Welcome.......................................................................Chief Ukpai Abba Onyeani
“My Dad”............................................................................. Chika Abba Onyeani II “My Dad”.................................................................................Abba Abba Onyeani
Resolutions and Acknowledgements Honorable Shelia Oliver Speaker Emeritus NJ General Assembly Honorable Alicia Holman Fifth Ward Councilwoman East Orange, NJ
Musical Selection..................................................................................... Floxy Bee
Tributes and Reflections.......Venerable Dr. Emeka Nwigwe - The Biafran Years
Mr. Sadiq Wai, United African Congress Chief Dr. Nwojo Agwu, Okagwe Development Union
Mr. Robert Brunner, Vice President. Arik Airlines
Chief Ukpai Onyeani, Brother
Ms. Stephanie Hand Esq., Niece
Sanburn, Publishing Company
“When Great Trees Fall”.......................... Ada Felecia Onyeani, granddaughter
Musical Selection..................................................................................... Floxy Bee
Reading of the Obituary...................................................Chika Abba Onyeani II
Thank You...............................................................................Mrs. Loretta Onyeani Interment Ndi Okpu Compound Okagwe, Ohafia, Nigeria The Family will be receiving friends and guests for a repast at the Best Western Robert Treat Hotel 50 Park Place, Newark, New Jersey
Honoring Chief Dr. Chika A. Onyeani, Sr. “The Roar Of The African Lion Has Been Silenced”
(Chief) (Dr.) Chika A. Onyeani, Sr.: AKA NA GBAJI EGBE I OF OHAFIA, the international diplomat, pacesetting journalist and distinguished author passed away peacefully at St. Barnabas Hospital on December 6, 2016, at the age of 73 from a brief illness. Once described as a “Man for All Seasons”, he was world renowned as a pioneer and pathfinder, beacon and trailblazer, commander and mighty warrior and had achieved singularity and honor as one of Africa’s foremost statesman. An Ohafian, he comes from the group of Igbos that is the most feared throughout Nigeria; this fierceness gave him a passion and zeal for life and empowered him to dispense some uncomfortable truths in his literary publications. Dr. Onyeani’s book, Capitalist Nigger, contains a message that still resonates today and became a worldwide bestseller and the bestselling book in South Africa for almost a decade. “The blame game has become a permanent part of our lives to the exclusion of any other solution that could be more viable in solving our problems. It has become the most productive part of our lives, because without it the African cannot really point to much that they are in charge of producing. It is better to blame others than to confront the truth of our being responsible for whatever has happened to us an African race.”, he wrote in the introduction to “Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success” (2000), his landmark publication that opened a debate on the state of the African race. (Chief) (Dr.) Chika A. Onyeani, Sr. was born on November 14, 1943 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and was the second born of thirteen brothers and sisters. At the age of six, Chika was sent back home to his village of Okagwe to live with his grandmother Princess Ada Ubolo and found himself as a student with no books, uniforms or proper footwear for his first 4 years of schooling. Monies being sent home by his parents were being improperly used and the young student soon came to be known by his classmates as “Obiara umu wo biarra” which roughly translates into ‘He that came because others came’; Chika would show up to school with the other students but never had any books with him. Although he would borrow books from his classmates when he could, it wasn’t until 4 years later that his father arrived to rectify the situation and purchase the books, uniforms and shoes Chika needed to be a student. His strong spirit and intelligence were always present and both traits guided him from early on in his academic career, right through to high school where he regularly finished as the number one or two student in his class each year. Upon finishing high school, Chika then went to work for a company that dug wells in Nigeria so water could flow to the many villages and towns found throughout the country. While working for this company, since many people depended on him he would portion out his wages to his village and his family and use whatever remained to put himself through commercial school. Two Uncles took an interest in his drive, work ethic and ambition and the first, Chief Amadi took Chika out to Lagos, Nigeria to live with him; the second, Chief Nwandu began to groom him for bigger things as there was an opening with the Nigerian Foreign Service and he believed Chika would excel in the position. Once Chief Nwandu offered the job to Chika, he readily accepted the position and was sent to Dublin, Ireland; thus beginning his experience in the Nigerian Foreign Service.
While posted in Ireland, Chika began a meteoric rise through the Foreign Service ranks. While serving abroad in the Nigerian Foreign Service, the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War broke out in July of 1967. Chika received a call from the Biafran Leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, to join him. He then immediately resigned his commission in the Nigerian Foreign Service, and went to Biafra to serve in the new government. He was quickly given Biafran diplomatic status and was tapped to represent Biafra in the U.S. as part of the Biafran diplomatic core. When the war ended in 1970, Chika was without a country to go home to but he persevered and was able to acquire employment with the NY Life Insurance Company where he eventually became the number one sales person in division. In the early seventies, Chika next went to work for the pharmaceutical giant DuPont/Endo Pharmaceuticals. Being that there were no other African reps in his division, the company was definitely taking a chance on hiring this Igbo man. The manager who hired him, however, was British. He not only knew about Africa and Nigeria, but more specifically, he knew about the Igbo people. He asked Chika just one question at the interview, and that question was, “are you an Igbo from Nigeria”? Chika answered, “yes” and he went on to become the number one rep in many of the company’s sales contests over the years. His diplomatic skills never diminished, and he parlayed those skills into establishing, and creating the number one black newspaper in the U.S.; the African Sun Times, formally the The African Enquirer. The recognition of his talents created an international figure as he was called upon by the African Union and elected Inaugural Chairman of the African Union Diaspora Task Team to illuminate, represent and defend their mission throughout the African Continent and the African Diaspora. During his tenure in NYC, Chika met and married the former Loretta Hand of Hackensack, NJ and from this union, two sons were produced, Chika Abba Onyeani II and Abba Abba Onyeani. He is survived by his brothers and sisters, Mr. Onyeani Abba Onyeani, (Chief) Ukpai Abba Onyeani, Mr. Ikechukwu Abba Onyeani, Mr. Ukpai Peter Abba Onyeani, Mr. Agwu Abba Onyeani, and, Deaconess Oluwe Patience Kalu, Pastor Ifeanyichukwu Abba Onyeani, Mrs. Nnenma Onuoha Onyeani, Mrs. Love Abba Onyeani. He has gone on to join the Late Mr. Ndem Abba Onyeani, and the Late Abba Abba Onyeani. He is also survived by his sister-in law; Mrs. Ngozi Ukpai Onyeani, his daughters-in-law; Mrs. Marie Chika Onyeani, and Mrs. Evelyn Abba Onyeani, Esq., and his grandchildren, Ada Onyeani, Adachi Onyeani, Chinonye Onyeani, Abba Onyeani Jr. and Orie Onyeani. Chika Onyeani was a journalist of international acclaim, distinction and recognition. A former diplomat, Dr. Onyeani was the publisher and editor-in-chief of the cutting-edge, powerfully-anointed, African Sun Times, the largest and only weekly African newspaper distributed nationwide in America. Dr. Onyeani received numerous awards for journalistic excellence, including one from The New York Times Institute for Journalists. A sought after speaker, Dr. Onyeani has been quoted, interviewed by, and written up in practically every major medium. He has received over 75 awards from the U.S. and the International Community. His illustrious career earned him the title of Dr. has he was known as in recognition of and acclimation of his distinguished and exemplary career as an author, writer, publisher and consultant in international affairs and was the alumnus of several institutions of higher learning, both in England and the United States including Pitmans College of London, Fordham University and the Baruch Graduate Division of CUNY.
My greatest joy happened this summer taking my granddaughter, who I call Princess Ada after her great-grand mother. People would ask what of other times in your life? I would still maintain that this was the greatest joy ever for me. I know I took my own children several times to the village, but nothing beats a courageous and brave young lady calling up her grandfather, and saying, “Grandpa, I am ready to go to Nigeria.” You see, earlier this summer, immediately after the close of school, we took her on a few days vacation. But since the beginning of the year, I had been talking to her parents about their going with us to Nigeria. They were making all kinds of excuses as to why they couldn’t go. So, while on this vacation with our granddaughter, I tried to paint a picture of the great things she would be seeing in the village. I thought I had sealed the deal with her and was overjoyed that she said she would go. But on taking her back to her parents, and I joyfully told them that she said she would be going to Nigeria with us. Imagine my shock, when she said she didn’t want to go at all. Of course, I was totally disappointed, but of course I could understand what with her parents not wishing to go either. Well, we thought there goes our summer trip to the village, which I had not visited since 2011 when I took my late younger brother’s body home for burial. Well, guess what? Two weeks later, my granddaughter calls up, and says to me, “Grandpa, I am ready to go to Nigeria.” When I heard her, I was in shocking unbelief. I quickly asked her to put her Mom on the phone, she said that’s what she wants to do. She says she wants to go. I was of course overjoyed. I quickly set in motion making arrangements for our travel - my granddaughter, her grandmother and myself. I immediately called one of Africa’s best airlines, Arik Air, and scheduled for us to travel on the 20th of August, as it was already the 4th August. Luckily, my granddaughter already had a passport, but she had to take immunization injections especially against malaria. It didn’t go well as it gave me concern whether we might have to cancel the trip. But the young lady affirmed her determination to go. With a visa stamped on her passport, and a well packed suitcase, her parents arrived with her on the evening of the 19th and early on Saturday, August 20th, we departed for the Arik Air flight leaving that morning to Lagos from JFK. We are used to traveling with her on airplanes. I remember our first flight with her to Los Angeles when she was just five years, and she had this beautiful very small suitcase, which she totally enjoyed dragging with her, and telling me, “Grandpa, I am ready, let’s go.” We checked in early, and after immigration, we found our way to the Swiss Air Lounge whose facility Arik Air uses for its Premier Class passengers. The flight left exactly at 1 pm, which was already 6 pm in Nigeria, and the pilot announced that the flight would take 10 hours 30 minutes. Princess Ada enjoyed the 180 degrees roll back of the seats, which allowed her and others in that area to have a nice sleep. The only problem was that she didn’t care for the food they served and I was very concerned she would starve. We got to Lagos, Nigeria, at exactly 4:15 am, cutting the flight time by 15 minutes. It was quite early in the country.
We cleared immigration fairly quickly and picked up our luggage. What has become strange in traveling to Nigeria, is the lack of ‘touts’ who used to rush into the tarmac and arrival halls, to grab and solicit fares. Now everything is very orderly, which has been the case since we visited in 2011. Another great service by Arik Air is the introduction of an shuttle service between the international and domestic airports, if only the people running it would stop waiting for a lot of passengers to arrive before taking people to the domestic airport. But it is a great service. It was at the domestic airport that my nephew met us and flew with us to Abuja, the Nigerian capital city. Abuja is a beautifully planned city with wide streets and where street lights work. We stayed at the wellappointed Newton Park hotel; actually we got to experience the two Newton Park hotels, as the suite we had ben booked into was still occupied and we had to be provided a connecting two rooms at the first Newton Park hotel for one night before we moved to where we were supposed to be the next day. We enjoyed both establishments; very gracious hosts. It was at the second hotel that my nephew discovered a pizza place and brought back a pan of pizza that made my granddaughter so happy. The next night, she couldn’t wait to go there herself. We stayed in Abuja for three nights, after which we proceeded to the South East, to Enugu as we flew from Abuja to Enugu also accompanied by our nephew Kelechi Heaven, who is now the National Correspondent of the African Sun Times in Nigeria. The flight from Abuja to Enugu, was less than 40 minutes, and we immediately proceeded from there to Okagwe village in Ohafia Local Government area. I am not going to dwell on the bad roads in the East, it is a story all by itself. Suffice to say that it took us almost four hours to reach Okagwe, a journey that would have taken a little over two hours. My joy as soon as we got there was my granddaughter saying, “Oh, Grandpa, this house looks very nice.” This made me very happy because it meant that the great cost of renovating the house before our arrival had paid off. I built the 7-bedroom bungalow about 32 years ago. Taking my granddaughter to the village was the main purpose of the trip, and when she stepped on the ground of my birth, I realized the ultimate joy of my life. That she never complained of anything, was so amazing. She blended in thoroughly and never said “Oh, I want to go back to the U.S. immediately.” Everything was centered on visiting the village. Of course, we were very tired. But the next morning, I called on the Ezeogo, who kindly decided to pay us a courtesy call. I introduced him to my granddaughter; the Ezeogo is the same age group as my sister who is third in the family. So, though he is the Chief of the village, he still recognizes his elders. I then told him my plan to honor my granddaughter’s visit to the village. He promised to gather the next morning the 11 chiefs representing the 11 compounds that make up the village. Meanwhile, my sister Patience U. Kalu, who has 8 children of her own and who is mother to my nephew, Kelechi, had taken charge of preparing the best meal money could buy traditional soup of different kinds, pounded yam, garri, nice, plantain, drinks of all kinds, a bottle of wine and plenty of big bottled cold water. We had a great meal.
We then proceeded to the proper village, where the eleven compounds are situated. Where I have my house is in the outskirts of the village in the new development on the hill. My senior half brother, Onyeani Onyeani, led us, not that I didn’t remember how to get there. But he led us because of the ceremony that we had to perform. As soon as we got there, my senior half brother went and informed that compound summoner, who brought out the small drum and started beating it to summon the men of the compound that they needed to come to the main gathering hall, called Obu. It was a fascinating scene for my granddaughter, as she witnessed men coming up to the hall and sitting down and her granddaughter greeting everybody familiarly. We exchanged greetings, and talked a little bit about putting finishing touches to the gathering hall, which they said my younger brother in America and I are supposed to send the money to complete. After the meeting, I took my granddaughter to my father’s house, and I thought it was rather funny when she asked, “Grandpa, you mean you lived here!!” That was really rather hilarious. The last day of our stay in the village was the most important day of our trip. As I had said earlier, the Ezeogo had promised to gather the 11 other chiefs for a meeting that morning at 9 am. But had sent a message the day before that it would no longer take place at 9 am, but 10 am. At 9:15 am, he arrived at my house and he told me that they would alert him once all the chiefs were gathered at the Obu Nta, which is inside the ruling compound. At 10:12 am, he was alerted that the chiefs had gathered. We left immediately and proceeded to the Obu Nta where we met all the chiefs. The Ezeogo introduced me. I got up and thanked the Ezeogo for all his help in making the meeting possible. I felt honored that they would gather in such a short notice to receive me and my family - my wife, my niece, May Uche, and my precious granddaughter, Ada Felecia Onyeani. I reminded them about the history of my schooling in the village, and how I knew the problem of not having books to read to carry out your homework; how that made it look like you are stupid. “I would like to award 5 scholarships of N200,000.00 a year to five indigent students, who would be admitted to the new university being opened in the village in the next few weeks or so. The scholarship would be for four years, and each student would be awarded N40,000 per year. These scholarships are in honor of my granddaughter who decided that she wanted to come and visit the village where her grandfather was born,” and it is being established by the Chika and Loretta Onyeani Foundation.” This was the best way of appreciating the brave and courageous action of a 10-year-old who fearlessly decided to accompany her grandfather to the village of his birth. It is the greatest joy I have been bestowed in the last years of my life. Dr. Chika Onyeani Publisher/Editor-in-Chief African Sun Times