Kaa! i bayisale!, unu abiale!

Nobel Prize-winning author, Ernest Hemingway, once said:

Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.

These details can indeed be considered the essence of Personality, and have been summarized by Henry A. Murray and Clyde Kluckhohn, in their famous text, Personality in Nature, Society and Culture. Putting it all down in a nutshell, they state that: Every man is in certain respects: like all other men, like some other men,like no other man.

Professor Dr. Emea Okwara Arua distinguished himself, in many respects, in the third out of these three descriptions of humankind. A willful, patient, non-conformist,he was truly …a man like no other man.

Professor Dr. Emea Okwara Arua used the limitations he encountered in the course of his remarkable life, as stepping-stones to achievement of the goals he set for himself. He was a traditionalist who viewed all of humanity as one and believed in the equality of all peoples, regardless of race. He had a deep respect for the varied cultures of the world, believing each to be an important aspect of our universal social fabric. Professor Dr. Emea Okwara Arua respected everyone to whom respect was due, even the children, especially the children.

As a newborn, he was the answer to a prayer, and as a child, he was notable for his quick, inquisitive mind. As a pupil he was a rebel who questioned everything put before him by his missionary teachers, and as a student in Prague, Czechoslovakia, he distinguished himself in academic and intellectual excellence. As a civil servant and lecturer in Nigeria, despite the competition from the most brilliant academics in Africa, if not the world, his professional trajectory was always in ascent. As Ezeogo, the traditional ruler of Amaekpu, Ohafia, his reign was marked by revolutionary policies and pioneering innovations that repositioned Amaekpu in line with modern trends. As a brother, cousin, and uncle, he was the last defense, the unifying presence, the figurehead. And as a husband and father, he was a pillar of strength and a tower of wisdom, to the testimony of his immediate family.