“Captain ‘Hosa never dies”: Fitting and enduring funeral theme song, by Sufuyan Ojeifo

On Thursday, August 8, 2024, at exactly 3.36 pm, the publisher of VeracityDesk online newspaper, Mr Emmanuel Ajibulu, adverted my attention to a documentary on Arise TV on my late big brother, Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo, fondly referred to by those of us who were close to him as Captain Hosa. Not only did he advert my attention, he also sent me the link with which to watch the documentary. It was a well-produced documentary that bore the imprimatur of my friend and brother, Akpata Omoruyi, the managing director of Creative Signals. Creative Signals handled documentaries and advertisements especially TV adverts for Captain Hosa’s Ocean Marine Solution (OMS). Captain Hosa retained Omoruyi Akpata’s Creative Signals because the company’s productions were always topnotch. To be sure, Captain Hosa had an exquisite taste and was not ready to settle for the ordinary or the routine. He believed in the creativities or ingenuities that verged on value additions. He was sui generis businessman -in a class by himself. He was intrepid even as he was sharply focused on innovative approaches. He was always thinking out of the box to provide answers to existential questions that ramified the socio-economic and political landscape. He intervened in very utilitarian modus in different sectors–marine, aviation, hotel and hospitality, agriculture, broadcasting, security for movement of crude oil– with his eyes sharply focused on building legacy projects.

Captain Hosa had a fastidious identity-restlessly upping his ante for the best: the best of work ethic, service delivery, compassion, and above all, the best of life. He led from the front in all of his businesses–not an absentee Chief Executive Officer who just threw money into ventures for others to manage. His presence was a recurring decimal on the premises of the five-star Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Asokoro District of Abuja. He once conducted some editors round the hotel whose majesty remains awe-inspiring. A question that could not escape essential contemplation was: how could an individual build, single-handed, this architectural masterpiece worthy only of Ozymandias? But he had since laid to rest concerns about the conception, funding and consummation of the legacy hotel project. At the inauguration of the hotel, which was done by Professor Yemi Osinbajo while in the saddle as vice president, Captain Hosa had said that he completed the legacy project without obtaining a loan or an overdraft from any financial or banking institutions. He, however, hinted that he sold one of his private jets at a point to ensure the completion of the multi-billion-naira hotel. Upon reflections, this underscored the shrewd nature of the African business titan. With the hotel completed, he added value to the hospitality and hotel business in Abuja.

Consider yet another legacy project: Hosa Greenhouse Farms in Benin. The multi-million-dollar venture was going to be a game changer of sorts in food production for both local consumption and export. He had already factored the logistics of export into the master-plan of the farm to include an airstrip where planes could land and take off to evacuate the farm produce. When he died on August 08, 2021, the farm had yet to achieve optimal performance but, not to worry, the management of the farm is in the hands of Mr Kingsley Okunbo. Captain Hosa had got his younger brother involved in the farm business while alive. I remember the day he connected Kingsley and I together on phone. We spoke and would meet for the first time in 2021 during the burial of Captain Hosa in Benin.

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Significantly, the remains of Captain Hosa were laid to rest in his Mausoleum on the greenhouse farm. Again, even in death and in the matter of his funeral, Captain Hosa was involved and ensured it (funeral) had a touch of class. A grapevine had hinted of how, during his battle with pancreatic and liver cancer, for twelve months, even though the doctors had given him just nine months to live, he had the divine privilege to prepare for the final home call. He reconciled with His creator-the Almighty God. He put his house in order, including his involvement in his burial: where he should be buried and how he should be buried. According to the grapevine, he deposited the mega funds for his burial in an account and appointed two trustees to authorize payments or expenditures.

At the burial in Benin, even though my tears refused to dry, I was happy with the celebration of the life and times of the man whose generosity brought happiness and joy to the lives of thousands of people. The settings, the atmospherics and the nuances of the entire celebrations reinforced the essence of Calpurnia’s postulation in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caeser”, to wit: “when beggars die, there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.” The very solemn night of tributes, sans razzmatazz, offered very profound and moving moments to interrogate once again the life and times of Captain Hosa through his legacies and, equally importantly, his eleemosynary act that found anchorage in his brand of a dependable philanthropist. The theme song for the night of tributes was a magnum opus and I wondered whether that too had the imprimatur of Captain Hosa when he was battling cancer in London. Every line of the song communicated significant messages to the distinguished audience at the event. In a piece I wrote, entitled: “‘Hosa never dies’: Truly and phenomenally so”, which was published in THE CONCLAVE edition of December 29, 2021, I reproduced the lyrics of the theme song in extenso. Read through them hereunder and also listen to the song that is uploaded in the body of this piece:

“Eeeeh eeeh eeh

“There is a home in the sky, far above the deep blue horizon

“Where you contnue to fly to a place where your spirit never dies;

“This isn’t farewell,

“I ‘ll see you again, b’cos good men never die;

How do I start to tell the world the story?

How do I write this beautiful journey?

Words are not enough; there is no time at all

But this isn’t farewell; I’ll see you again

Tears may fall; I know you’re with God;

I know it is well

I’ll dry my eyes; I’ll remember your smile

I know it is well with WELLS

You gave your all and you answered the call

I know it is well

This isn’t farewell; I’ll see you again

Tears may fall; I know you are with God

I know it is well

I’ll dry my eyes; I ‘ll remember your smile

I know it is well with WELLS

Captain, you gave your all; and you answered the call

I know it is well

So, this isn’t farewell; and I ‘ll see you again

HOSA NEVER DIES!

Captain lives on forever (6x).”

***Theme song composed and rendered by Peter at Captain ‘Hosa’s funeral***

Permit me to also paraphrase my piece under reference: The above lyrics eternally capture the breezy life and times of the late business mogul, Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo, who passed on August 8, 2021 at the age of 63 and was buried on October 8, 2021 in his iconic multimillion dollar mausoleum constructed on his equally iconic multimillion dollar Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farm in Benin City. Both icons-the first architectural and the second agricultural-exemplify the panache, standard and taste for which Captain ‘Hosa was known.

The beautiful lyrics and the phenomenal stage rendition of the theme song would have received Captain ‘Hosa’s approbation if he were to be alive to appraise the singer and his rendition, of course, on a different occasion.

The qualities adumbrated in the opening paragraph- panache, standard and taste- reflected in all of Captain ‘Hosa’s endeavours and accomplishments-his iconic multibillion naira Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Abuja; his architectural masterpieces scattered across the world; his enigmatic combination of business acumen with splendor, which manifested in the acquisition of fifty-two vessels on the high sea in the fleet of Ocean Marine Solutions (OMS) with which crude oil was securely ferried to the nation’s refineries, in addition to being deployed in securing the pipelines and two private jets (which he later diverted to one of his numerous companies -Gyro Air- in expansion of his business empire), and so many other areas that have his imprimatur and Midas touch even in death.

That Captain ‘Hosa’s taste, style and panache reflected in the song and the entire burial remains an eternal credit to his progeny who synergized among one another and worked in concert with their uncles, Captain ‘Hosa’s elder and younger siblings, to accomplish a phenomenal funeral.

The totality of the funeral was simply phenomenal. It speaks to the phenomenal personality that Captain ‘Hosa was while with us. He was phenomenal in compassion, hospitality, giving, and in loyalty to friendship. This certainly explains the phenomenal convergence on Benin City by family members, friends and business associates to accord phenomenal respects to him. I was on ground in Benin to pay my last respects and honour to a man that offered me remarkable supports. He did the same for so many others, both the rich and the poor…I thank God for the life and times of Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo. I thank God for the phenomenal legacies he left behind. I thank God for his phenomenal family. I thank God for his phenomenal memories that continue to live in my heart. I thank God that he gave Captain ‘Hosa to humanity. I thank God for the grace he gave him to define his eon with the magnitude of his phenomenal accomplishments after which he took a bow and exited the stage, yes, he took an exit, but did not die. And, it is on this score that I am consensus ad idem with Peter and his group who composed the theme song: “Hosa Never Dies” that Captain Hosa, indeed, lives forever.

The documentary aired on Arise TV on August 8, 2024 to mark the third year of his death, was a measure of his outstanding and astounding identity, including a signification of the excellence that he stood for in his life and times. And, beyond the documentary and the celebratory externalities is the pragmatism of the philosophical offering by a Scottish poet, Thomas Campbell (July 27, 1777-June 15, 1844): “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” Captain Hosa is not dead! He lives on, yes, forever in my heart, our hearts.

■ Sufuyan Ojeifo, Member of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, is publisher and editor-in-chief of THE CONCLAVE.