THE UNTOLD STORY TONY OKOROJI MADE THE CHRISTY ESSIEN IGBOKWE EDITION OF MOMENTOES MAGAZINE POSSIBLE

18TH OCTOBER 2011

THE UNTOLD STORY
TONY OKOROJI MADE THE CHRISTY ESSIEN IGBOKWE
EDITION OF MOMENTOES MAGAZINE POSSIBLE

I have decided to pen this testament in view of the recent attempts in the media and the internet to disparage the reputation of Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman of COSON, somebody I regard very strongly as a mentor, and to rubbish the good work he did in the talk of the town national burial of the Lady of Songs, Chief (Mrs) Christy Essien Igbokwe.
It’s still fresh in my memory like yesterday when I decided to produce an edition of Momentoes in honour of my friend, big sister and star Christy Essien Igbokwe. I had followed the publicity blitz in the media for over six weeks after her demise, before deciding to jump into the fray. The vision of Momentoes is to celebrate our stars by producing a print documentary about their lives through the eyes of their friends, associates, family and friends.
Chief Tony Okoroji’s name had been prominent in the news as head of the publicity sub -committee so I figured it was the right place to start. I had a design of the cover done, and I put together a dummy, a mock of what the publication will look like on paper, page to page…very rough. My proposal was to produce a 48 page, all colour, all gloss special edition of Momentoes in honour of Christy Essien Igbokwe.
Chief Tony Okoroji I had known from his days as PMAN President, we had a cordial relationship, he is a guy you cannot help liking. He is ever cheerful and accommodating. And a creative work horse. We had never really worked together, but we were good.
Our first meeting went well, he looked at what I had and said I should do him a proposal by mail, generally he liked my concept but he thought a lot of work still needed to be done. I said no problem Sir. I got back to work.
We met again a couple of days after our first meeting, we gathered again in the COSON boardroom in Ikeja. He told me he like the concept and thought it would help to immortalize Christy, problem was the funds to produce it. I had given him a bill which he thought was on the high side, played around with figures, did some subtractions and gave another bill which he said was more close to home, but he gave no assurances, his words were ,
‘Al, I can’t make any promises, but go to work is all I can say and let’s see how it goes’.
This was like four weeks to the funeral. I drew up a list of information I wanted from the family and went to see Chief Edwin Igbokwe, I was directed to Christy’s manager Romeo Obika, I gave him my list; her bio data, photographs, interviews with her husband and children, names of her friends etc. He promised to put them together in one week…I left elated. Ten days later after numerous phone calls , I was back at the family home of the Igbokwe’s to meet with Chief Edwin Igbokwe, Romeo, he said, had mentioned my request ten minutes earlier. Momentoes, he thought was a good idea, but he felt it was too late, I would not be able to do a thorough job, could I wait till November 11th when Christy would have been fifty one and produce it then. I was chest fallen, dejected, I left their home defeated. Without any information or photograph from the family, along the way, I picked up myself…I could do it…. Na today? And indeed I did.
That started me on another journey, how to get all the information I need. I went online to do research. I read all the stuff written on Christy after her demise, gleaned what I could from every imaginable source and started searching for photographs. Tough job. While I was doing all this, there was no certainty I will be paid for doing it, after all her husband had said, stop. I went back to Chief Tony Okoroji, he had moved to a hotel in Ikeja at this time. He said he was still working at getting the approval from the burial committee. I did not have the nerve to tell him I had been told to stop. How could I? I had to keep the dream alive.
I and my staff were working … writing , editing and designing the publication twenty four hours round the clock; there was so much to do, so many people to talk to, time was a scarce commodity… the clock was ticking. We could not afford to fail. I took my laptop so he could see how much work we had done. He was impressed; he pointed out some changes. He wanted a couple of pages added. He demanded seven pages to advertise the burial program; we had to design them from scratch, he lso wanted another pages to focus on the Governors who had supported the burial. Fair enough. We had no choice. It was back to work. He was still waiting for approval. As I rose up to leave he said, ‘Al, let me encourage you, I know you need money to do some running around’. He wrote me a personal cheque of N50,000 which I cashed at the Toyin street branch of his Bank thirty minutes later. There was light at the end of the tunnel, I thought. That was a life saver; I bought a new generator for the office, gave my graphic artistes some cash and we progressed. My only source of information was Chief Okoroji. The cover photograph also came from his archives.
He it was who eventually sold the project to the burial committee chairman, Dr Austin Izagbo , who after a private presentation at Room 302 , which had become a project secretariat, also fell in love with the Christy Edition of Momentoes. Even then, there was no certainty, members of the committee were daggers drawn against the publication for no simple discernable reason. Did I pray? That was the only resort. But Chief TONY Okoroji said, ‘Al, keep working, give it your best shot’.
We spoke like thirty times a day; emails flew back and forth throughout the day, countless SMS’s followed. Always he had my time. We had become part of a team , working together to make it work. There were days, I sent him emails at 2.00am and he responded and at 3.00am we will be on the phone discussing aspects of the publication, making changes or adding new stuff. It was tasking…stressful but fun. I saw a man who surpassed my capacity for hard work and creativity and I was prepared to learn… he pushed me to the limit. He always had a new perspective, could we try out something? Two days to the kick off of the burial programme, the committee approved the publication after a late night presentation at the Igbokwe family residence where Prince Bisi Olatinlo , described Momentoes as a work of art, in his words, ‘ from what I have seen, this man has put a lot of work into this, and I love a good thing when I see one. Momentoes has my one hundred and fifty percent support’. That was the back breaker. Minutes earlier, Dr. Austin Izagbo had asked,
‘ I am informed that Chief Edwin Igbokwe had told you to stop. Why did you go ahead?’
My response was,
‘Yes, Chief Igbokwe had said so, but I disregarded it because as at that time I had put in too much work for all of it to go waste. Also, Christy Igbokwe was my friend and my star and I was doing this to honour her’.
The next morning I was mobilized. One more hurdle crossed. I had not labored in vain.
Towards the end, when we finished the days designs at my office in Ogba, I Will move over to Room 302, so we can review progress , through the night. Sometimes we had as much as five people in the room. In the wee hours of the morning; we would all squeeze on the bed to catch a two hour nap, to commence again at about 4.oo am. We did this for over one Week . Momentoes was not the only agenda ; Chief Okoroji and another team were also working on the Christy Essien TV documentary. And at the break of dawn, the phones would start ringing for other aspects of the funeral. I was appalled at the tirelessness of this gentleman.
Looking back, those were great moments. I have received accolades from professional colleagues, friends, family and even strangers for putting together the Christy edition of Momentoes, I am proud of that work and thankful that it came out so beautifully well. But most of the credit must go to Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman of COSON, because without his support, continuous encouragement and motivation, that publication would have been yet another aborted dream. And that would have been a shame.

Al Humphrey Onyanabo,
Publisher,
MOMENTOES MAGAZINE
alhumphreyo@yahoo.com
080 2320 1073, 070 6556 9997