Kanayor Sunday Obuekwe

ISI-ICHIE KPAKPANDO NA HOUSTON

November 27, 1949 - February 29, 2020

Isi-Ichie Kanayor Sunday Ifeanyichukwu Obuekwe (Kpakpando Awka) was the only son of late Chief Gabriel Osita (Akwudolueze) and late Mrs Joy Ifeoma Obuekwe (Uno-Enu) of Umuogbu, Awka, Anambra State Nigeria.

The story of Kanayor Obuekwe makes an interesting reading. His trajectory of life traversed several and diverse milestones, and it is imperative, therefore, that the story of this gregarious human be told well; well enough as an honor to him, for he had penchant for doing things primly, and more so, to be a legacy for all and sundry.

Schooling

Born in Gusau, North-Western Nigeria, nearly seventy-one years ago, on Sunday, November 27, 1949, Kanayor successfully waded through infancy, grew up to school age strong and promising. He read through nine years of elementary school at Ibo Union School, Gusau, 1955 through 1963. In January 1964, Kanayor began secondary schooling at Ibo Union Grammar School, Kafanchan, in present-day Kaduna State. Kanayor’s promising trajectory was, nevertheless, cut short in 1966, following the civil disobediences that led to the Nigerian civil war. Kanayor returned to his home region of Eastern Nigeria with his parents in May of that year, and he no sooner got back to secondary school at Anglican Grammar School, Oraukwu, but in January 1967, he transferred to Ibo National College (IBONACO) Aba. Schooling for him, like for every other pupil in Eastern Nigeria, was again truncated in May 1967, as a result of the impending shooting war between Nigeria and Biafra, which eventually began on July 6, 1967;

The War and Aftermath

Kanayor was drafted into the Biafran Army in 1968, and fought as a light artillery gunner under the country's 1st. Infantry Division in Okigwe. In 1970, when the war ended, Kanayor got back to secondary school at Comprehensive Secondary School, Nawfia, in present-day Anambra State, where he wrote the West African Schools Certificate Examination, passing colorfully in the top grade. He played soccer and did a bit of track and field at the school. From January 1972 to November 1973, Kanayor did Higer School at Merchants of Light School, Oba, in Idemili area of present-day Anambra State of Nigeria. With the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, he became qualified to go to any university of his choice in Nigeria without writing the concessional entrance examination, but Kanayor preferred to study in the United States. So, in the interim, he took up an auxiliary teaching job at St. George's Grammar School, Obinomba, later at Community Secondary School in Obiaruku, both in Midwestern Nigeria.

In the United States

In November 1977, Kanayor jetted out to the US, admitted at Grambling State University (GSU) in Louisiana to study Business, majoring in Accounting. He received his Baccalaureate in a record time and went on to do a Master's degree in Accounting at University of Houston. With both qualifications, Kanayor seemed to be home and dry with tertiary learning. He hit the labor market and found many things to do, wading through the ups and downs and twists and turns of a working career in the United States with equanimity and a steely resolve to succeed.

He got his breakthrough at Best Recovery Healthcare, where he worked for several years. At inception, when the clinic, as an upstart facility, seemed incapable of breaking into reckoning. Kanayor’s positivity helped uplift the place. Kanayor took the bull by the horn, went to town to 'sell' the clinic, and boom, Best Recovery hit the ground running. Nevertheless, working for Best Recovery opened the way for Kanayor. Ultimately, when he began his own clinic, Absolute Healthcare in 1999, the place was immediately catapulted into reckoning. He put his vast experience to bear on the clinic, and Absolute Healthcare went on to bigger things before long, expanding and opening up its coverage to a wider scope. Kanayor, no doubt, was headed to the top, and there he remained till his demise, but Absolute Healthcare will surely stay on.

Sociality:

Kanayor, the septuagenarian, was a distinguished showbiz personality; a social guru, and a socialite of no small measure. He began socializing from his cradle, and was imbued with exceptional traits, all of which bore testimonies of his goodness. He was remarkably gregarious, ebullient and boisterous. His ability to court and enter into friendships, and keep them for 'eternity', so to speak, was exceptional, the reason for which he was able to keep and sustain relationships with persons like Goody Achebe, CY and Chukwuma Uchendu, the Nwankwos of Awa: Ogbonnia, Ogugua, and Obuekwe, and Joseph (Dan Beki) Okonkwo (Offiadiulu), all of which began at primary school in Gusau in the 1950s; and Vince and Udealor Nweke, Jeun Jeun Ken Chinweze, in the days after the Nigerian Civil War, as well as Obi and Okey Nweke by reason of consanguineous ties.

Kanayor was no less effervescent in the United States, especially at Houston, where he with Anambra citizens of like minds pioneered the Ndi-Ichie Cultural Club, in reminiscence of the Anambra Igbo tradition and cultural heritage. Kanayor led the club four times as its president, and was meritoriously honored with the highest hierarchical order of the club, Isi-Ichie. In 1994, indigenes of Awka in United States and Canada came together to form a Union (Awka Union, United States and Canada), and Kanayor became the president of the Union in Houston, and to wit, President-General (PG) of the Union. In his hometown of Awka, Nigeria, he took a high status traditional titleship, Ajaghilija, by which he was entitled to wear the red cap attached with one quill feather of the hawk. His was entitled to be known with four titular names, but Kanayor was more commonly known with Ifemelunma and Kpakpando.

On a similar note, Kanayor was great in philanthropy. He never hesitated in sharing his largesse with people. He was remarkable in doling out dashes to friends and relatives in Awka and elsewhere, many times without the beneficiaries asking for it. He trusted almost everyone that had a dealing with him, placing the people's interest far above his own, and never counted the costs.

Religiosity and Matrimony

Kanayor was a Christian of Anglican persuasion, a front-line member of Our Saviour Anglican Church (OSAC), Houston, Texas, USA. Even though he did not quite make it in his first marriage with Nkiru Chukwuogo, also of Awka, he was, nevertheless, a good family man. Mention need be made of that union, through which Kanayor had a daughter, Chioma, before the marriage became estranged. In December 1993, Kanayor married the tall and elegant Rose Ezenagu, who also hailed from Awka. Rose joined Kanayor in the United States in 1994, and on April 10, 1996, the union was blessed with a son, the ebullient Ikenna Kanayochukwu Obuekwe, whom Kanayor fondly called Clinton, after the enigmatic American President Bill Clinton.

Ikenna is a replica of his father, a chip off the old block. Tall and big, Ikenna, the son, became the dad's alter ego, so to speak, to the extent that both of them seemed to be inseparable. Kanayor splashed so much love on Ikenna, and always took him anywhere he went: fishing, office and to dine in exclusive restaurants. Ikenna, no doubt, must have felt the void created by his dad's demise, when he turned twenty-four years, forty-one days after his father passed on. Nevertheless, it is certain that the young lad will fill that emptiness with the strength of his dad.

Ill-Health and Passing on

Like the Trojan he was, Kanayor battled the health challenges that befell him since 1990 with all the strength and courage in him. For thirty years, he fought off debilitating conditions, which could easily have incapacitated anyone. He lived quite a good life, notwithstanding his health issues. Kanayor displayed the tenacity to wade through the odds, and had the will to conquer, and truly, he did. Even when it was apparent that his clock of life was ticking down fast, he continued to show the zeal to pull through. Painfully, Kanayor passed on gracefully at 6:30 am, (Houston time) on February 29, 2020. God Bless his Soul! Kanayor will be missed by all his friends all over the world, his nieces, cousins, nephews, his in-laws. Kanayor will be greatly missed by his wife Rose Nkem Obuekwe, his son Ikenna Obuekwe, daughter Chioma Obuekwe and his sisters, Rose Nnechi(RN), Mercy, Priscillia, and Manari.