TIME TO RETIRE THE JERSEY – TRIBUTE TO MAZI JONAS OKORO OBIOHA

“Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead,
Scribbling on the sky the message; He is Dead”. Funeral Blues, W. H Auden.

Stately, debonair, bon viveur, avuncular, captain, team player, gracious, KIND. These
are the phrases that spring to mind, as I think of Mazi Jonas Okoro Obioha.
I recall meeting him properly for the first time when the Adure and Onyima Obioha
Foundation built and commissioned a borehole and civic centre in NdiUcheagwu,
village, Imo State, almost 20 years ago.
There he was, this large, imposing figure of a man, but with a kindness and grace that
belied his role as head of the entire Obioha family.
No event was too small or unimportant for him to attend; no individual was too
insignificant for him to stop and say hello.
Mazi Jonas was a team player and a captain’s captain. He knew how to rally the
troupes to get the best from each player, always leading from the front, by example.
Simple as the air he breathed and the ground he walked on, Mazi didn’t need titles, nor
trappings or trimmings to prop himself up. No, his was a carefree, firm and steady gait
of self-assuredness, dignity and pedigree.
The entire Obioha family of AroNdizuogu have lost a great and illustrious son.
The Adure and Onyima Obioha Foundation has lost a staunch supporter and advocate.
I have lost a senior friend, no more will my phone ring and “Nne nda?” be heard on the
other end.

My condolences to his immediate family and the Obioha family at large.
May our fond memories of Mazi help to cushion the pain of this great loss. Amen.

Ifeoma Nwagbogu
Administrator – The Adure and Onyima Obioha Foundation