A Life Not Lived: Andrew Chukwuka Utomi (1983-2011)
Tuesday, 26 July 2011 17:01 Written by Sean AkereleOver the years,it has been my unpleasant duty as a Pastor to preside over interment ceremonies at different times. Few have been pleasant or failed to leave a bitter taste in the mouth. However, none have ever evoked within such a sense of sick impotence or repugnance as the interment on Friday 22nd July 2011 of Mr. Andrew Chukwuka Utomi, a 28 year old native of Aniocha Local Government in Delta State.
Chuks (as he was popularly known) was until his death the Music Coordinator and Choir Master of The Shepherd's Flock International Church, Ikeja where I serve as Resident Pastor. Chuks was a musician of great natural talent and skill both as a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and trainer and teacher. His early life was spent in his parents' church, St. Dominic Catholic Church, Yaba as a Chorister. According to his mother, he started singing at the age of one. At the age of 10, he learnt how to play the keyboard and became the Keyboardist of Harmony Brothers Band.
In 2002 (at the age of 19), he attended Peter King College of Music to study music and became a Chorister in Lazarus Ekwueme's Choral Group. In 2003, he sang in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the All African Games (COGA) in Abuja. He also became the Music Teacher of Baobab Nursery and Primary School, Akoka, Sajo International School, Festac and Fame School of Music, Lekki and held these appointments for four years. In 2007, he attended The Polytechnic, Ibadan to study Music. During this period, he was the Keyboardist and Choir Master for Foursquare Gospel Church, Lagos Province 8 Headquarters, Bajulaiye for four years.
He was a Pianist and a singer with "Arimiyo"; was a vocalist in the album "The Way" by Godswill Mfoniso Rehoboth. He was also a backup Singer, Pianist and a Composer of "Onyenememma" in the album "Year of Joy" by Abiola Arimiyo. He was also a Singer in Trinity Band.
Chuks was recommended to our church by his HOD at the Polytechnic Ibadan early last year to fill a vacancy in our music ministry. I recall my first meeting with him around May 2010 when he came to my office for the first time. A young man of slight and diffident appearance at first glance; I remember wondering if he could tackle the challenges of our music ministry without being overwhelmed. Yet after that initial interview, I was unhesitant in ushering him to the Senior Pastor for evaluation. It is salutary that despite passing through about four levels of scrutiny Chuks was one of the first musicians who received unanimous endorsement by all those concerned in the recruitment process.
Within one year, Chuks' impact on TSF worship life and style was incontrovertible. He successfully won the support and respect of members of the choir who acknowledged his depth of skill, talent and experience despite his age. Chuks was a committed born-again Christian who was not ashamed of his faith. He was committed to excellence in the music ministry and demanded the best from all who worked with him. He was a firm believer of expression and once said "I can't die with my talent, I must reach out". He hated cheating and being cheated. He was a sacrificial and easy going person. He would rather inconvenience himself than say 'No'. He had a vision of establishing a School of Music. He was a very good teacher. He was survived by his parents and three younger siblings. Though unmarried, he was engaged to his heartthrob Adesoga Adedoyin.
Chuks' death is painful because it was avoidable and preventable. His death remains a parable of the utter collapse of our public healthcare system. He was initially treated at a private hospital for malaria and after failing to respond to treatment was further diagnosed with acute ulcer due to his persistent complaints of abdominal pain. When this treatment proved ineffective, he was referred to University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba for further treatment. LUTH rejected him for lack of space and he was then referred to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja. Even here, he was only admitted to Emergency as a result of the personal efforts of a member of the hospital's medical personnel as they also complained of lack of space. He commenced treatment lying on the waiting room metal chairs before vacancy was found in the main ward.
He was immediately diagnosed with Meningitis: a serious, sometimes fatal illness in which a viral or bacterial infection inflames the meninges, causing symptoms such as severe headaches, vomiting, stiff neck, and high fever. We immediately purchased all the prescribed drugs for commencement of treatment. Some days later after he appeared to stabilise, he was transferred to another ward in the hospital. After his transfer, it became difficult to monitor his progress as efforts by this writer to locate the attending doctor proved unsuccessful. The doctors who I observed to be overworked and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of patients had no real office, but could only be trapped when on their ward rounds or if one could secure phone numbers to find out a patient's condition. I eventually met one of the young doctors after he gave me a telephone appointment on Friday 15thHe was immediately diagnosed with Meningitis: a serious, sometimes fatal illness in which a viral or bacterial infection inflames the July 2011 to meet outside the Emergency ward to discuss. At that meeting, he divulged the information that treatment for the meningitis just commenced as the hospital could not secure the necessary antibiotics for over a week.
Upon conducting a requested brain CT scan on Saturday 16th July 2011, results were not available till Monday morning and the required neurologists were unable to attend to the patient till after 10pm on Tuesday as they were busy in operating theatre. Even at that time, though Chuks was on life support the team of neurologists could do nothing for him and merely requested another round of tests. Unfortunately, he did not last till morning and gave up in the early hours of Wednesday 20th July 2011.
In 1983, I was involved in heated discussions with fellow classmates of Form 5, Loyola College, Ibadan over newspaper reports of the lootocracy of the political class during the second republic. We were reviewing the reports of stolen millions of naira siphoned into secret Swiss accounts by many of our political leaders. The basis of discussions was the position of many of the students that when it was their turn they would steal 'billions' not millions as their own share of the national cake. The attempt by some of us to inject some words of caution and sanity into the discussion were derided and dismissed by most. Subsequent interactions with contemporaries in higher institutions and the workplace further confirmed this commitment to graft as the easiest means to wealth as a widespread outlook of my generation.
It is obvious that this mindset received scrupulous execution by those who were privileged to secure state power over the last 30 years as witnessed the billions of naira the have been stolen by all arms of the government. The excesses of the NPN second republic have paled beside the profligacy of the 'new breed' politicians that took over from them. The result has been a systemic decay and collapse of the Nigerian state's moral and physical infrastructures. These have led to the untimely deaths of great minds and future leaders in the death traps and human abattoirs to which persistent neglect and underfunding have reduced our roads, hospitals and other public services.
I cannot but wonder if Chuks (who incidentally was born in 1983) would have died if the healthcare infrastructures had been in place. The billions that have been budgeted for the health sector over the years have been colossal yet our public hospitals remain little better than consulting clinics. We were assured that LASUTH is currently one of the best hospitals in the country; yet such neglect and tardiness occurred within its disinfected halls. I do not blame the personnel; I saw them working hard under difficult conditions, swamped by the sheer volume of patients flooding the premises daily.
I cannot but wonder how a generation could become so inured of human feelings and empathy that those entrusted with access to public resources appropriate it with impunity and none requires accounting for the numerous lives and destinies terminated or destroyed by such capricious thievery.
On Friday we buried a young man with his potentials and dreams prematurely terminated; a man who frequently said: 'I can't die with my talent. I must reach out'. He tried to reach out. He fought to maximise his talent. The Nigerian project decreed otherwise. Nigeria made his life 'nasty, brutish and short'.
As I committed his body to mother earth, I could not but wonder whether with the unsung and premature deaths of myriad such unfulfilled dreams and destinies; we were not actually burying Nigeria itself in instalments.
Sean Akinrele is a Pastor with The Shepherd's Flock International Church, Ikeja (gracechamberz@yahoo..co.uk)
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