Article
By Bolarinwa Akande
The crowd of entertainers and business moguls was expected, but not many knew everything that the late filmmaker, Amaka Igwe stood for, until each person, including the eloquent daughter of the deceased, Ruby Igwe, began to speak.
The event was the Service of Songs for the late movie icon on June 9, at the Haven Events Centre, Archbishop Vining Cathedral, Ikeja, Lagos. Although the gathering was not for merriment, it was clear from everybody’s comment, that the deceased was being celebrated, for a life well spent.
`There must be a huge vacancy in heaven that no one could fill but Amaka Igwe,” said the deceased business partner, Chris Ihidero., even as Multichoice’s Wangi Mba Uzoukwu said: “Her legacy lives on, and Africa Magic will make sure that what she did produce will be highlighted and she will be celebrated always.”
Ruby, who described her mother as a professional who touched several lives, gave a lengthy speech: “We are all here this evening grieving Amaka Igwe who we love and we are inspired, influenced or maybe intimidated by. I also know that there are many here who she, by God’s grace, mothered, trained and raised. I am sure you would agree that our mother had a unique spirit. Her priorities make her seem infuriatingly odd because they were so good. However, she left this earth as one of the most successful people I have ever known,” she said, adding that, “I am mourning your absence not your present location, I will see you again but not very soon.”
The venue played host to notable names such as Abike Dabiri and her husband, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), Bukky Ajayi, Wunmi Obe, Olu Jacobs, Kunle Bantefa, Ngozi Nwosu, Sola Onaiga, Bimbo Akintola, Nobert and Gloria Young, Patrick and Ireti Doyle, Tony Umez, Kanayo .O. Kanayo, Ego Boyo, Ali Baba, Teju Babyface and a host of others.
Anchored by RMD and Ireti Doyle, the ceremony which took the form of exhortations, worship songs and tributes from friends and associates of the deceased, including a song by Waje, was highly emotional.
`If she’s probably shooting a movie in heaven, it will be titled “The Heavenly House of Serenity,” said Dr. Bola Oyeleye. For Kunle Bamtefa of the popular Fuji House of Commotion, one of the hit TV dramas produced by the deceased, “after working with Amaka, I didn’t feel like working with another producer again,” he said.
The late Amaka Igwe, who died at 51, on April 28, will be buried on June 13, in Ndiuche Arondizuogu, Imo State, after another Service of Songs on June 12, at the Michael Okpara Square, Enugu.
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