What started as a grand reception in celebration of the 70 years birthday of an in-law soon turned into a mourning moment for a man who decided to appreciate his father-in-law, as he in turn lost own father later in the day.
In the sundown of Saturday 30 November 2019, while merry making and clinking of glasses was ongoing, amidst expression of good wishes to the family of Pa Sylvester Ojobo, the father-in-law of Uchenna Maxwell at his family house located at NTA road in Port Harcourt, the news of the death of Uchenna’s father filtered in, punctuating the good mood that had prevailed.
Uchenna Maxwell, a civil engineer with a construction firm had decided with his wife, Lizzy to roll out the drums in celebration of his father-in-law’s 70 years, more so, following the latter’s escape in a fatal motor accident on his return from his home town in Benin in March, 2019.
According to our source, who is a close family relation, Uchenna and his wife started out on the fateful day staging a befitting party for the old man and it was all cheers as celebration both at home and on the Facebook where messages of goodwill went viral with the family receiving good wishes from friends and acquaintances.
We gathered that while everything had been set and cutting of the birthday cake had taken place, amidst dancing and clinking of glasses Maxwell got an emergency phone call that required his attention at about 6:15 pm.
Aware of the implications of the tone of the message he received , Maxwell was said to have exercised courage as a man not to ‘spoil the show’ but signalled to his wife Lizzy , whose father they were celebrating. According to our source, after an hour had gone since her husband left the party, Lizzy became agitated , even after she had called without being able to connect with the husband on the network.
At this point, Lizzy,(Maxwell’s wife) decided to call the husband’s sister on phone. We gathered that the senior sister to the husband did not hesitate to break the news of the demise of her father-in-law at a private hospital in Port Harcourt to her and others around.
And, following an inquiry into the death of Pa Sylvester Ojobo, Maxwell who happened to be the second son of the deceased informed that the father had been ill for sometime but not as complicated as to result in his sudden death.He added that the father had to be taken to the hospital for treatment a day before his father-in-law’s birthday based on the complaints by the deceased about his failing health.
“I was expecting him to be part of my father-in-law’s birthday party because they were close, in fact, we started planning together. Now that it has happened, even though we decided not to tell the celebrant what happened, his countenance has shown he is aware.
“But , I thank God my father did not die young and I have the means to take care of him while alive, including other siblings,” said Maxwell amidst his sense of loss.
