American-based lawyer and Public Affairs Commentator, High Chief Owolabi Salis has joined millions of Nigerians at home and abroad in mourning Ms. Onyeka Onwenu, the celebrated, songstress, who passed on to Glory recently, at the venue of the birthday celebration of her friend (Dr.) Mrs. Stella Okoli.

The Ikorodu-born Lagosian who also holds the title of Onyema Ndigbo Gburugburu of Etiti Mgboko, in Abia State, described her exit as the passing of an era, adding that at the height of her fame and glory, she set the entertainment scene ablaze with her electrifying showmanship that made her the adorable idol of enthusiastic vast mass of fans across the vast Nigerian landscape.

He described Onyeka as “not just a goddess of songs, but a multi-talented genius and all-rounder, who excelled as a veteran reporter, writer, actress, coupled with her outstanding intellect, eloquence and oration. She radiated a supreme confidence, faith and self-assuredness that was rare to come by.

“Not only was she an exemplary symbol of womanhood, she was an illustrious child of Igboland, a pride of Nigeria, Africa and the Black race,” said the Ikorodu-born Igbo-titled High Chief.

He lamented that “the dramatic suddenness with which she passed on was such that leaves one in a cryptic puzzle that defies any attempt to comprehend let alone unravel. This was a woman who in one breadth was full of life, and just before you could say J-A-C-K, she had already bid a painful but glorious bye for the surreal realm of eternity.

“This is why for a woman who in her lifetime, not only radiated life but was the epitome of life herself, one cannot but lament the dreary prospect that henceforth, one would have no option than to refer to her in the past tense. This is why I felt highly touched not only as a fellow Nigerian compatriot but more particularly as an Igbo-titled High Chief,” said Salis.

The lawyer-politician who in 2019 contested for governorship in Lagos State on the platform of Alliance For Democracy, described the “Elegant Stallion”, as she was affectionately called in her lifetime, as a quintessential bridge-builder and the very model of a detribalised Nigerian, who in her lifetime, was unpretensively hundred percent Igbo on one hand, just as she was equally hundred percent Nigerian on the other hand, in judicious emulation of the Biblical dictum to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

“As a detribalised bridge-builder one remembers with nostalgic memory, his collaboration with King Sunny Ade to wax the epic hit song “If You Love Me You Will Wait For Me.

“One also recalls the strong moral and patriotic courage with which she fought and championed the cause of the late Afro-Beat kingpin, Fela Anikulapo Kuti during his detention by the Buhari-Idiagbon regime. The import of this gesture would not be much fully grasped until one recalls the sternly dictatorial nature of the military government in power at the period in question, which was notorious for its intolerance of opposition, especially through the obnoxious Decree 2, with which they gagged the press and hounded journalists in prison”, remarked the widely acclaimed social critic and activist.

Apart from the foregoing, was her remarkable familiarity with notable Nigerian leaders like Chief MKO Abiola, and Ex-President Obasanjo among others.

“I remember witnessing on a particular occasion, when in the course of an interview, she burst into a rapturous laughter, expressing that rumors had been so rife at one time or the other, of her alleged romance at various times, with King Sunny Ade and Fela Anikulapo Kuti, just as the same rumor mill had it that she had a secret wedding with a former Nigerian president, which according to her were all lies. And don’t forget that her first and only legally married husband, for whom she bore two beautiful boys, was a Yoruba man.

“It is in this sense that one clearly perceives her cosmopolitan world-view, as expressed in her detribalised propensity as a bridge-builder, as epitomized in her epic hit, “One Love Keep Us Together, which coincidentally was her last rendition during her performance at that fateful birthday celebration” remarked Salis, who admonished all to emulate her exemplary sense of unity.

Like Miriam Makeba, the universally acclaimed Mama Africa who passed on far away in Italy, right on the act, doing what she knew how to do best, Onyeka Onwenu, her indisputable successor as “Mama Africa”, also gallantly passed out, doing what she knew how to do best. May their great souls rest in perfect peace.”