When news broke that Nollywood actor Muna Obiekwe had died, ace (former) broadcaster/producer Emma Ugolee disclosed that the calls that came to his phone that night were of concern to him. Speaking to Vanguard, Ugolee said, “Too many phone calls came that night only with everyone just checking to see how I was doing. It all made sense when news filtered in that Muna Obiekwe had just died from a disease I’ve battled for over three years now. The general concern being the psychological impact of being reminded of the likelihood of one’s demise owing to the unpredictable and deadly nature of living without a kidney.For closer friends, aware that I had lost 10 associates to this struggle. Three being in the last Three months and that each one lived with issues less complicated than mine. Calling me was like checking up on a pal on death row.”
Ugolee added that though he sees himself on death row,he isn’t sitting helplessly: “It’s no proof that I must toe a similar line. That I am not holier than those whose journeys have ended and thus wise enough to understand that logic does not explain the sustaining power of grace. The fact that a pattern surrounds you, does not mean your future has been moulded by it. Your faith, your vision, aspiration and motivation must tower above your environment all the time. What around you shakes your faith in you? What around you weakens your resolve to try? What tempts you to want to conform? Nothing, should be the only answer you know”.
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