What Many Don’t Know About Late DIMGBA IGWE

• His Wife, OBIOMA Reveals A Lot

One of the most dreadful nightmares that could befall any woman is to lose a partner at a relatively young age and in young marriage as well. For Mrs. Obioma Igwe, the widow of late veteran journalist, Pastor Dimgba Igwe, it is an experience she would not wish on her worst enemy. For her, it is not just harrowing that her husband died at the young age of 58, when he had the world at his feet as far as his career was concerned, but to have died in the manner he did, leaving her with young children to care for, was most shattering. Dimgba Igwe was fatally hit by an unknown driver while jogging on his street in Okota on a Saturday morning, September 6, 2014. He was rushed to a couple of hospitals before he finally gave up the ghost after he was taken to the General Hospital Ikeja. At the time of his death, Dimgba Igwe was Associate Publisher of Entertainment Weekly Newspaper. Mr. Dimgba, alongside his colleague and best friend, Mike Awoyinfa, pioneered the now rested Weekend Concord newspaper, The Sun Newspaper and co-authored several books including Osoba: The Newspaper Years, The Arts of Feature Writing and Mike Adenuga: The Business Guru. The veteran journalist, until his death, was the Assistant General overseer of Evangel Pentecostal Churchý, Lagos.

The 10th Anniversay lecture of Pastor Dimgba Igwe was held at the Colossus Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, and it was held on the 6th of September, 2024, exactly ten years after the unfortunate demise of the very popular and highly respected journalist. Expectedly, in attendance were some of Nigeria’s most prominent journalists, especially those who made their marks as pioneers of soft sel and tabloid publications. The title of the lecture was Tabloid Journalism: Yesterday, Today And The Future. Guest lecturer was Mr. Muyiwa Adetiba, the founder of the defunct but hugely successful Prime People magazine and he spoke on the power of soft sell magazine in Nigeria.

After a few people had stepped out to pay glowing tributes to the man they loved and respected greatly, it was the turn of Mrs. Obioma Igwe, the very likeable wife of late journalist to speak. She was greeted with a resounding applause as she took the microphone.

“Hummnnn, what do I say, where do I start?” she’d begun. “Tabloidism, I am not a reporter, but I have heard that tabloid are short and precise but I don’t know whether the full meanings of tabloids have been fully expressed here today because a lot of people have left already, but I understand. Actually, who really should be doing this reminiscensing? It should be Gloria because I don’t want to get emotional but I know I’m strong. I know I’m really strong, it’s been ten years and all the people who have spoken here today have spoken well. I will not be the person to say the vote of thanks, I know it’s his twin brother who has really been there for us. There was something I read about a Christian Magazine asking people to give their definition of the word, friend and what friendship is. And I was told that the person who won the contest simply defined a friend as someone who comes in when the whole world has gone out. Then, they also described friendship as the meeting of one’s soul with another so that both become stronger and better by virtue of their relationship. I see this definition in the friendship of Oga Mike Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe. And it reminds me of the scripture that says the heart of David knit with that of Jonathan. He didn’t go away when the whole world was out, he rather came in closer. So, please, help me appreciate so well, Oga Mike Awoyinfa, and a pastor by His grace in Jesus name.”

I thank you all very much for coming. I thank you very much for remembering my husband. I have actually asked myself that, Obioma, what are you doing, that when your mission on earth is done and you’re out, what will people say about you? I’m really happy hearing all these about the great man, Dimgba Igwe who happens to be my husband. There’s so much to say about him that I can’t even stand here to say all because he was one person in one different dimensions. You know, when you look at his face, you see a differnt person. One of my friends said, when you look at the face of my husband, you’re scared you can’t even come close, how did you manage? But I tell you, on the inside, he’s a very humorous person. He played with the children so well. One of the daughters can’t still come to terms with his death after ten years that the father has gone, that’s why she’s not here. But I have told her, we have to move on, this is ten years. And God has been there for us, using people like you. I thank you, Mrs. Nike Adeshina, I can see the gentle woman, my friend. I still remember that day, ten years ago. She was equally present. And when she came in and went out and I asked her what is the situation, she said, he’s fine. I was looking at their faces directly, he’s fine, that’s what she said. Well, we just thank God for everything.

“It has been ten years of learning, ten years of understanding and ten years of a new chapter that was opened to me. It has been good, and I must bring in God here. Outside of Him, I don’t think you would have seen me here granting an interview.

Dimgba Uguru Igwe’s demise has really been a wonderful experience with God; without Him, life wouldn’t have been possible. When he passed on, there were expectations, utterances and promises of which the fulfilment was not forthcoming, but our dependence is on God and He has been there for us.”

I was there on the spot. It’s like, no, it didn’t happen; it’s not happening. I didn’t just see that it was him; that anything like that was happening. Even at the hospital, they told me to go home and I said no, where am I going to? I came with him and I must go with him. It was really a traumatising experience. On that Saturday, to the glory of God, Mr. Femi Adesina was there.

Everybody was there watching me, but one thing that hurt me for some years was that I wasn’t allowed to go in with him when they had received him from me. I desired to go in with him, but in the uniqueness of our Nigerian doctors, they will ask if ‘you wanted to teach us our job?’ People are different, lack of understanding makes things work or not work. I left them because I wasn’t going to cause any commotion. Femi Adesina’s wife, by the time she came in, went in because she is in the medical line. The matron later came out feeling so bad that Dimgba kept saying, ‘please bring in my wife’ and they were more interested in making him stable, and it pained her. That was her confession. It is well.

One thing I know is that after it happened, I had to withdraw to ask my Father, the ultimate God, what he wanted me to learn from this. He is the one that gave me peace and I resolved that if He didn’t allow it, it would not have happened and at that point I began to surrender.

She talked about what she missed the most about him: “I missed the communication, our talks. Whatever he understood and knew, he wanted to impart it. I’m not in your field but he wanted to make me to equally understand the profession. I miss our discussions, our talks, his sense of humour. We laughed, and we shouted and agreed. He was a very family man to the core. He discusses a lot. He wanted to make me a reporter; he wanted me to know what happened in the office. There are a lot of you I know by name, but I have never met because he would tell me this was this; this was this, this was that. We discussed to the point that he would tell me the bottle of water he took – was it turned into glass? Was it remaining? We discussed up to that minutest details about his day. It’s like there is no more life here because once he came in, there’s life all over as he would want you to know this and that. He spoke very well and he was very articulate. On my own side, there are words he would pronounce and I would tell him that was not the way it’s pronounced. We would laugh. He was a very open person. He would be at the pulpit and say, ‘the other day, my wife told me that this word is not pronounced this way but that way.’ People would laugh.

Mrs. Obioma also recollected  some of the sterling qualities of her late husband that she holds very dearly: “I’m somebody that is open to learning. With Dimgba around, I learnt a lot of things. There were lots of things he taught me, so, I missed that one. While he was around, I was alive to news. Before the outside people knew it, I would have known. I had that privilege and it was good to me and we analysed it. But now, I don’t even care about news. Within these ten years, lots of adjustments have taken place.

In fact, using the past tense ‘was’ is difficult for me, though he is not physically around here. He was the person I have met and I can say was a child of God to the core. Despite his profession or whatsoever, he stood for the God he served and served Him to the end. That gives me joy that he wasn’t a man of double standard. He was very humble and very respectful.

There was always impartation of knowledge on anybody around him. I remember him for that. I’m not a very outspoken person; I’m an introvert. He was an introvert, but with the profession, he could be talking. When he met you he wanted to impart something in you. If you met Dimgba, you would not leave with the knowledge you had; he must impart and add knowledge to what you already had.

-WALE LAWAL

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