Family and friends in shock as Chima JJC Ohanekwu dies.
4 min read
On January 4 2025, the 82 set of Old Boys Association of High School Umuaka held her annual reunion party at the Chukwujiekwu Palace of Obinwanne Umuaka Autonomous Community courtesy of HRM Eze Justin Uzoma Ezeala who is a member of the association. Mr Chima Ohanekwu popularly known as JJC was with his fellow old boys seated and having fun. When Umuaka Times reporters who covered the event arrived at the gathering, he had a warm handshake with the reporters and they both greeted happy New Year to themselves.
During the reunion of the party, JJC had real fun with his old folks and took some special photographs with them as well. During dancing time, they all danced together with smiles and razzmatazz. As the now late JJC Chima Ohanekwu was dancing and having fun with his old time classmates, he had no iota of premonition that the event was not only going to be his last and neither did he also know that he had just 30 more days left for him to live as he passed on to the world beyond on February 4, 2025, exactly one month after the event.
Events that led to the death of JJC were still sketchy as at press time last week but Umuaka Times local affairs correspondents managed to secure the attention of some people who spoke on the last hours of Mr JJC.
Monday, 3 February 2025, JJC woke up as usual and exchanged pleasantries with family and friends. Shortly after that, he went out to take his breakfast within the neighbourhood as that fateful day was a Sit-at-home holiday. After taking his breakfast at a nearby makeshift restaurant known as “mama put”, he went back home to rest. In a couple of hours, the “healthy” JJC who woke up some hours ago started to notice some body abnormalities within himself. He started to feel highly uncomfortable. The uneasy feeling did not stop even when he had vomited. Around evening time, the case became more worrisome as family members gathered in front of his house, holding him and pouring water on him to cool off.
Mr Ekene Ohanekwu who just arrived from Owerri and witnessed the incident immediately made arrangements and took him to Sancta Maria Hospital Obinwanne for urgent medical attention. On getting to the hospital, a deposit was made and an emergency card was also obtained. Doctors and nurses then went to work.
The medical experts at Sancta Maria after initial examinations raised the alarm that his blood pressure of the patient was 248 over 170. He was placed of fluids and made stable.
By 6:30am the following day being Tuesday 4 February 2025, the family members decided to take him to St Mary’s Hospital Umuowa for proper diagnosis and care. On their arrival, the doctors at Umuowa also confirmed that his BP was high and went further and recommended a CT scan to establish if blood has gone to his brain. The CT scan which cost N70,000 was carried out immediately.
Umuaka Times gathered that the doctors then recommended that he should be transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital for proper monitoring, care and management after every 30 minutes. According to the highly dependable sources that spoke to Umuaka Times, a deposit of N500,000 was made for the ICU treatment. When the payment was confirmed, he was placed on oxygen.
Around 8 pm on the same day, his sister who was taking care of him at the hospital made the most devastating call of the whole sad episode. She called Ekene Ohanekwu and said. “Ekene, Dee Chima has died.”
The news devastated Ekene and some other people who heard it. As someone was seen a couple of days ago “hale and hearty”, the question everyone seemed to be asking was if it was a motoring accident that killed the almighty JJC.
A medical expert who spoke to Umuaka Times last week on the condition of anonymity lamented that people especially Nigerians care less about their health. “From the look of things, it appears that JJC was both hypertensive and diabetic but gave a little attention to such deadly ailments. Our people hate to go for medical check-ups and the worst of all is that we do not go for autopsy unless otherwise stated.”
Umuaka Times reporters last week received several calls from the members of 82 set of High School Umuaka Old Boys Association who called to establish confirmation of the sad rumour they heard.
Mr Chima JJC Ohanekwu was a native of Uba Umuaka who graduated from High School Umuaka in 1982 and joined the traffic department of the Nigeria Police Force until his retirement a couple of years ago.
