Media personality, Chude Jideonwo has paid his last respects and penned a hearttouching tribute to the late music Icon, actress and activist, Onyeka Onwenu.
Glamsquad reported that Onyeka Onwenu passed away on 30th July 2024 after she performed at the 80th birthday celebration of her friend, Stella Okolie, the founder of Emzor Pharmaceuticals.
Celebrities in their numbers took to their social media pages to mourn her demise.
Chude in an Instagram post, shared how he cried like a baby, reeled in shock and became speechless after he learned about Onyeka’s demise. He also mentioned that he couldn’t remember the last time his heart had been broken this badly.
He wrote;
“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 reminisced about his memories with the late singer and how deeply infatuated he was with her. He revealed that he first discovered Onyeka Onwenu while he was still in secondary school. Interestingly, it wasn’t through her popular songs like ‘One Love’ or ‘Dancing in the Sun,’ but through ‘Greatest Love,’ which he still considers the most beautiful song he has ever heard. He recalled seeing her in the music video, sharing a testimony of finding Christ and finding peace, and something about her presence on the pulpit that made him fall in love.
He confessed that he fell hopelessly, recklessly, and completely in love with her, becoming obsessed. He bought all her tapes, begged his aunts to take him to every concert, and watched every interview he could find, as he adored her.
When he became a producer for New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda in 2002, he finally had the chance to meet her, and she was one of the first guests he invited. He admitted that while she wasn’t warm, she was polite and professional, qualities he admired.
His post reads
“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, I 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 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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