In Memoriam: Chris Asoluka – The Poet of Principle, The Warrior of Truth
By Agbeze Ireke Kalu Onuma,AI-KO
Dr. Chris Chigoziri Asoluka (1955 – 2025): Lawyer, maritime strategist, President Emeritus of Aka Ikenga, and Ohanaeze’s conscience. Survived by a legacy that would hardly die.
The news of Chris Asoluka’s passing, barely a month after the departure of Pascal Dozie, strikes with the cruel beat of a dirge. The universe, it seems, has conspired to dim the lights of Igbo leadership’s “third generation,” leaving us to stumble through the shadows of their absence. Yet, in this darkness, Asoluka’s legacy burns like a torch – unyielding, unapologetic, and eternal.
Our relationship was forged mostly at Ndigbo Lagos, through the Aka Ikenga initiatives to set up Ndigbo Lagos as the umbrella body of Ndigbo in Lagos, where he served as President with the fervor of a visionary and the precision of a tactician. To work alongside him was to witness a mind in perpetual motion, dissecting the complexities of Ndigbo’s place in Nigeria with surgical clarity. His ideas were not mere theories; they were blueprints for emancipation. He spoke of restructuring, equity, and innovation long before they became hashtags, his voice a steady drumbeat in the cacophony of Nigeria’s political chaos.
One moment crystallizes his essence: a tense Ndigbo Lagos Executive meeting where Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (of blessed memory), a titan in his own right, ventured an opinion that skirted the edges of compromise. Asoluka’s response was swift, sharp, and seismic. “Admiral, This is not what we agreed!”, he declared, his voice a blade slicing through pretense. The room froze. Here was a man, decades younger, daring to hold a revered elder accountable. Yet, in that act of audacity, he earned not scorn but respect. Adm. Kanu later confided, “That young man has the courage of lions. He reminds me why we fought for freedom – and why we must keep fighting.”
Asoluka’s disdain for subterfuge was legendary. To him, power was a tool for justice, not a pedestal for preening. He navigated the murky waters of Nigerian politics with the grace of a shark – unafraid to churn the waves if it meant exposing rot beneath the surface. “Eggs must break,” he’d say, quoting his favorite proverb, “but the omelette must feed the people.”
Our bond deepened pre the January 2021 Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide National Elections, when fate – or perhaps divine mischief – aligned our ambitions: Asoluka vied for the Presidency of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, zoned to his native Imo State, while I sought the Secretary General role, zoned to Abia. We had not conspired; our parallel paths emerged organically. When news of my candidacy reached him, he called abruptly, his voice a mix of curiosity and urgency: “Is it true?” Upon my confirmation, he exhaled, “It’s about time!”. Later, he elaborated: “Our organizations suffer from administrative anemia. You’d bring the rigor Ohanaeze craves.” His words, a rare compliment, humbled me.
But the process soon curdled. The Imo Governor, Hope Uzodinma, weaponized a so-called “Unity List,” imposing prebaked candidates to stifle dissent. Asoluka, ever allergic to artifice, withdrew. “We’ve opened a door we cannot close,” he warned. His prophecy materialized in January 2025, when Ohanaeze’s election collapsed under the same farcical “Unity” banner – a metastasis of the rot he’d foreseen. To him, principles were non-negotiable, even if victory slipped away.
Born on May 1, 1955, in Ihiagwa Owerri, Dr. Chris Chigoziri Asoluka embodied the Igbo ideal of “wealth in knowledge and character”. A polymath – lawyer, policy architect, maritime visionary – he championed Nigeria’s blue economy long before it became fashionable. Yet titles never eclipsed his humanity. He disarmed adversaries with wit, once joking, “Even mmiri (water) knows its path. Must we flow like fools?”
Born of Owerri parents, Asoluka carried its resilience in his bones. He wore his achievements lightly, preferring substance over spectacle. His humor was as quick as his intellect: at a somber meeting, he once diffused the tension by quipping, “Even the snake knows when to shed its skin. Must we cling to foolishness?” Yet beneath the wit lay a heart tender for his people. He mentored countless young Igbo professionals, urging them to “build bridges, but never forget whose river they cross.”
Our dialogues transcended meeting rooms, Conferences and seminars. He devoured my writings, his feedback a blend of incisive critique and ancestral wisdom. When I eulogized Pascal Dozie, he texted: “You truly understood the man, PGD.” A Week later, reacting to my piece on Abia’s renewal, he mused: “Revelatory… that ‘things can still.’” His words were lifelines, affirming that our struggles – literary or political – were shared. Each essay sparked calls dissecting Igbo ontology, Nigeria’s paradoxes, or the sly humor in Owerri proverbs.
To hear Chris Asoluka speak in the Owerri dialect was to witness artistry in motion. His voice would soften, then soar, weaving proverbs into parables and history into hymns. The cadence of his “Owerri-ness” was not mere speech; it was a symphony. Once, during a late-night debate on Igbo cosmology, he erupted into an impromptu recital of “Owerre,” traditional poetry, his voice candescence, his hands carving the air as if conducting spirits in an otherworldly Orchestra. A colleague whispered, half-jesting, “Okwuruoha, too much wisdom will break your head!” He laughed – a rich, thunderous sound – and retorted, “Wisdom unshared is poison. Let it break me, but let it heal others.”
On Easter day, he messaged me: “May the season’s impact remain with you.” Then 19 days later, on May 9, 2025, his voice stilled at 70. Yet his essence lingers – in the youth he mentored, the policies he shaped, and the defiant stand he took against poisoned “Unity.”
Chris Asoluka’s death is a wound. But wounds, as he often reminded us, are reminders of battles fought and survived. He leaves a world where “things can still” – a phrase he used about my recent writings – transform from chaos to Camelot. His life was a testament to the power of unwavering principle, cultural pride, and intellectual ferocity.
As he takes his final bow, I imagine him now, debating ancestors in fluent Owerri, challenging heaven’s status quo. For those of us left behind, the charge is clear: Pick up the torch. Speak truth, even when voices shake. And never, ever let the fire go out.
Asoluka’s life was a clarion call: to lead without compromise, speak without fear, and cherish our dialect as the dialect of destiny. In his final days, he often quoted the Igbo adage, “He who clings to purpose cannot be killed by death”!. True to form, he clings still – not in flesh, but in the unyielding ideas he seeded.
As he spoke, so let it be done. Okwuruoha Ka Chi bọọ!
©️AI-KO
May 1 2025
Lagos
