Amaechi speaks on struggle through university as brother is laid to rest

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, has described Charles, his elder brother who was laid to rest on September 12, as a “fatherly figure”.

Speaking at a requiem mass for the deceased at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Ubima, his hometown in Rivers state, the minister said his brother was very generous.

He said he has been unable to handle the duties previously assumed by his brother.

“I recall that in the struggle to get through the university, he made his own contributions, he wanted me to school overseas, unfortunately I didn’t, I had to school at the University of Port Harcourt,” he said.

“He’s done quite a lot for all of us and the most difficult aspect of it is that he kept the family together; and I’m not in a position to do that now that I’ve become the head of the family, but we’ll try.

“He has left us with a huge responsibility that I and challenge that I lack the capacity to discharge. Dede, as he was widely known, was generous to a fault. Dede was a name given to him by me in reverence to his ubiquitous care and fatherly role in our lives.

“He was everything to everybody and was full of life, he related with both the young and the old and got all his children educated. He protected all of us from the vagaries of the Nigerian society.

“He contributed to the payment of my school fees and ensured that we were not fatherless at the death of our father as he assumed the responsibilities of the family.

“He made my younger siblings complete their education and got them engaged in their different spheres of responsibilities.”

Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau state, donated a 32 seater bus to St. Theresa Catholic Church, Ubima to commemorate the good deeds of the deceased.

The governor eulogised the late Charles Amaechi as a Knight of St. Mulumba and sympathised with the minister on his loss.

“The late, Sir Charles Amaechi has done a good work because it is not easy to be a Knight. Ours is to emulate him and his contributions to the church of Christ,” he said.

“I am here to represent the Chairman Nigeria Governors Forum, the person of Governor Kayode Fayemi, and also the Northern Governors Forum, which I’m the Chairman, to extend our condolences to Rotimi Amaechi on this great loss.”

Gbemisola Saraki, minister of state for transportation, asked the people of Ubima to continue to uphold the deceased’s guiding values “as a tribute to his loving memory.”

Aged 64, the late Charles Amaechi died at at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) on June 12.