Biography
Born in 1935 and died in the wee hours of April 6, 1992. He was an amiable, handsome gentleman with a great friendly disposition, and was loved by many. Our father belong to the second generation of the Okochas of Umudigbe extraction in Umuozoma, Ogbetiti - Isheagu.
He was an infant ophan and only child of his father, Modebe who passed away early in life and later to be followed by the death of his mother, Enuanoshue.
Consequently, he lived with and was raised by his Aunt (the father’s sister), Olili who was childless but adopted our father as her only son. When he came of age, he married from Umugbe, his angelic wife Katrina (the daughter of Odozie and only child of Amalienu) who passed on in Dec 2012.
They both had a fulfilled life nonetheless as they begat many children who as at the moment, have given them grand and great grandchildren. While here with us, he was fun to be with. Forthright and upright, bold, fearless and very courageous.
Ambrose Modebe only stood for what is just and very quick to condemn and speak against injustice, evenwhen people were afraid to speak up and fight for what is right. He bestrode like a collosus, standing up for the weak and the vulnerable.
Papa, as I fondly called him growing up from Ogharefe (where I was born) to Warri, and back home in Isheagu, was a man who tasted many parts of life and thrown up to travails, challenges and very difficult experiences. Most of those experiences were bitter and life threatening but he held on by the special grace of God, until his untimely passage in 1992.
He was part of the migration in the 50s and 60s to Sapele, Ologbo and Warri axis where many of our people made their living from AT&P and was only to return to Isheagu during the build up to the civil war.
On the 2nd of May 1968 when Isheagu was invaded by the Nigerian troops and massacred the young and able bodied men, I recal peeing on my sister, Ngozi who screemed in her innocense and my mother shut her up in a tensed, bezaire atmosphere of sporadic shooting through an agonising night. And at dawn, my father was ordered out of our hut for execution. He was shot and missed and I was to take the flying bullet (warhead) as a little child, walking out of the hut but it missed again and flew past my side in a flash.
It was a miracle for father and son.
Instantly, the troop leader changed his mind 360 degrees and ordered that my father be spared. They took him away and he was used for hard labour while they shot and killed his cousin Dominic Onyembu in our watchful eyes, just like they publicly executed others everywhere in Isheagu. Many fled across Iyete river to Ufesi in search of safety.
Here was a man who later escaped with wife and little children wading through river, swamps, forest and shrubs with kids strapped on the back and hanging on the neck to safely.
Destination was a hideout settlement named Olufekwe, a place that harboured many, just like Nzali and Maggi Camp. There in the jungle, it was a different kind of life. But by the grace of God, the man
and family survived. Then at the end of hostilities in 1970, news came the war had ended and Isheagu survivors made their way back with children to resettle in their ancestral homes and started over from the scratch. Picking up whatever was available to irk a living, my papa at some point became a Motor-Saw operator for the Timber business in addition to farming, fishing and hunting.
In 1974, another calamity befell this great man, but again he escaped the jaws of death. This time, a massive tree he hewed, crashed down heavily on him. He was taken with broken limbs to Isikiti Traditional Healing Home where the bone pieces and joints were mended, nursed and healed. Again, he survived to the glory of God.
Pa Ambrose Modebe was later employed into the then Bendel State Hospital Management Board and relocated with family to Benin city prior to becoming one of the pioneer staff on redeployment to the General Hospital Isheagu, upon its commissioning in 1976.
Here he had a settled life, and was quite comfortable. Papa was deeply involved in the affairs of Isheagu. He was a patriot who kept our customs and tradition but shunned and resisted idol worship, prevalent then in the land.
And he built up his offprings along that principle. A strong legacy we can never forsake or take for granted. He was a follower of Christ, upheld the Christian values, actively involved in the worship and service to God and the activities of the Catholic church. But death struck.
On the 5th of April 1992, my father went to Ubulukwu, representing the Catholic Church in Isheagu at an event. He returned in the evening and after serving him meal, husband and wife were relaxed outside the house, in the glare of the moonlight shone from above the heavens, in the serenity and calm of the night and the dew luring them to sleep.
Sprawling deep into the night, they rose and went back in and into the confines and comfort of the bed, and then he yielded to final sleep. Death came, the man struggled, the wife raised alarm, but God called him HOME! The medical report suggested heart failure.
And the reason lives must be protected from heart related attacks and High Blood Pressure, the reason I and my siblings are establishing AMBROSE MODEBE FOUNDATION in honor of his memory and to contribute to the work of saving humanity, touching the lives of the less privileged in our community and the society at large. He came, he planted as he pleased the Almighty, and because he did good deeds, his seeds bore good fruits and the fruits blossoms today and glowing.
So does this man’s name glow and his legacy enduring forever.
He is survived by 7 Children, 40 Grandchildren, 9 Great
grandchildren and counting…..I still miss you Papa, even as I miss that sound of your voice, when you call me “Austin Power”!
Keep resting Papa. You lived well and left an indelible, stainless imprints!
AUSTIN ONUWAEGBUNEM MODEBE