Encomium
– First son, Elkanah eulogises the millionaire mogul
For Juliet, Elkanah, Evans, Leonard, Ogbemi and Emmanuel Mowarin, Friday, November 8, 2013, was a day to remember. That was the day their father and millionaire business man, Pa David Anthony Oshevire Mowarin was buried.
Interred at his ancestral town, Ikweghwu, Agbarho in Ugbelli North local government of Delta State, the funeral service which was attended by the high and mighty, including the Delta State governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan ably represented by the members of the state executive council, state legislators, members of the National Assembly and leaders of thought, was more like a carnival.
Pa Mowarin’s journey to glory started with his shocking demise on Monday, October 14, 2013, at 71. On Thursday, November 7, 2013, a Christian wake was organized for the philanthropist, second son of the great Chief William Eyewubokan Mowarin and the founding chairman/CEO of Ame Sawmills, Ame Estate Limited, Ame Group of Companies and David Consulting.
His remains were laid to rest on Friday, November 8, at the Mowarins’ compound Ikweghuwu, Agbarho, Delta State amidst torrents of eulogies from his family and thousands he influenced their lives.
Expectedly, a massive party commenced shortly after the interment with hundreds of traditional dance groups, contemporary bands and entertainers who accorded the versatile business mogul and grassroots politician a befitting rite of passage.
Media entrepreneur and boss of EOM Group, and the first son of the deceased, Elkanah Mowarin, in an exclusive interview with ENCOMIUM Weekly‘s Associate Editor, Uche Olehi told us the kind of man his dad was, his legacies and the enormous challenge ahead as head of the vast Mowarin estate.
How would you describe your father?
As far as I am concerned, my father was a great man. He was the best dad anybody would desire to have. He taught us first letters of the alphabet and figures. A-B-C-D and 1-2-3-4…daddy was a great teacher. He was a role model. He was a disciplinarian.
My father was a great counsellor. He was an awesome father, a friend, a humorous personality. What Julius Agwu does is child’s play to my dad’s sense of humour. He was a comedian per excellence, although it wasn’t for public consumption. He taught us love. My father left behind some of the greatest legacies of love and selflessness.
Daddy told me and my eldest sister, Julie Mowarin, when we were just about 14, 16, that the mandate God gave him and his children was to live for humanity. He was all about selfless sacrifice to humanity. And that is what we are following. He told us we must acquire as much education as we can. So, his least child acquired degrees.
He left for us a legacy of education. He also left the legacy of hard-work. He often referred to the Scripture which teaches that he who would not work should not eat. As I speak with you, I run about five firms in different countries, but I still go to office as early as 6.30, 7, in the morning because it has been engraved in me.
If you come to my office, you would read an inscription that asserts that the cornerstone of success is hard work. There is nowhere in the world it has been reported that hard work killed anybody. It is rather laziness and idleness that kill. So, daddy left us with legacy of education and hard work. Even as I speak with you, I have three degrees, yet I’m doing a programme at the University of Lagos.
Where were you when you received the sad news that your dad was no more and how did you take it?
It is quite interesting that my dad passed on while I was looking at him. He started gasping and the doctors were running helter-skelter. We made arrangement for an airbus and before you knew it, he was placed on oxygen and all that. But we were all wasting our time because his time was up. He died peacefully.
Can you reveal to us some of Pa Mowarin’s unfulfilled dreams?
As far as I’m concerned, daddy fulfilled the mandate of the Scriptures, which is 70. So, the one year was a bonus. The greatest dream that daddy had was to have himself replicated in his children. If you look at my eldest sister, it is difficult to connect to the fact that she is such a great woman in Nigeria because of her humility.
A lot of people who also know me do not equally connect to the depth of God’s blessings in my life because I’m also very humble and unassuming like my sister. It runs in the family. My father was fulfilled. We want also to put it on record that since the news of our father’s demise got to our friends and relations across the globe, they have volunteered in so many ways.
We have got calls from many of them in Europe, America, Asia and other parts of the world. The government of Delta State is also fully represented here. For the purpose of this event, the state decided to honour our community, Ikweghwu, Agbarho by tarring the road. It was tarred from the expressway to this town, our father’s house.
That is quite unprecedented. And we owe that to His Excellency, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, governor of Delta State. There is no commissioner in Delta that is not here. The secretary to the state government, the speaker, state legislators, members of the National Assembly, political leaders, monarchs and other eminent Nigerians are also here.
You are not a politician, but political stalwarts across the country were all here to mourn with your family. Was your father a politician?
Our grandfather, Chief William Eyewubokan Mowarin was the pillar and cornerstone of political development in the then Mid Western State. His contemporaries were Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.
He was a great politician and very rich industrialist. His estate is vast and unimaginable in terms of landed property and business. He also owned plantations. He was a great politician. After him, his children also took to politics. But don’t forget that as human beings, we are political animals. I’m also a subtle politician but I’m just marking time. At the right time, you would see where we are going.
What becomes of your dad’s business now he is gone?
In the values of the tradition and culture of our people, the first son steps into the position of the father. I have been honoured by the community with the title of High Chief Ame. This would be formalized very soon. So whatever estate he left behind, I would be in charge.
I also have an elder sister who us equally very enterprising. As we are driving our estate, we are young to fall back on her as a banker (laughs).
How do you intend to carry on as the head of the Mowarin family?
We are not divided. If you took note, I have always consulted my sister. I don’t do things all alone because I’m the first son. She is the first child. And we give her the respect of being the first child. If she were not in the back, she would have stepped in to manage our father’s business as a financial expert.
We learnt that the attention of the state government was drawn to your community following your dad’s demise?
That is true to a very large extent. Daddy’s death has opened up this community. The road that leads to this town was a nightmare. Today, it has been rehabilitated. We are delighted that even at death, our father has been useful to humanity as he had taught us.
What is your final word to Nigerians who joined you physically or in spirit to celebrate your late dad?
What else can I say than a big thank you, on behalf of the Mowarin family. We are grateful that they all took time off their busy schedules to be in Ikweghwu, Agbarho, off Warri in Delta State to honour our father, late Pa David Anthony Oshevire Mowarin.
We are indeed humbled that even at death, Papa could command the kind of attention that hallmarked his transition and burial. This is the sense in which we cannot thank you enough. God Almighty knows that from the bottom of our hearts we are immensely grateful to all. And because you have honoured us, God will honour you all even much more, In Jesus name.
– UCHE OLEHI
