REMEMBERING GBEGI OJORA…

• BITTERSWEET MEMORIES OF A JOLLY GOOD GUY SIX YEARS AFTER

Six years after his sad demise, Gbegi Ojora’s family and friends remember and appreciate the kernel and towering humaneness of a man whose life story resonates like a fairy tale, long after his exit from the mortal world.

The flowers blow coolly with the wind to assert his place above the earth although he lies six-feet underground, where sand granules mingle with bones and rotted flesh of the interred. It’s the sixth year since corporate titan, Adegboyega Ishola Ojora, departed mother earth and his family, friends and business associates are still grieving his untimely death.

Until his sad departure, Ojora lived to see the dawn and sunset glow richly amid life’s pressing concerns. He lived to give and feel love generously and without inhibitions. Gbegi, as he was fondly called, died at the First Consultant Hospital, Ikoyi Road, Obalende, Lagos.

He was aged 50 years. It would be recalled that thousands of dignitaries comprising friends, family, politicians and business associates trooped to his funeral to mourn his sad exit from life. This no doubt attested to the worth of the man for whom every male and female acquaintance holds a blazing torch, even in death.

On the eve of his untimely death, Ojora performed his civic duty by casting his vote during the general elections that ushered in the Eighth National Assembly. The following day, he attended the morning Mass at the Catholic Church of Assumption, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos, and later, the christening ceremony of a friend’s child. But death struck him a fatal blow as soon as he retired home. Ojora allegedly complained of a slight health disturbance and drove himself to First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos. He slumped and gave up the ghost while the clinic’s physicians examined him. Doctor’s diagnosis confirmed the cause of his death as heart attack.