Onyeka Onwenu.

 

Nigeria’s Veteran Entertainer and musician who just turned 70yrs, Onyeka Onwenu took her time last year to share her thought on burials and how she would like to be buried when she eventually die.

According to her, and her opinion was necessitated by the lavish burial ceremony occationed by the passing of the mother of businessman and philanthropist, Obinna Iyiegbu, also known as Obi Cubana. Innyom Ezinne Uche Iyiegbu in Oba, Anambra State in July of 2021.

She says, I told a friend just days before the most outrageous burial of Innyom Ezinne Uche Iyiegbu in Oba, Anambra State in July that I had given my family instructions as to how to bury me when my time comes. Do it quickly, quietly and privately. Celebrate me with prayers, lunch or dinner afterwards. Share some jokes about me and laugh. Mourn, yes but not excessively. Make merriment and then go about your business. If my friends want to celebrate me, they should do so while I am alive so that I can enjoy it with them, not when I am gone and have no idea. That is me Onyeka Onwenu.

My mother on the other hand wanted a different burial and I promised to give her what she wanted. On her hospital bed, just three days before she passed away, I reinforced that promise – it was important to her and she died knowing that I would keep my word. Hope Onwenu’s burial was nothing like what took place in Oba, but it was elaborate and pretty expensive. Still I had the satisfaction that I kept my promise.