When men die, orations are delivered and elegies are written, as though words, marshalled in solemn procession, could sufficiently answer the ancient tyranny of death. Yet for a general who was also my teacher, I shall write not merely an elegy, but a panegyric – for there are lives whose dignity demand not lamentation alone, but grateful celebration. Such men do not merely pass through the corridors of time; they leave upon the age the imprint of character, discipline, and honour. This is about General Chikadibia Isaac Obiakor.
Valentine Obienyem
When men die, orations are delivered and elegies are written, as though words, marshalled in solemn procession, could sufficiently answer the ancient tyranny of death. Yet for a general who was also my teacher, I shall write not merely an elegy, but a panegyric – for there are lives whose dignity demand not lamentation alone, but grateful celebration. Such men do not merely pass through the corridors of time; they leave upon the age the imprint of character, discipline, and honour. This is about General Chikadibia Isaac Obiakor.
I speak of him as Mark Antony spoke of Caesar: he was our teacher and friend – resourceful, steadfast, and faithful to us. He brought added brilliance to an already luminous constellation of minds at the UNIZIK Business School, enriching it with depth, character, and distinction.
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UNIZIK Business School is unique in everything it does, fiercely determined to be the finest in the country. To achieve this, the institution purposefully brings in giants from diverse fields to handle specialised, practical disciplines. During my master’s and doctoral programmes, our classrooms were graced by a veritable cornucopia of knowledge, including Professor Okey Ikechukwu, a polymath of rare distinction. His teaching does not merely convey information; it offers perspective. He takes our fragmented knowledge and weaves it into a coherent philosophy.
Dr. Ikem Odumodu, who believes that a student is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited, embodied that pedagogical ideal in practice. When he observed my reflections on Toga fashion through business plan I had written as an assignment, he assumed the role of a midwife through whose painful midwifery, Toga Fashion was born. Prof. Chinedu Onyeizugbe knows the complete story.
Chief Frank Nweke, former Minister, brought a different kind of presence. Seeing me in his class, he exclaimed, “Oh, Val, you are here,” with a warmth that was contagious. In him, experience counted as part of tools for quality teaching.
Professor Ellis Idemobi always instructs through the quiet eloquence of his own behaviour, demonstrating discipline, punctuality, and integrity in his conduct as, (apologies to my elder brother, Fr. Cosmas Ebebe), “a teacher of values.” When we misbehaved, he would often condone it on the understanding that we were adults; yet his disappointment revealed itself in the blushes that spread across his rubicund face, a silent rebuke more powerful than words.
We have many others whose presence together forms that rare intellectual ecosystem in which ideas are not merely taught, but lived, tested, and refined.
To understand the ethos of the school, courses bordering on politics and statecraft were assigned to figures like Chief Nweke, while those bordering on philosophy found a natural home in Professor Ikechukwu. It is this same commitment to excellence that guided the choice of teachers for courses in strategic and security studies. This is where the General came in.
Through the foresight of the then Director-General, Professor A.U. Nonyelu, the school engaged a retired Lieutenant General of the Nigerian Army to handle security-related courses. I still remember the very first day he walked into our classroom. A highly elated Professor Nonyelu, conscious of having secured a great catch and speaking with cheeks bursting with pride, introduced him, presenting his arrival as proof that the school would never relent in its pursuit of excellence in selecting those who instruct us.
Like a true soldier, discipline was his forte. He was always punctual, stepping into the lecture hall with a precision that commanded immediate respect. While teaching, he gently observed the reactions of his students with the calm detachment of a scientist observing a laboratory experiment.
It was with a heavy, unmoored heart that I learned from my brother, Mr. Isaac Umunna, that his namesake, this great general and teacher, had passed away.
Lieutenant General Chikadibia Isaac Obiakor was of the old breed, one who believed in the virtues of duty, honour, and discipline. He understood that civilisation survives not merely by intellect or wealth, but by character, by men willing to subordinate personal comfort to collective peace. Whether during peacekeeping mission under the ECOMOG banner in Liberia, commanding troops within the global chambers of the United Nations, or teaching us at UNIZIK Business School, he embodied the same quiet strength, professionalism, and devotion to service.
He belonged to a diminishing generation that believed duty was sacred, that leadership demanded restraint, and that public service was a profound moral undertaking. In an era increasingly crowded by emptiness, he remained a man of pure substance.
Death has now drawn its inevitable curtain, as it eventually does over emperors and peasants alike. Yet there are lives that death cannot truly impoverish because they have entered our collective memory with honour. General Obiakor, leaves behind not merely medals and titles, but the respect of those who encountered his humanity, his sharp intellect, and his patriotism. His memory shall linger wherever integrity is cherished, and wherever young Nigerians still dare to believe that true greatness is attained through service.
Good bye my great teacher!!!!!!!!
Valentine Obienyem wrote from Awka, Anambra state
