By Sonnie Ekwowusi
He was one of the few unapologetic and unwavering conversationalists I have ever met. He was a big man, both in stature and in ideas. He walked big. He talked big, in consonance with his surname, Okwuosa (the people’s speaker). In fact, he was such an unstoppable and passionate speaker that he could go on speaking, unmindful that all his listeners had walked away.
Although he sometimes fell quiet, seemingly in deep recollection, it was only to wake up faster and roar once again like a lion pouncing upon ideas. That was Jerry for you.
Jerry, unarguably, easily fits the estimation of many as a Renaissance man. First and foremost, there is the sheer scope of Jerry’s intellectual kingdom. Politics, science, the war against children, marriage counseling, the sexualization of school pupils, abortion, contraceptives, and community building—Jerry roamed large, navigating these territories with confidence and authority. And even more.
The sudden death of Jerry hits us hard. For us, his comrades-in-arms at the Project for Human Development (PHD), which he co-founded, as well as his professional colleagues and friends, this is the kind of loss that tilts the world off its balance. So many things that defined our world will never be the same. We have not only lost a great friend but also one of the great warriors in the epic battle between the culture of life and the culture of death.
The loss of Jerry has created a void in our world; we cannot see how anyone could fill it. How could it that we’ll never have those seemingly unending conversations in the public square on how abortion has killed so many uncountable babies more than those killed in any war and the corruption of Nigeria’s secondary school curricula to include teaching our children how to do abortion, how to do masturbation, breast enlargement, how to do permanent sterilization, how to engage in so-called safe-sex , how to touch their genitals and say: “ love you” all an open classroom, all in the name of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and other variegated issues, at times, conversations embellished with wounding innuendoes and sophism, with Jerry moderating with gravitas and fraternal affection. And then there were those variegated issues—at times, conversations embellished with wounding innuendoes and sophistry—with Jerry moderating with gravitas and fraternal affection.
Jerry possessed a somewhat missionary zeal—a fervor for argument and conversation in defense of the sanctity of human life from birth to natural death. Most knew him as a retired Nigerian Tobacco Company engineer, but only a few had witnessed him in his full extempore glory. He spoke passionately about the value of the unborn child, created in the image of God. He effortlessly pulled together all the threads he had carefully spun over decades of traveling to advocate for the imperative of saving the lives of the unborn.
For years, Jerry and I had traveled across the South, speaking in public secondary schools, Catholic seminaries, tertiary institutions, rural communities, and public places where abortion was being promoted. I remember the lectures we delivered at SS Peter & Paul Major Seminary in Ibadan and how, afterward, many seminarians—thrilled by our presentations—gathered around us, reluctant to let us leave. I also recall our trip to Osun State, where we spoke to a large number of secondary school boys and girls, much to the delight of their teachers.
We were also invited by several banks to speak to their staff. One day, a man visited our office and confided in us that he had committed incest—that he had impregnated his own daughter. Jerry took him aside and gently told him that, although what he had done was shameful, he still could not ask his daughter to abort the child, as every child that comes into the world is destined by God for something great. Even though the man did not take the advice well, we did not believe he ultimately allowed his daughter to have an abortion.
I remember our memorable visit to Abuja by road. An international abortion conference was taking place at the then Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. For obvious reasons, we were not invited, but we vowed to attend. Because we did not have money to travel by air, we traveled by road.
Upon arriving in Abuja, we slept at the motor park because we had no money for food, let alone lodging in a hotel. As I said, we slept at the motor park. The next morning, we went to Sheraton Hotel, the venue of the conference. Seeing the array of distinguished attendees, including many professors of law from different parts of the world, we initially thought our presence at the conference would not have any meaningful impact. But we prayed. After praying, we proceeded to the magnificent hall where the conference was in progress.
All the dignitaries were seated. The Honorable Minister of Health and other resource persons were on the high table. I don’t know what came over me, but I remember walking slowly to the high table through the aisle, picking up the microphone placed on the table, and incoherently shouting, “This abortion conference will fail! Abortion is illegal in Nigeria!”
When I finished speaking, Jerry also walked up to the high table, took the microphone, and said something similar. All eyes were on us amid the heavy silence that enveloped the hall. We were nobodies. We were not even invited to the conference. They could have easily instructed the police present to arrest us for disrupting their event.
The interesting part was that, during lunch, they sent a lady to invite us to eat with them, but we told her that we would not dine with abortionists.
Anyway, to cut the long story short, the three-day international abortion conference ended abruptly without a communiqué, meaning that the conference was a massive failure. On the last day of the event, there was an altercation between me and one of the organizers, which escalated into a minor scuffle, forcing the chairman to order the conference closed. Enraged that we had ruined their international gathering, the organizers wanted to deal with us, but some pro-life Muslims at Sheraton Hotel threatened that if they dared touch us, they would set Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, on fire. That was how we escaped being beaten or even arrested and handed over to the police.
That was the kind of audacity and courage that fueled our struggle to promote fundamental values. Jerry had a great capacity to argue in defense of the truth. I remember him tirelessly and painstakingly explaining to a young girl that any pill a woman takes to stop pregnancy has fifty adverse effects on her body.
The last public lecture Jerry and I delivered before his passing was at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos. We were invited to LUTH to speak to medical students about why they must not perform abortions after graduating from medical school. As usual, Jerry masterfully and professionally delivered the lecture.
Jerry loved pro-life advocacy and being counted among the anti-abortion crusaders. It pained him that uncountable innocent babies were murdered in their mothers’ wombs. The public square can be a dangerous and forbidding place for people like Jerry, who sought to protect the lives of the unborn. Even though ROE V WADE has been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, the day when every unborn child is protected by law and welcomed in life is still far off.
For example, here in Nigeria, even though abortion is illegal, the crime is committed mindlessly every minute. Sad. But we shall not be weary. We shall not rest.
In St. John’s Gospel, St. Martha professes her faith in Jesus Christ as “the Resurrection and the Life.” We, too, profess that faith, and we eagerly long to hear from our Lord Jesus Christ the words He said to Martha: “Your brother will rise again.” We need to be consoled by those words. Only those divine words allow us to live with joy and hope amid the sorrow and anguish of losing a loved one.
We close the eyes of our brother Jerry. Already, our own eyes are blurred with tears. We close his as we set out for the grave. We pray that his eyes may open in heaven, amid the joy of countless unborn children whom he had saved in his anti-abortion crusades, upon the glory of the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the great eternal bliss where there is unending peace, joy, and fellowship.
