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The Man Called Ambrose: Hon. A.C.Mezu (1935- 2008) by Dr. Rose Ure Mezu
At 12.30 a.m. on Sunday, January 6, 2008, Feast of the Epiphany, barely into the New Year, Hon. Ambrose Chukwudi Mezu passed away. It was not just the shock that Ambu (as family members and friends called him) is no more but it was the crystal clear, irrevocable finality of death that struck an unmistakable chord in my heart and brain. So many memories abound of the man called Ambrose – flamboyant, fun-loving, classily fashionable, grandiloquent, loquacious even, but intrepidly courageous and brutally honest.
Every time death of a loved one occurs, you think you have learnt something, that somehow through the frequent commonality of death, you are immune from the shock of it, but each time, the startling surprise persists. Truly, as we swagger and bluster through our earthly odyssey, when will we learn to take most seriously the words of our dear the Lord and Savior Jesus: “you neither know the time nor the place!” His physical self, the breathing, living Hon. A. C. Mezu had ceased to bestride the Earth like the colossus he was. From now on, this fallen Iroko would only live through his achievements, his acts and through the children and progeny he left behind. From now on, flashes of the man called Ambrose, his gait when he was hale and hearty, his boisterous laugh, his gestures would come alive only through our rememories – imaginatively recalled memories. And what a complex man he was! So many memories abound of the man called Ambrose – flamboyant, fun-loving, classily fashionable, grandiloquent, loquacious even, but intrepidly courageous and brutally honest. No doubt, others will write and speak volumes about him for sometime to come; other aspects of his multi-faceted life will come to light, no doubt, but I wish to dwell on some vital qualities of this brother-in-law of mine called Ambrose, aspects of his life involving acts, gestures, and words significant to me, more especially in those last weeks of his life on earth. To God and Ambu, I owe the gift of Sebastian, my chum and partner in life. Ambu often visited my home in Port Harcourt and wrote back to Sebastian most positive recommendation to proceed and thus the unexpected congratulatory telegram. Over the years, through the quiet rhythm, excitement and sometimes turbulence of settling into my newly acquired family, Ambu and I became friends. I found him impetuous, but very fair-minded, bombastic, even but truthful in his judgments. He could be passionately infuriating, for instance, I always had issues with him for what I perceived to be a misogynist attitude towards women, yet we could disagree without lingering rancor, and still remain good friends because he had that quality which is most desirable in human relational skills – a good sense of humor; he could laugh uproariously, crack jokes and tell stories, even if at times he stretched the truth a little.
Hon. A.C. Mezu was given to grand gestures. He was magnificently generous in matters of the heart, at least, to the public at large. When my first-born son Obinna Julian, three months old and brought home from America, was dying of meningitis at Aba General Hospital under the care of the beloved, late Dr. Ochia Nwankwo of Umuahia, and Sebastian was no match for his son, Ambu willingly volunteered, was tested and found to be a match, Ambrose donated his blood and my son was saved. We were later to lose Obinna at 17 months but for always, I would be grateful for that saving gesture. Truly, he had a human (e) heart. He wept inconsolably when his father, Papa Clement and junior brother Cosmas died. Tears did not make him less a man but rather re-affirmed the humaneness of the man. Thus, it is easy to believe that Ambrose could put himself in harm’s way for the sake of those he loved. And so he could never understand, nor tolerate stinginess, or what I call “chikpoedness” in others. As St. Paul said, “charity covers a multitude of sins” and so for his many sins, I know that this God we serve, who through the Lord Jesus proclaimed to St. Faustina that He is the Divine Mercy would consider the great generosity of Ambrose, his love and compassion for kith and kin and for others not his kin, and have mercy on his soul. Perhaps, it was for such acts as these that through Sebastian for whose son Obinna, Ambu was willing to shed his blood, that God showed him mercy and gave him the great gift of a prepared Catholic Christian death through the reception of the sacrament of Final Anointing – Extreme unction. Once admitted to Holy Rosary Hospital Emekuku on the evening of January 4th , I telephoned to have a priest sent to him while Ambu still lingered on, but Sebastian already had the prescience to call a priest who prayed over, and anointed him. It is my belief that divine light already shines on him because in life Ambrose loved others, championed the cause of the oppressed poor, visited the sick and dying, and willingly gave to others in need: “Lord, when did I see you hungry and not feed you, naked and not clothe you, or sick and not visit you?” And the Divine Master’s reply will always be: “as often as you do this to the least of my brethren, that you do unto Me.” Our Christ walks the earth wearing the many faces of poverty, oppression and wretchedness. At such a time as this, perhaps, we who have been given a little more time should do well to remember that kindness and compassion may perhaps count more with Our Lord than daily, mechanical Church attendance. It is not the ritual but the heart. A personal responsibility towards the needy and suffering around us rests with each individual – in our homes, in our community, and in Church programs.
Our Christ walks the earth wearing the many faces of poverty, oppression and wretchedness. At such a time as this, perhaps, we who have been given a little more time should do well to remember that kindness and compassion may perhaps count more with Our Lord than daily, mechanical Church attendance. It is not the ritual but the heart. A personal responsibility towards the needy and suffering around us rests with each individual – in our homes, in our community, and in Church programs. Abu Bakir – a non-believer but a great humanist – one night, saw in his dream an angel writing on the wall. “What are you writing?” Abu Bakir asked. “The names of those who love God,” the angel replied. Abu Bakir asked, “Please, see if my name is among those.” “No,” replied the angel. The next night, Abu Bakir had the same dream, and again asked the angel the same question, “What is it you are writing this time?” he asked. This time, replied the angel, “the names of those whom God loves.” “Please angel, see if my name is there?” Abu Bakir humbly asked. And lo! the angel replied, “Yours is the first name on the list.” Abu Bakir loved and helped his fellow human beings. The saintly John Paul II wrote about the Love and Responsibility (1960) to which each of us owes the other. Hon. Ambrose C. Mezu personally fulfilled his own evangelizing ministry to the poor, sick and oppressed. In the last six years, even though sick and partially disabled, he visited those sicker than he was. By all accounts, he is universally acclaimed as a peoples’ man. He had love for others, and that has got to count with our divine and merciful Lord. A great Socratic maxim says, “count no man fortunate until you see his end.” Indeed, Ambu’s end is fortunate. He knew that Sebastian and I were going away and within three days before our travel, he died, which we interpreted as a mandate to stay and see him buried honorably. He died surrounded by family and many in his larger family. He did not have to bury his own children. He discharged his familial responsibilities and his children are all grown. He reached to the height of his professional career in M.D.S. of U.A.C. Dr. Sebastian Okechukwu Mezu brought Ambrose into politics and thereafter, Ambu became a masterful and astute politician who never lost an electoral fight. Contemporaneously, while I was serving as the Hon. Commissioner for Social Welfare, the first woman to do so for the greater Imo State under Mbakwe’s civilian administration (1979-83), Ambrose was the first Hon. Member in the old Imo House of Assembly, representing creditably the Owerri North East Constituency. All of us worked smoothly together to ensure amenities and government patronage for the people. Years later, as Special Adviser on Chieftaincy and Local Government in Gov. Udenwa’s first Administration, Ambu restructured the political map of many communities, including his own. . Until his death, at all levels, he was a political force to be reckoned with. If as St. Paul and the great St. Augustine declare, we are to be saved only by grace “because we are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14), then Ambrose C. Mezu stands a good chance. Sometimes, we misguidedly seek love and security in earthly beings and things, whereas our journey through life is only a search for God, who is the sum total of the Highest Good, who is most Excellent, most Radiant and Resplendent. Towards the end of his life, frustrated by the inadequacy and stinginess of human love which in life he desired so ardently, Ambu, at the end must have realized, as we also before the end must come to understand, just as the erstwhile great sinner St. Augustine had understood and therefore declared, “I sought for You [God] outside, while all the time YOU were within me. . . Late have I loved You, O beauty, so Ancient yet so New!. . . You have made us for Yourself, Oh, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You!” (The Confessions 1). Only the God of grace and mercy can satisfy our restless hearts at the end of our earthly odyssey, “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4: 17).On a personal note, it gives me unbounded joy to know that my husband Sebastian, our first son and I were around during the last few weeks of Ambu’s life. He spent a lot of time with us. For some inexplicable reason, moved with tenderness because of his many frustrations, wanting to do something to make him happy, I told him I wanted to cook for him; and to the question as to what he would like, he replied, “Vegetable soup.” So it was that on the eve of Christmas, I prepared what my father-in-law, Papa Clement would normally called “Ntagbu Agbishi. – a delicious soup with all the accoutrements and brought to him. No doubt, Ambu had enjoyed it for he was said to have remarked that this was his Last Supper. Our presence this Christmas period brought a lot of joy into his life. Driving himself, Ambu visited often, and in his characteristic style, spoke openly about many things. Perhaps, had I been in a more mystical mode, I would have read more meaning into the manner of burial he told me to remember that he wanted. Unwilling to dwell on the morbid, I brushed aside his words about death and burial with jokes about new technologies that would enable people to live forever. Was he aware that his crossing over was imminent? Who knows! But certainly, from his spirit-being, there must have been a consciousness of approaching death which his physical consciousness did not grasp, although his random words proclaimed that death was at hand. But who can decipher the workings of the Spirit? Who knows the inscrutable mind of our God? Ultimately, there was a certain grace and honor that were part of the essence of the man called Ambrose. He was happy that my eldest son was doing his wine -carrying ceremonies. He accompanied us to the Mmi Ukwu ceremonies. He approved of Okechukwu Jr.’s choice of bride. Graciously, Ambu gave us time to complete the ceremonies without any distracting, tragic drama. For this, we are grateful to the inner spirit of the man called Ambrose. Because Ambu loved a good dramatic story, he laughed hilariously over the new Imo State Governor’s epic, legal fight with the Okada group of drivers, as told to me by a driver. Until then, he had not heard the story. At heart a story teller, Ambu laughed easily and he could also make you laugh. Whoever can tell humorous stories and is able to make people laugh has a good heart, and Ambrose Chukwudi Mezu had one. In passionate debates, he would thump his chest and loudly declare: “Ambrose Mezu, I am a Man! Indeed, by all standards, Ambu was a man’s man. Our journey on earth is bound to come to an end one day. On January 6, 2008, for the Man called Ambrose, his time was up. As Pope Paul VI lay dying, he called the earth, “a magnificent but sad and tragic world.” Magnificent world, yes indeed! because it is the handiwork of our Good God; a sad and tragic world, yes! but we humans make it so because we refuse to be kind, to follow the principle of do unto others as we would like to have done unto us. Perhaps, with the passing of the Man called Ambrose, we here today will learn to have a heart that beats with care for others. That is the core of Christianity – love towards others: “You ask me a method of attaining perfection. I know of Love – and only Love. Love can do all things . . . Love is repaid by Love alone and sacrifice.” – St. Therese of Lisieux.Dr. Rose Ure Mezu Mezuville, Emekuku Friday, January 11, 2008.
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