By Ikonne Okechukwu

WHY I organised my own funeral” is the title of a report published in the metro section of Vanguard newspapers of Thursday April 29. 2010.

One would say the subject matter of the report is worrisome, disturbing and unheard of but it happened. The report had it that Mr. Daniel Banono, a 29-year-old school leaver in Otuasega community of Ogbia Local Government Council of Bayelsa State, printed his own obituary posters, announcing his demise and wake keep.

The report went further to say that at first people dismissed his action as the act of an unserious mind, but were taken aback when he went further to hire and erect canopies and musical instruments for the D-day. According to the report, Biabia, as Daniel is fondly called, caused a stir in the community particularly with the enlightened natives and the elderly who stayed away from the ceremony and viewed it to be strange.

The reporter who visited the scene said on getting there, there was a crowd and later the celebrant emerged to say his supposed obituary party was a symbolic protest against the hardship faced by the majority of the youths from poor background. He noted with sadness that it is only when a man drops dead that friends and well wishers come out to waste their resources on frivolities of organising a burial, instead of providing assistance when the person is alive and need their help.

Daniel continued that he was bothered if his action could cost him his life, which may be considered a taboo. But his message is clear: We should help ourselves when we are alive. The paper also reported that a top government official from that area who spoke anonymously said he had  “to run away from the wake keep ground when the celebrant approached me for a hand shake”.

I make a comparism of this with a report in the Guardian titled: “Macebuh burial panel seeks support”. The report said that members of the Stanley Macebuh burial committee have appealed to eminent Nigerians, federal and states governments, groups and associates of the late media executive for support to give him a befitting burial.

The statement issued by Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi thanked persons and institutions that sent messages of condolence and their desire to contribute toward the burial. In conclusion the statement said now that a date had been fixed, the committee exhorts all well-wishers who have expressed desire to fulfill their promise of contributing to the event by contacting any member of the funeral committee, particularly its chairman, Dr Patrick Dele Cole.

In retrospect, I recall a report I read in Vanguard of Tuesday March 9, 2010, which said that the Macebuh family wanted to bring to the notice of the public the fact that their bread winner was not about to be thrown out of a house where he lived.

But the family admitted that Dr Macubuh lived in a house that was given to him rent free by his friend and soul mate, Dr Cole. With this statement, it is quite clear that the late media guru did not enjoy the best of times due to circumstances beyond his control.

Again, it is necessary to reflect on the tribute by Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, where he said thus:  “I also feel appalled at the circumstances of the last few years of his life, in a country where people who have never rendered a day service to Nigeria are occupying government houses and feeding fat on public purse”.

He concluded by saying “people like Stanley and Ibrahim Tahir should not die penniless and homeless”. This statement alone has contradicted the denial by the family that he was not homeless.

To sum it all, it is clear that Dr Macebuh did not get or was not given his due and may have died disappointed at the manner he was shabbily treated by those that matter. There are also other media reports that highlighted the contradiction between Macebuh’s prodigious media achievements and the indignity he had to endure in the last years of his life.

Like Banono, how unbelievable it would have been for Macebuh to have witnessed all that took place between March 7  May 15. I am sure he would have asked: Who are these, are they all for me?

Come to think of it, why must we remember people after they had passed on? Can’t we offer befitting care instead of a befitting burial? Can’t we celebrate someone alive, instead of celebrating his death? It has become our culture to repair roads leading to a prominent persons country home only after he or she dies. Of course, this is only for the benefit of the visiting mourners, a luxury the dead will never have the opportunity to enjoy.

Going through media reports of the funeral and burial, one could not miss the fact that attendance was more of   “who is who” in Nigeria, some of whom looked the other way while he suffered and died.

Those castigating and reprimanding  Banono for organising his own wake-keep may not understand the import of his actions and I am sure that after reading this piece, we will wake up to the realities behind Banono’s  action, and may began to ask:  What are friends really for?

Mr. Okechukwu ,  a public affairs commentator, writes from Lagos.