Media personality Chude Jideonwo has paid respect to the late singer, songwriter, and actress Onyeka Onwenu.
In a post on his Instagram page, he revealed that he had spent the whole day crying like a baby as he was still shocked, stunned, and speechless. He said he couldn’t remember the last time his heart broke this hard.
Aunty… I have spent the whole of the day crying like a baby. I am still shocked. I am still stunned. I am speechless. I cannot remember the last time my heart broke this hard.”
In another lengthy post, he recounted his memories with the deceased and how he was besotted with her. He revealed that he was in secondary school when he discovered Onyeka Onwenu. According to him, he didn’t discover her from her songs ‘One Love’ or ‘Dancing in the Sun,’ but from ‘Greatest Love,’ which he still considers the most beautiful song he has ever heard. He added that he saw her in the music video telling the testimony of finding Christ and finding peace, and something about the woman on the pulpit made him fall in love.
The media personality said he fell helplessly, recklessly, and abundantly in love with and obsessed with her. He disclosed that he bought every one of her tapes, begged his aunties to take him to every concert, and watched every interview he could find of her, as he adored her.
He had the opportunity to meet her when he became a producer of New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda in 2002, and she was one of the first guests he invited. He admitted that though she wasn’t warm, she was polite and professional, which he loved.
I was in secondary school when I discovered Onyeka Onwenu.
I didn’t discover her from ‘One Love’ or ‘Dancing in the Sun,’ which my parents, like everyone else across Nigeria, loved. Even ‘Ekwe,’ over which my father and I often bonded, came later.
No, I discovered her with ‘Greatest Love,’ which I still consider to be the most beautiful song I ever heard. I saw her in the music video telling the testimony of finding Christ and finding peace, and something about the woman on the pulpit made me fall in love.
I fell hopelessly, recklessly, abundantly in love with her. I was obsessed with her. I bought every tape of hers, begged my aunties to take me to every concert, and watched every interview I could find. I adored her.
I was besotted.
When I became the producer of New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda in 2002, she was, of course, one of the first guests I invited. She wasn’t warm, but as always, she was polite and professional. I didn’t care. To just be talking to her on the phone was a dream come true.
When she arrived at the studio in NTA Tejuoso, used to huge egos, I asked her: ‘How should I address you, ma?’ She said, ‘Just call me Onyeka Onwenu.’ Even the way she said it sounded like music.
It is one of the greatest honours of my life that I called Onyeka Onwenu aunty, and she saw me as one of hers. It was a great honour to be in her presence, to see her smile, to see her dance, to have her lean on me literally and figuratively, to send and receive gifts from her, to hear her sing, to dine with her, to gaze at her, to watch her live.
To watch her glide through the world, luminous as she was despite Nigeria’s many attempts to kill her light.
I loved her. I love her. I was obsessed with her.
Besotted.
I could never stop loving her.”
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