Chude Jideonwo, a media personality, expressed his deep sorrow over the passing of legendary singer, songwriter, and actress Onyeka Onwenu.
In an emotional Instagram post, he shared that he had spent the entire day overcome with grief, crying profusely, and was still struggling to come to terms with the loss.
He described his heartbreak as unprecedented, stating that he couldn’t recall the last time he felt such intense pain.
“Aunty…
I have spent the whole of the day crying like a baby.
I am still shocked.
I am still stunned.
I am speechless.
I cannot remember the last time my heart broke this hard”.
Chude Jideonwo shared a heartfelt tribute to Onyeka Onwenu, recounting his fond memories of her. He discovered her music in secondary school, particularly her song “Greatest Love”, which he still considers the most beautiful song he’s ever heard. He fell deeply in love with her after seeing her music video, where she shared her testimony of finding Christ. He became obsessed, buying all her tapes, attending her concerts, and watching her interviews. When he became a producer for “New Dawn” in 2002, he invited her as a guest and, although she was polite and professional rather than warm, he still adored her. His post is a testament to the profound impact she had on his life.
I was in secondary school when I discovered Onyeka Onwenu.
I didn’t discover her from ‘One Love’ or ‘Dancing in the Sun’, which my parents, like everyone else across Nigeria, loved. Even Ekwe, over which my father and I often bonded, came later.
No, I discovered her with ‘Greatest Love’, which I still consider to be the most beautiful song I ever heard. I saw her in the music video telling the testimony of finding Christ and finding peace, and something about the woman on the pulpit made me fall in love.
I fell hopelessly, recklessly, abundantly in love with her. I was obsessed with her. I bought every tape of hers, begged my aunties to take me to every concert, I watched every interview I could find. I adored her.
I was besotted.
When I became the producer of New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda in 2002, she was, of course, one of the first guests I invited. She wasn’t warm, but as always, she was polite and professional. I didn’t care. To just be talking to her on the phone was a dream come true.
When she arrived at the studio in NTA Tejuoso, used to huge egos, I asked her: ‘How should I address you, ma?’ She said, ‘Just call me Onyeka Onwenu’. Even the way she said it sounded like music.
It is one the greatest honours of my life that I called Onyeka Onwenu aunty, and she saw me as one of hers. It was a great honour to be in her presence, to see her smile, to see her dance, to have her lean on me literally and figuratively, to send and receive gifts from her, to hear her sing, to dine with her, to gaze at her, to watch her live.
To watch her glide through the world, luminous as she was despite Nigeria’s many attempts to kill her light.
I loved her. I love her. I was obsessed with her.
Besotted.
I could never stop loving her” He wrote.
