I had waited for days to write this tribute because I believe in Jesus Christ and his redemptive nature, His resurrection powers and His abiding love for us mankind and just like Lazarus who rose from the dead 4 days later this scenario could play out here.
I was barely awake on Saturday morning 27 July 2024 when my wife said to me “I think something happened to Ifeanyi Ubah, I’m seeing the news that he is dead but I blurted out..stop it, and turned on my side to continue sleeping, then I heard the distress from her voice “I think Ifeanyi is dead” !!!
In late 2007, after Rt Hon Dimeji Bankole was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, a few of us were in his entourage to visit his home state of Ogun State. The first stop was the Government House where we were to meet the then Governor Gbenga Daniel.
We were seated in the living room waiting for the Governor to arrive, I had wanted to get something I forgot in the car so I came outside and I heard someone say “Obi kedu?”
I looked back and I saw a young man, average height, stocky and brown in complexion, and I wondered aloud what this Igbo man was doing in Ogun State Government House, he laughed and said with self-assured confidence, my name is … “Ifeanyi Ubah Capital oil” (and this is how I saved his name on my phone till this day!) as if I should know who he is…! I didn’t know but asked what he was doing there and he said he came with someone from Lagos on our entourage but was told only Honorable members can go in.
Also, with self-assured confidence…I told him to come in with me but he refused saying he didn’t want any embarrassment. I insisted whilst assuring him no one will.
As we came into the room, I saw an empty chair and I told him to sit, not realising that the Hon member sitting there went to ease himself and when he came back the guy was furious and even questioned Ifeanyi for being there…Ifeanyi looked at me and said … “Obi okwa m gwa gi agwa”! (Obi I told you…) I quickly calmed everyone down and gave Ifeanyi my seat and the staff there was asked to get me another chair and he sat in that meeting with the Governor and Honorable members!
When we got back to Lagos, driving up the driveway to Eko Hotel, I saw Ifeanyi in front of the hotel, more like directing traffic, giving out orders to drivers and other people around him and I said to myself who is this ubiquitous guy! It was later that evening that I learnt that almost all the cars in the convoy to Ogun State were owned by him and he paid for all the rooms we stayed in at Eko Hotel for that courtesy visit.
That was the beginning of our friendship with one of the most generous beings I have come to know whom I fondly called Agu. Sometime in 2008 my younger brother Bishop Sam Chidoka, CEO of Kairos Capital, whose company was then, UBA Global Markets had a meeting with Capital Oil and during the introductions, Ifeanyi asked him if he was related to me, he then sent a message through him to me afterwards.
It was after Bishop Sam told me of his encounter with Ifeanyi that I visited him at Capital Oil depot in Apapa and I saw the expansive behemoth of oil & gas operations he was sitting on! It was a massive, well-run operation which was expanding rapidly.
We hit it off quickly and almost daily we get to the depot at about 11 am and don’t leave till 2 am. It then dawned on me that Ifeanyi was a workaholic with little sleep. There are too many stories to share but I will narrate a few.
I recall visiting his depot at Suleja, Niger State. We had barely slept the previous night and early in the morning we set out for Suleja, halfway through the trip the driver said he was sleepy and Ifeanyi decided to drive the car, by the time he got to the depot, myself, his staff and the driver of the car were all asleep, he woke us up and we did the inspection, after which he drove to Abuja Airport we boarded a chartered plane to Lagos and headed straight to his office in Apapa.
I remember the late Chief Ojo Maduekwe as Foreign Affairs Minister, asked me to look for a businessman who will be on his entourage to Canada. Without hesitation, I suggested Ifeanyi.
They went on that trip and Chief Ojo was impressed at his knowledge of the oil & gas sector during his meetings with the Canadian business community. Ifeanyi was very elated that he was part of the Government delegation and told anyone who cared to listen, that meant that the Government bought him a ticket and he was entitled to a stipend referred to as estacode. He will later confide in me that, that was the first time anyone, in this case the Government spent their money on him, he was the one always spending money on others!
After our traditional wedding in Awka in 2009, Ifeanyi drove my wife and me in his Rolls Royce from Awka to Obosi. I remember seeing the picture we took that evening in Obosi in his house in Lagos.
I remember asking Agu how come he spoke fluent French and he told me the story of how he arrived in Congo as a young man with only a polythene bag and through hard work had a meteoric rise to prominence with access to the then President Kabila. He told me a lot of stories about his life and times in the Congo which I cannot share here. He told me of his ordeal and very near-death experience after the assassination of President Kabila and how he miraculously survived a well-orchestrated plan to eliminate him due to his closeness to the late President.
I guess Ifeanyi had an interest in politics, judging from the numerous visits he got from politicians and those he supported with a lot of money but didn’t show it initially until sometime towards the 2013 Gubernatorial elections in Anambra State. So, on this given day he told me about his plans to contest for the Gubernatorial elections and gave the instance of those he had supported but who had disappointed him in getting elected.
For me, it wasn’t a very difficult stance to take as I told him not to join partisan politics and honestly didn’t think he should contest especially as he has a thriving business and with the benefit of hindsight I don’t think his political achievements could have outweighed his emerging enterprise…!
But that was the turning point in our friendship.
And so, for many years we parted ways only to reconnect now and then and one such reconnection was on Sunday, March 3, 2024. Ifeanyi, my brother Osita Chidoka (Ike Obosi) my kids, myself and Vin Onyeka boarded the same flight from Asaba to Abuja, I invited him to the Sunday brunch at my restaurant Citro Abuja and we all had a great time, we had varied discussions about life, Nigerian politics and US politics. We had such a great afternoon that we all agreed to meet again but this time at Osita’s dining table where we have a tradition of having lunch with friends, with loads of arguments and discussions Sunday evenings.
Unfortunately, that Sunday evening with Ifeanyi will not hold anymore, not in this earth life. In my sober reflection, I look at death and say… death don’t do it, don’t do it but Death did it…! And there goes Ifeanyi Ubah my friend and brother who like any other mortal had his flaws but whom I will always remember as one of the kindest souls I know!
Good night Ifeanyi Ubah Capital Oil.
Hon Chidoka – Ife Idemili
Former House of Representatives Member for Idemili North & South Federal Constituency of Anambra State.
