गुड बाय माय एक्जीक्यूटिव DRIVER

TONY ITA ETIM

itaetim@yahoo.com, 08037269329



GOODBYE! MY EXECUTIVE DRIVER

One day when I was working with Statesman Newspapers, Owerri published by the Imo State Government, the then Managing Director of the company, Mr. Livy Iwunze gave me a ride in his silver colour Mercedes Benz car. There was another passenger in the front seat before my arrival so I had to go to the back. I tried to keep a distance from the “owner’s corner” because Iwunze himself was driving but he ordered me to go over to the owner’s corner and have a nice time. He told me that one that one day I will buy a Mercedes car, even bigger than his own, but I may not have a quality driver like him, in his own word, “an executive driver.” That was “my executive driver” he had no airs around him. We felt like his inferiors were made to be relaxed when we are in his presence. No intimidation or harassment.

In those days of Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) Iwunze sent me to cover an event at the commission’s office along Orlu Road in Owerri; at the end of the assignment the commissioner gave me some money which I politely turned down and left. The commissioner felt slighted and called Iwunze and reported the insult from his reporter. Immediately I arrived the newsroom I was informed that the MD was looking for me. I was scared that that was my end in Statesman but when I got there he asked me to explain what took place. After my explanation he called the commissioner in my presence and he told the man that despite my size and age I did not represent myself but the corporate image of the company. He praised me for rejecting the money despite the fact that as at that time we were owed arrears of salaries and later gave me N500, which was about a quarter of my salary as a Level 7 staff then. He advised me that whenever and wherever I go as a reporter I should not think of myself as a mere reporter but as a representative of the organization I work for and this mentality I carry till date. And many have mistaken it for pride or arrogance.

Iwunze was a highly detribalized Nigerian though proud of his Igbo heritage. He loved the Igbo language and culture and was always ready to do anything that would enhance the Igbo race, language and culture. For non indigenes of Imo State, who were working in Statesman, he was our godfather. He always said that he would employ a good staff anytime, anyday no matter where the person is from. His argument was that there should be a proof that the non indigenes were incompetent and he would sack them. We were more than 10 non indigenes during his administration and they came from all parts of the country. This staffs were working at the company’s headquarters in Owerri. We were four Akwa Ibom indigenes working with the company as at that time.

A lover of education, Iwunze was always ready to assist anyone who wants to go to school. Most of the staff who worked in his office today has gone beyond the academic qualification they used in getting jobs there, especially those young staff who were working with their school certificates. He was always encouraging staff to seek more education. One day he called me into his office and asked why I am contented with a National Diploma in Mass Communication and suggested I should seek admission into Imo State University for a degree programme. I told him I will do something about it. After a while, he called me and threatened to sack me if I failed to go to the university. I was now forced to confess that I was already a third year student in the University of Uyo. He asked how I was coping and I told him that my editors allow me to go to Uyo from Mondays to Fridays and to return to Owerri for the weekends. And while in Uyo I will be filing stories. He was impressed and once in a while gave me money for transportation as well as created avenues for me to make extra money outside my salary. For this gesture I shall remain eternally grateful to him and the people of Imo State.

Back home in the University of Uyo, the reverse was the case; my late Head of Department and kinsman Dr. Bassey Umoh asked me to choose between working and going to school. Umoh and I are from the same Nung Ikpene group in Ibesikpo and when I missed one of his tests and approached him for a make up, he told me there is nothing he can do but to carry over the course. Umoh insisted that I cannot be carrying two things (work and school) and climb a ladder. You see it is not really where you come from.

I really did not get to know his family very well since they were staying in Lagos but I know he was fond of them. He loved his children with passion. He was always talking about his first daughter, Ada, who was student in one of the federal government colleges in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He was a consummate family man. Iwunze loved and cherished his family. They will surely miss him.

Sir, the obituary by your wife and children in Daily Champion of April 7, erased my doubts that you are dead after all. I thought your death was one of those wicked rumours that would soon be disproved. But my wish could not bring you back. Sorry sir, I could not keep my promise to you that anytime I am in Lagos I will pay homage. It is no longer possible for obvious reason. You are gone but you live in the lives of those of us you touched. I hate to say goodbye.

This is the season of death, from Iwunze to Ikunze. Last Saturday, April 5, our friend and colleague, Mr. Chris Ikunze of the Sun Newspapers, Port Harcourt office was buried in his village, Olokoro in Umuahia, Abia State. Chris died on Friday, February 8, 2008 when doctors at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital who were embarking on strike allegedly disconnected him from an oxygen support and discharged him from the hospital when he was not fit to walk. Is it proper for doctors to murder their patients just because they want to embark on strike to pursue their selfish interests? When the demands of the striking doctors are made have do they bring back the deaths that took place while they callously embarked on strike? What is the essence of taking the Hippocratic Oath when the lives of patients entrusted to their care no longer means anything to them? The life of one patient is worth more than all the needs, demands and wants of all Nigerian doctors put together. Life is of inestimable value and the doctors should know better. Maybe their daily encounters with death in the course of their jobs have erased their value for human life. Chris, my main man, the omnipresent Chris, goodnight!