Dear CeeCee, haa naaa? When Henry told me you had gone, I thought he meant back to Lagos as we had planned to meet with you but I sensed from his quivering voice that it was the sad 'gone'. I was speechless!
CeeCee, the shock of your transition still reverberates in our circle. We call you nwoke ike (a man of great strength) but it seems death is stronger. I never thought someone like you would succumb to 'mere' death.
You were a quintessential gentleman with great credibility, integrity, personableness and charisma with an unalloyed predilection for philanthropy. You will always go the extra mile to help a friend.
You were a fighter for justice and equity and never one to dance around true facts.
I call you, in an oxymoronic way, the gentle hurricane because you had a cool mien but you bared your fangs when called for.
CeeCee, if our collective tears could bring you back then you would return and swim in the flood of the remaining tears for a century more.
My wife was equally devastated by your departure and kept warning me never to give her that sort of news about her gentleman Chuks.
I pray that God will give; Ekene, Chioma and Chuboy the fortitude to withstand your absence and I pray, also, that you will now be ensconced in the bosom of Our Lord and regaling the Angels with your humour because you made the cut off points on earth and so earned the bragging right to be a God-favoured child.
Farewell CeeCee, nwoke ike.
Marcel and Christy Manafa