John Imonbhio Abhuere. Behold the nuances of this event of his 70th birthday anniversary actually correlated with the moralistic meaning of Imonbhio; “One who have numerous siblings and admirers to count on”. The christening of babies in the tradition of Edo, Nigeria’s ‘Heartbeat State’ of Chief Abhuere’s origin, presages that a native name readily tells who a man actually is and how far he could go deciphering his individuality and life.
Significantly, the myriads of colorful and sociable attendants cut across ages – students, youths, adults, and oldies. However, it goes to underscore an adage of the Abhuere’s Esan attachment of the Edo family, that; “Onon mon oria yan emin rebhe” (He who attracts the good people to himself has everything to his benefit).
Abhuere is an academician, astute administrator, management consultant, historian, prolific writer, social critic, caregiver, development expert, sports enthusiast, and a Nigerian patriot, etc., who is Founder and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Centre for Childcare and Youth Development (CCYD), a not-for-profit body, ministering to the development need of children, youths and adult members of the Nigeria society. With its headquarters located in Abuja’s suburb of Sabon-Lugbe, CCYD also has a branch at Uromi, Edo State. Abhuere, a Professor was a former Director of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who had and continues to mentor millions of Nigerian youths, most of who had passed through him in the NYSC scheme.
Born on 21st April 1951 at Unuwazi – Uromi, Edo State, ‘Boy Imonbhio’, was determined to preside at the ‘table of the affairs of men’, which informed his ardent belief in sound educational attainments. This prodded him to go to school. Having completed his primary and secondary education at Unuwazi, Uromi, and Edo Boys High School, Benin City, respectively, he obtained a Bachelor of Art in History from the University of Lagos, in 1977/8. In 1981, he also acquired a Post Graduate Certificate in Modern Management at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Post Graduate Diploma in Social Policy and Administration (Swansea), United Kingdom (1981) and M.Sc. in Economics, specializing in Sectorial Planning and Management at the University of Wales, in 1981 in the UK. From the University of Ibadan he got a Post Graduate Certificate in Speech Writing, in 1991/2. Subsequently, he bagged a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Administration, from the University of Benin, in 1997/ 8 and a Professorship in Management and Development, in 2019.
His strong engagement in local communities and national development, in Nigeria and abroad attracted to him to getting numerous awards, including the Oven-non-r’efuare of Ebelle Kingdom, Edo State, and Ehinomen of Kebbi, at Kebbi State, respectively. A protagonist of effective parenting, Chief Abhuere, who is married with children, plays lawn tennis, loves music, traveling, writing, and socializing.
Definitely, his immense contributions to youths and society’s uplift had always endeared him to all and sundry, which manifested in the teeming and enthusiastic attendance of the elaborate event, which ended the social gathering in the main auditorium of the Tennis Section of the elitist club, where he is a valuable member and it former Chairman. At the Club, where team spirit and friendliness was always said to be keenest amongst its Siamese members, external invitees to the August occasion, must have left the event with an indelible fondly impression of an infectious peer influence amongst IBB Club members and is the real place to belong.
Whilst the chant of ‘Johnny is a Good Man’, rented the air, by the ecstatic members and many other invitees, speaker after speaker paid glowing tributes to Abhuere, the very persona they know so well. Air Vice-Marshal (AVM) Greg Agboneni (retd.), a former Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State, attested to the goodness of the celebrant, as well as his ‘colleague”, AVM Saliu Atawodi (retd.) and others. A youthful member of the Club, who served as the occasion’s Master of Ceremony (MC), thanked God for giving Abhuere such ‘strength’ when at 70 years old he was still agile at playing the lawn tennis and beating even so many young men of the club in the game.
Earlier on, a top management staff of the NYSC, who craved anonymity, saluted the courage and immense contribution of the celebrant to the work of NYSC and mentoring of the Nigerian youths. “If the NYSC topmost position was not specifically assigned to those trained as security men, Prof Abhuere’s exceptional work in the agency, where he rose from the lower rung to be the oldest serving director ever, would have earned him the very position”
Chief Abhuere, a simple-minded personality, whose compassionate character is built like a steel’ fervently believes in the “development of the youths to steer any nation”. With him at the occasion was his lovely wife and Ojie, a son of his, who shares the same birthday as him. Wife and son also got the accolades of the guests. Following his appreciation speech to all, Prof Abhuere, the established prolific author and essayist, “stirred the honey bees’ with his pre-presentation of book work, in which he kicks against the burning and current issue of ‘Restructuring of Nigeria’s country”.
Thereby followed an enriching and nationalistic debate, with compartmental predispositions, thus stamping on the occasion another magnetic aura of Abhuere, the incurable nationalist, who believes in the continuity of Nigeria.
Inquisitively, the myth of the Edo indigenes, being able to induce or stop the rainfalls, as they are ‘natural rainmakers’, caused another debate. A non-Edo person in the crowd insinuated as to why the rainfalls were allowed during the occasion, with the presence of “Edo Insurance?” But, an Edo indigene retorted that it was intentional for the rainfalls to bless Abuja that is in search of the downpours. He jocularly added that some ’70 Owewe”, the cannon-gun shots, in the muffled mode, had been shot to celebrate Abhuere, the Edo chief and Nigerian hero!
Tony Erha is a journalist and activist
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