Nigeria Content Online

Facebook has its
moments. What I never hoped for, however, was to learn of the death of
Eni-Jones Umuko on Facebook. But that’s precisely what happened on
February 28, 2011.

My current Facebook
status reads, “Now this is terrible. I have just read that our much
loved and highly respected lecturer, extra-ordinary actor, and
visionary director, Eni-Jones Umuko has died in an automobile accident.
I hope he misheard somebody. What’s Eni doing dying just a few months
after Esiaba?” I think it captures both my shock at the news, and holds
a prayer that there had been some kind of error.

My hope of a recant
was quickly dashed by a text message from Georgina Ehuriah who
co-organised the ‘Return of The Minstrel’ tribute show for Esiaba Irobi
last year. It read: “Eni-Jones ran into a trailer this afternoon. I
just got the awful news. He is dead. We have been busy the past two
weeks planning Esiaba’s first year memorial, with him as the anchor…”
Then Big George Anozie responded to my status; “Hi. I’m afraid he’s
right. Eni is truly gone. May his soul rest in peace.” Confirmed.
Eni-Jones as we knew him was gone from this earth – forever. Forever!
At a time like this, I pray that my belief in reincarnation is true,
and that even though Eni’s exit may appear final to us, it really marks
the beginning of his fuller experience of the wonders of life and the
beauty of God’s infinite universe. So then, I sing to him:

Of a million and one ways to re-astral, brother,

it had to be the organic against masses of steel?

Without gifts of precognition, and telekinesis, this dance, chokes in an arena of the too ordinary.

We should see the oceans that hunger for us and own the power to will them to drought.

Those Nsukka Days

As it turns out, my
only experiences and interaction with Eni-Jones Umuko were at Nsukka. I
feel privileged to have been directed by him in some important
theatrical roles: as Iyase in Sam Ukala’s ‘The Slave Wife’; Dr Egbunike
in Nnamdi Ndu’s ‘Scars That Mar’; Elesin in Wole Soyinka’s ‘Death and
The King’s Horseman’, ‘The Masked Spirit’; and Afo in Emeka Nwabueze’s
‘When the Arrow Rebound’s. He also taught me African Theatre and
Advanced Acting Skills at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Umuko was a great
actor and was intriguing as the Praise Singer in ‘Death and the King’s
Horseman’. I described his direction of that play as “out of this
world” in my piece ‘Esiaba Irobi, the intellectual terrorist’ (NEXT;
May 9, 2010). I have also previously acknowledged his writing and
performing skills in ‘Rhythm Wednesdays: Reflections on the Anthill
Days at Nsukka,’ in which I mentioned how “Eni-Jones Umuko knocked me
silly with his poems in Pidgin English.” But I think that it is in the
Preface to my 2010 play, ‘Funeral of the Minstrel’, that I acknowledge
what encountering Umuko meant to me and my training, thus: “Esiaba
Irobi taught me Theatre History, Improvisation, Basic Acting Skills and
Introduction to Playwriting… He was the most engaging teacher I have
ever had in my life. The only person that came close to him in the
classroom was Eni-Jones Umuko. These two people had drama flowing
through their veins. They made learning fun, and made us proud to be
dramatic artists at a time some people still sniffed at Dramatic
Arts… Irobi and Umuko made us feel it was the best thing in the world
to be a part of.”

At the time of
writing that preface, I had no idea that just a few months down the
line, I would be writing about the passing of Eni-Jones. It is so hard
to fathom. Every death like this makes us evaluate and re-evaluate our
mortality. Perhaps the person that has articulated this tragedy best
for me is Artist and Poet, Olu Oguibe who chipped in a comment on my
page, that “Eni-Jones has travelled on to join his good friend. The
eagle has left his perch. Dark clouds all around me.”

Unbelief

There is still a
lot of shock in the reactions of friends to the passing of Eni-Jones.
Writer and director of ‘Aramotu,’ Niji Akanni states: “Eni-Jones dead?
Please, Lord, let someone check again and tell us here it’s not true.
Lord, please. Esiaba, Eni-Jones and I: we were the Three Musketeers for
a brief while at Paul Robeson Buidling. Lord, please.” Unfortunalely,
the Lord had already allowed it. Onuora Ude, Dramatist and Umuko’s
former student, wonders; “It is hard to believe – Amankulor, Enekwe,
Esiaba, and now Eni-Jones…?” Former Anthill anchorman, Jachimike
Adiele, says it is “So sad. And we were all together at Abuja mourning
and celebrating Esiaba not so long ago.” While Umuko’s former student
at Nsukka, Eni Kenneth Efakponana chips in that “It’s very sad. I was
with him on Friday. I was supposed to pick up Esiaba’s plays from him
for consideration for production to mark Esiaba’s one year remembrance.
He was already planning for the event. It so sad.” What can anyone say?
The two great artists are probably sharing peppersoup on the other
side, reviewing their lives and making some kind of sense of it all.

Yet at this point I
must applaud Eni-Jologho Umuko (Eni-Jones to us) for what I believe was
a beautiful life. He loved life and enjoyed it to the maximum. He was
probably the only lecturer during our student days I remember partying
together with. I would walk into a bar with a friend and if Eni was
there, he would buy us a couple of Premier beers. I remember a man who
might have said to the collector of souls who came for him, “It is OK.
Ok. I had fun here. Let’s go.” Eni-Jones Umuko is dead. Long live
Eni-Jones Umuko.

Eni-Jones Umuko died on February 28, 2011. He is survived by one wife and four children. He was 57.

Nnorom Azuonye is the Publisher of ‘Sentinel Literary Quarterly,’ ‘Sentinel Nigeria’ and ‘Nollywood Focus’ magazines.