By Lillian Okenwa
When doctors told him early January 2020 that he urgently needed a triple coronary artery bypass surgery, he was stumped. Yes, he had had a number of fainting spells but nothing prepared him for the news that his arteries were 99.9% blocked! The surgery was successful and by 19th of February, just weeks after the procedure, his entire chest wrapped in thick bandages, barely able to sit up, he marked his 52nd birthday.
Indeed, his life has been mired in many battles. Born at Idah, then under Kabba Province of Northern Nigeria and present day Kogi state in the thick of Nigeria’s civil war, the joy of his arrival was nearly marred. Not long after the happy proclamation, the unthinkable happened. Idah was bombed! Not surprisingly, he was named Ogwu, the Igala word for war.
Then on 25th April, 2019, his wife Mrs. Rosemary Onoja miraculously escaped death after gunmen riddled the SUV she was travelling in with over 30 bullets. She was going to represent him at a wedding in Dekina, Kogi State. About 30 pellets were later found inside the car.
And so when he began to feel sick again in January this year, Chief Ogwu James Onoja, Senior Advocate of Nigeria knew he needed a deeper conversation with his maker. The response he received got him dancing again. Hence his choice to spend the day with kids of Divine Wounds Of Jesus Christ Orphanage Home, Tunga Maje, along Zuba-Gwagwalada Express Way Abuja.
He spoke with Law & Society’s Lillian Okenwa.
L&S: Chief by this time last year, you were almost immobile, with huge bandages on your chest and leg.
Answer: This birthday is special for so many reasons. I celebrated that of last year while coming out of clinic; not fully healed, while still moving around with bandages and stitches, having undergone a heart operation.
My chest was sawed open. The heart was opened and joined too. Veins harvested from my left leg was used for the corrective surgery, so I couldn’t stand or sit. And if you looked closely at me, you will see that I was walking bent. I was in terrible in pains.
Seven days before this year’s birthday, I didn’t know I was going to walk. I was visiting the hospital for some other ailment that I couldn’t fathom, and suddenly, I got my healing so, I have all reasons to celebrate differently. I needed to focus on God and humanity this time around, because, I now see that every day I live is a bonus.
For the first time I’ve also began to realize that the human spirit is strong. It is what we agree to that will come upon us. I nearly gave up in January. I went to the hospital several times, but they kept saying, “We didn’t see anything.” I went again twice after and despite several tests, they sent me away saying they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I kept asking God, “Does it mean that, I’m going to be sick again on this birthday?” I said, “Ah, God, you cannot leave like this. I can’t be in bed again this time.” Seven days to my birthday, I felt a new energy. I don’t know how to thank God oooo!
I would have been long dead. I didn’t even know I will survive last year. It just shows the mercy and grace of God once again in my life, and in my family and in the lives of my friends and loved ones. God has kept me alive for a purpose, and I celebrated it differently by going to the Motherless Babies’ Home.
I celebrated it differently by giving glory more to God, and dancing my heart out like King David who showed gratitude to God both in dancing and in acts of kindness.
Last year there seemed to be no hope. This year, I have hope that I will live. For the first time, I saw a glimmer of hope that I was going to live a long life. God didn’t allow our enemies to laugh over us. God made us to show strength in a way that left our enemies wondering, because some of them had written us off.
Some people started withdrawing their files, saying that I’m always sick. They told me to my face, and then strength came from somewhere and I started dancing. They are now returning files so we thank God.
This 53rd birthday is particularly special because it is also an anniversary of a tumultuous year 2020 but God saw us through.
