Onyeka Onwenu: An Elegant Passage

I heard the news very early. An attendee at the Stella Okoli 80th birthday party had reached out quite early and this was because I was in a meeting with him till very late the previous day. “Edgar, my daughter held her hand on stage and she did a beautiful rendition of her hit song ‘One Love’ and then went to her seat and slumped.” I asked who he was talking about and he replied “Onyeka. She just passed in Victoria Island.”

Oh my God, I exclaimed and jumped out of bed to my phone and indeed the news, although sketchy, was all over. My mind raced to the last time I had contact with her. I was preparing for my play ‘Anonymous Nipples’ and wanted her to play a cameo. What a lot of people do not realise is that Onyeka was an early female activist who pushed for the independence of women.

In fact, it was from her that I first heard the phrase – wam, bang, thank you, mam-. The phrase is what we now call the two-minute Indomie man. She advocated for women to seize the initiative and go for what would give them the ultimate satisfaction. It was as a result of this that I approached her to put a little bit more fire in my risqué play which threw up women’s sexuality in a way no other person had done in Nigerian Theatre.

After listening to me, she hissed and said “No sir.” She continued: “I’m in my 70s now and really would not lend my weight to such banality.” She dropped the phone and blocked me. Mogbe, she blocked me o but that didn’t stop my admiration for her even as I swore that one of these days, I would seek her out and really ask her why she blocked me so that I could apologise.

But that is gone now as she has executed one of the most elegant exits in modern Nigeria. Abi, how else can one explain his passing after delivering such a delightful speech on unity, love, and brotherhood in front of an audience of elites, especially on the eve of a national protest marked by ethnic suspicions, aimed at addressing the bad governance we’ve endured in recent years?

There can be no passage more elegant than this. The Elegant Stallion as she was called has once again left us in total admiration and with class. Rest in peace my dear Mummy and be rest assured that your position in our annals remains secured.