The pain and joy of losing a dear mother in her old age: The Sufuyan Ojeifo exemplar

By Ejike-Umunnabuike, Jnr

On Friday, November 22, 2024, the remains of the late matriarch of the Ojeifo family, Mrs. Aishetu Ojeifo would be laid to rest. Her physical body begins a final journey to the ethereal realm in her native home, Agbede, in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State with a wake today, Thursday, November 21, 2024, at her residence in Owo, Ondo State, where she lived all of her married life and birthed her children, including youthful 58-year-old Sufuyan Ojeifo, one of her surviving children.

Though he is grappling with the pain of losing a dear mother, he also filled with joy that the spirit of his dearest mother lives and that he has been favoured by God to bury his mother and not the other way round.

On all contemplative and celebratory scores, he is right. It is only the physical frame of the mother he will never see on Mother Earth again, but as for her kind and essential spirit that speaks about her humaneness, Mama Aishetu certainly lives.

Sufuyan Ojeifo, whom I would easily describe as one of the finest brains, among the breed of brilliant, intelligent Nigerian media professionals, is a bundle of creativity and value – addition, in terms of the skillful application of knowledge, academic competencies, and deployment of descriptive wherewithal in consummating newsfeature writings and other narrative genres.

The spirit of her late mother, who was enamoured by his journalistic enterprise, helped to build his literary creativity and intellect as well as his passion for the profession.

His power of literary descriptions, in the rare and uncommon domain of literary traditions, is not only enthralling but also beyond description.

While Sufuyan Ojeifo, held sway at THISDAY NEWSPAPER, doubling as the Political Editor [Abuja] with coverage of the National Assembly {SENATE} under his purview, he displayed extraordinary instinctual capacities in news reportage and political analysis of events in the hallowed chambers of the Senate.

Sufuyan Ojeifo, barely had any form of physical interface with his senior editorial staff members or superiors, at THIS DAY NEWSPAPERS NEWS ROOM in Apapa, Lagos, other than via his email address from where juicy and well-researched exclusive stories, were turned in on a daily basis, most times dominating headlines.

What excited his editors were his very well crafted copies from Abuja that met every editorial criterion for easy and instant publication.

In all, the traits of creativity, including but not limited to emotional, cognitive investigative, social and native intelligence Infrastructure, were genetically transferred to this urbane man of all seasons, known as Sufuyan Isa Ojeifo by his mother, whom he so much loved, while growing up as a child, all through childhood, teenage-hood, early adulthood, middle-adulthood and currently, in his late 50s.

The late Madam Ashetu Ojeifo, by design rather than accident, chose very exceptional sociological tools of primary and secondary socialization-processes in shaping the mindset of this “big boy” called Sufuyan Ojeifo, who also had very good tutoring from the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi and Chief Tony Anenih, among significant others, who sharpened his responses to stimuli and unique approach to group dynamics, beyond the world of print journalism.

In all these experiences and lasting impressions in his journalism practice and career growth, Sufuyan Ojeifo enjoyed huge inspirational prompting from his late mother, from whom he occasionally sought brilliant alternative views over issues, values and norms that defined his daily reportorial engagements and experiences.

Madam Aishetu Ojeifo, who would constantly ask after little ” bomboy ” to know how he was fairing or doing, was a great influence on Sufuyan Ojeifo, explaining why you can classify him as one media top executive who is not just a refined, balanced and responsible personality but an individual whose word, you can take to the bank.

Like any other individual who is a product of the larger society, Sufuyan Ojeifo is no doubt pained by reason of losing his dear mother, even as knows that his mother’s spirit lives. His joy knows no bounds on this particular score.

May the soul of the faithfully departed nonagenarian Madam Aishetu Ojeifo, who enjoyed an amazingly graceful longevity and quality health, rest in peace.

Adieu, Mama Aishetu Ojeifo.

For your beloved son, Sufuyan Ojeifo, and his other siblings, your great spirit lives.
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■ Enyi Ejike-Umunnabuike Jr, is the editor of THE COSMOPOLITAN Nigeria Daily Online Newspaper.