By Udo Ibuot

In the evening of life, many thinkers are usually left with the sorrowful impressions of the futility of human existence. They perceive how the teachings dispensed by institutions of learning enable them to acquire many superfluous things, while nothing is taught of those matters that are of vast importance in the conduct of human existence and in the preparation for the life beyond.

As children, they hardly possess the wisdom to interpret their circumstances with understanding or grace. They often felt that life had singled them out for hardship. Some from deprived backgrounds would watch other children with fewer siblings enjoy comforts that felt unreachable to them, leaving them to question why the struggle seemed to follow their households so persistently. They usually realise much later, sometimes through the gift of reflection or maturity, that these experiences were not unique to them.

Many of those who are endowed with the high mission of enlightening and guiding human souls often seem to ignore their nature and their real destiny. But the Ojomo of Ekpoma, Chief Ezekiel Aikohi Ainabe, articulates the experience. Born with the traditional Esan name Aikohi, meaning “destiny is supreme,” at Idumunigun-Ujoelen in Ekpoma, in the Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State on April 18, 1946, he was christened Ezekiel, but he never lost the significance of Aikohi.

From an Esan perspective, Aikohi is personal and cannot be shared. It is often regarded as a belief system that combines predestination with personal responsibility and divine intervention. Destiny itself has several definitions. In one sense, it can be used to demonstrate circumstances, indications, or applications of a situation or of a place for a certain purpose. In another, it can refer to a supernatural power that guides the lives of any human being in a necessary way. It suggests a destination, the place that humans go, or the completion of a stage and is anchored on the principle that nothing exists by chance and nothing is created from nothing, as everything has a cause.

Sometimes, destiny creates stories that completely change lives, and that is evidenced when destiny presents itself in an inevitable way. It must, however, be noted that destiny often uses humans to shape other people’s movements. This is best evidenced in the historical intervention of the free and compulsory primary education offered by the Western Nigeria Region led by Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo in the 1950s just when Aikohi Ainabe was mature enough to benefit from it. In spite of the declaration that education was “free,” there were other costs such as uniforms, slates, exercise books, pencils, and sandals that had to be bought. This called for responsibility and determination, with the closing of school usually leading to entering the farm which was another form of classroom that did not require pencils or exercise books.

Destiny apparently led Aikohi to the Western Boys High School in Benin City, but he could not complete his education there because of financial difficulties. When he overcame that challenge, he enrolled in courses at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos and later at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. He also studied at the University of Syracuse, Newport University, and Harvard University in the United States of America.

Ainabe’s departure from home was truly the beginning of his education because he was now able to test what he had learned since childhood in a different environment that had no room for mercy. Destiny compelled him to migrate via train from Lagos to Kaduna immediately after the Nigerian civil war, and obliged Chief Odufowora, the manager of a Shell petrol station there to offer him employment as a petrol attendant. It is noted that he worked long and repetitive hours and was introduced to the structured discipline of formal labour that demanded accountability, punctuality, and interpersonal skill. The station became another school of responsibility as he handled money, monitored inventory, and maintained order.

Destiny guided his establishment of the business of E. A. Ainabe and Sons in 1972 for the marketing of petroleum products, a move that not only launched but also set him up for greater business opportunities. Thereafter, he established Zeek Shipping Limited to undertake ship ownership and maritime services, as well as Zeek Fisheries Limited to exploit fish and shrimp from the Nigerian maritime waters. His incorporation of Zeek Nigeria Limited to engage in petroleum haulage on land and on sea, established his foothold in the oil and gas business. The organisation is at the threshold of engaging in oil well drilling, an investment that reflects its strategic expansion into diverse sectors of the energy industry. Other investments in the group include Zeek Communications Limited, established to undertake advanced communication installation, supplies, and repairs, including telecommunications on land and sea. His firm, GEG Construction Limited, also undertakes civil engineering works, construction of domestic and business shelters, and bridges. In the financial district, Dr Ainabe established the Ujoelen Community Bank to provide rural community banking and to provide financial services to the Ujoelen-Ekoma axis. He was also among those that promoted the establishment of the Comet Bank, which later transformed into the defunct First Atlantic Bank.

One of his most defining developments is described as that of the emergence and growth of indigenous technical capacity within Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. This is because for several decades, the narrative had always been that only foreign expertise could handle complex engineering services. Having lived through that era, worked within multinational systems, and learned firsthand both their strengths and limitations, he became persuaded that if properly trained, trusted, and equipped, Nigerians could stand shoulder to shoulder with any global professionals. This conviction led to the birth and nurturing of his organisation’s engineering ventures, which have been able to demonstrate that local content can meet global benchmarks. This also brought the satisfaction of proof that Nigerians can own, manage, and deliver sophisticated technical solutions, and that profit is not necessarily the most important achievement.

The turning point for him came when the foundations of discipline, endurance, and restraint were now being tested for durability, rather than viability. At this point, responsibilities multiplied, with some emerging informally. As he explains, people no longer asked whether he could help, but assumed he would. At this point, too, leadership was no longer claimed but conferred, as it ceased to be an abstract idea and became a lived reality. Involvement in public and communal affairs deepened, both in the church and the village. At 80, the Ojomo now measures his legacy not by the size of estates, fleets, or bank accounts, but by those he has lifted; not by titles conferred on him, but by opportunities he has created for others. 

The Ojomo also realises that leadership is less about authority and more about weight, and that in public life, restraint is as important as ambition because one careless action can destroy years of faithful service. As a firm believer in God, he believes that if his work serves God and humanity honestly, then he can endure misinterpretation without bitterness. Aikohi or the concept of supremacy of destiny can, therefore, be described as a scenario where enterprise, faith and reputation intersect and where prominence is not a crown but a cross that must be carried wisely.