Mr Igwemma: The man who saw tomorrow

Do you know Ex Governor Peter Obi? Do you know Barr. Valentine Obienyem? Then be prepared to know Mr Igwemma , the man who saw tomorrow by nurturing Val for Peter. Read


Meeting my old Latina Lingua teacher
Among the teachers that taught me Latin in the seminary, Fr. Sebastin Anokwulu, Fr Anthony Ijesie and Mr. Igwemma were the most outstanding.
Today, I met Mr. Igwemma at St. Patrick's Cathedra, Awka. We were there for the same purpose: the Chrisms Mass, during which gifts are given to the Bishop and three oils- holy Oil, oil of Catechumen and Oil of the sick- are blessed. This mass precedes that of the Last Supper.
After the mass, as Mr. Igwemma passed by where I was sitting, recognizing him, I immediately stood up and greeted him thus : "salve Magister", he replied "salve discipulo". Beckoning me to sit down, he said "sedete discipuli." Obviously, he did not remember me, I introduced myself thus: ego sum Valentina Obienyemensis and so on
Seeing my old teacher, I recalled the happy moments we had with him more than 25 years ago.
Mr. Igwemma was a lively teacher who enlivened his classes with incredible tales. Sometimes, he would start Chapter one of the Bello Gallico( Gallic War) only to end up with the tale of how he and his colleagues travelled for a Conference and strangely met some men who did not understand English and how he, being a polyglot, spoke Latin, Greek, Italian and even Aramaic to them which none of them understood until he spoke Espaniola, which one of them managed to reply.
Once we were in class, the Rector, Fr Luke Anameze, the man with amazing command of the English language, came to the door, beckoned him, they had few minutes discussion by the door of the class. On returning to the class, he met students making silly noise, and reminded us that when two "big" men are talking that our duty was to keep quiet.
To make noise during his class was to invite questions such as "why should you make noise as if your father knows Latin?"
It was not beyond him to tell us how armed robbers came to his street, robbed every house except his, because they knew his strength.
As a student, if we did wrong, he always threatened to report us to " Albert", for that was how he usually called the Late Bishop Obiefuna, for two of them were classmates. He did not talk about the Rector, because it would be an infradig to him,
Once he came late to class only to tell us how one corporal dared stop the bus he was travelling in and how he copied his name with assurances that he would use his connections to get him sacked from the Police Force.
Because he attended the University of Leuven, Belgium, he wanted us to know that it was the biggest University in the World.
All in all his was a lively class as he himself was a lively teacher.
Here is the picture of the man with the great Peter Obi at St Patrick's Cathedral today.
I am pretty sure that those that were privileged to be taught by him have their own fond memories. Am I right?