Biography

HER EARLY LIFE

March 6, 1962, heralded the birth of a bouncing baby girl, the last born in the stable of one of the kingmakers in Elu Ohafia community, the family of Chief Nnate Okoro of blessed memory. Christened ‘Ogbogo’ by her father and nicknamed ‘Adanneya’ by her mother, the emerging star was fondly called ‘Baby Nnate’ or ‘Baby Acha’ by neighbors, friends, and acquaintances up to her teenage years. In her secondary school years, she adopted the sweet name ‘Clara’ and with this she made her mark in the world.

HER EDUCATION

Clara's formal education began at Elu Community School, Elu Ohafia, Abia State in 1968. Between 1971 and 1972 she enrolled in St. Barnabas Primary School, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State while living with her uncle Pa Iroha Kalu Ajike. She later returned home and completed her primary school education in 1973 in her previous school. She obtained WASC ‘O’ Level after attending Ohafia Girls' Secondary School, Amaekpu Ohafia (1977 – 1981). Desiring to become an educationist, she enrolled in Macgregor Teachers' Training College, Afikpo, Ebonyi State (1983 – 1985) and obtained Teachers' Grade II Certificate.

Desiring to become an educationist, she enrolled in Macgregor Teachers' Training College, Afikpo, Ebonyi State (1983 – 1985) and obtained a Teachers' Grade II Certificate. Her university education transpired in various institutions after her wedding and while she was a full-time employee of various organizations. First, Clara attended Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos (1990 – 1995) and earned a BSc. (Edu) in Economics. She then moved to Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State (2002 – 2006) where she earned an M.Ed. in Management. Clara later earned a PhD degree in Business Administration from Babcock University, Postgraduate School, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State (2015 – 2018). This lofty attainment satisfied her yearning to become a university lecturer and a professional technocrat.

HER CAREER

Throughout Clara's 37-year career, her work experience was primarily in the academic environment. Approximately 17 of these years saw her serving as a class teacher and 3 years as a university lecturer. The schools she served as a class teacher were Community Secondary School, Ndi Oji Abam, Arochukwu/Ohafia L. G. A., Abia State (September 1985 – July 1986); Primrose Children's School, Anthony Village, Lagos State (September 1986 – July 1988); Model Nursery/Primary School, Orile Agege, Lagos State (September 1988 – July 1990); Harker Dare Memorial Nursery/Primary School, Ikotun, Lagos State (May 1995 – August 1997); Excel College, Ejigbo, Lagos State (September 1997 – December 1997); and Gloryland Nursery/Primary School, Ejigbo, Lagos State (January 1999 – October 1999). Clara also had the privilege of serving as Assistant Head-Teacher, Adventist Model Nursery/Primary School, Aba, Abia State (January 1997 – December 1998). Clara's contributions to each of these schools are memorable and were highly appreciated by the pupils, students, parents, and proprietors.

At the turn of the century, Clara migrated with her family to Babcock University (BU), Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, where she worked until this brave and tireless woman hung up her boots and was called by the Omnipotent One to rest. Through her hard work, spirited commitment to the institution, and zealous spirituality, Clara served meritoriously, rising through the ranks to become a senior staff at Babcock University (BU).

In various capacities, primarily as a non-academic staff, Clara served at BU. Her service began with her appointment as Faculty Officer, where she served in different faculties, namely, Faculties of Education And Humanities (EAH), Science And Technology (SAT), and Management And Social Sciences (MSS) from 2001 to 2008. Clara's initial promotion was to the rank of Administrative Officer I (2004 – 2008). In recognition of her valuable contribution to the realization of the mission goals and objectives of BU, the University further promoted her and appointed her to the posts of Assistant Registrar (2008 - 2013); Senior Assistant Registrar (2013 – 2014); and Principal Assistant Registrar, Babcock University (2014 – 2015). Externally, she effectively served for many years as a liaison officer between BU and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Directorate, Abuja. Clara also served as a member of several committees and performed many other key assignments, some of which included Recording Secretary, BU Senate Meetings (2001-2002); Secretary, SAT Faculty Board and Faculty Board of Studies (January 2001- February 2005). Her tenure in the Registry left indelible footprints.

She was redeployed to the Academic Planning Department and held the position of Deputy Director, Academic Planning (2015 – 2021). When her boss was due to go on sabbatical, Clara was appointed Acting Director, Academic Planning (August 2018 - July 2019). While serving in the Academic Planning Department, the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abuja office became very familiar with her due to the seamless manner in which she executed her liaison responsibilities with this august body. At the end of her tenure in that position, she was publicly honored with a resounding ovation at the subsequent University Colloquium for her meritorious performance.

Having garnered enormous experience in the non-academic terrain, Clara, in 2021, opted to return to the classroom, this time as a university lecturer. She accepted the offer of the rank of Lecturer I in the Education Department at Babcock University and, during her time there, accentuated her professionalism from June 2021 to January 2024. Clara attended several important conferences, seminars, and workshops at home and abroad. She also published a number of articles in highly-rated, peer-reviewed journals locally and internationally.

In her humane and compassionate disposition, Clara, regardless of her heavy workload, created extra time to counsel and mentor any student who came to her office with issues that seriously bothered them. She also counseled parents and imbued hope in the hearts of those who had become disillusioned due to the missteps or poor academic performances of their wards. Effectively, she played the role of a guardian for many students of Babcock.

As such, hundreds of parents, students, and alumni of BU consider her a dependable mother figure in Ilishan as her motherly approach to counseling and mentoring helped foster academic and character success. One could opine that in Babcock ‘She stooped to conquer’ by the grace of God. Her life was exemplary and has caused many to ponder. A quote might be apt at this juncture: ‘Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime, and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time.’ - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

HER MARITAL LIFE

Lovely Clara got married to Mr. Thomas Kalu Egwuonwu, Tom, for short, on December 29, 1986. In God's providence, many years before both of them were attracted to each other to the extent of engaging in a relationship leading to courtship and marriage, the paths of Clara and Tom had crossed a number of times. But the contemplation of getting married to each other someday could hardly cross their minds until much later.

Interestingly, though both Clara and Tom are natives of Elu Ohafia, Abia State, their first contact with each other was at Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State in 1971. As a teenager, the guiding hands of He who holds the future had brought Tom to come and live with the family of his brother-in-law, Pa Iroha K. Ajike, a student then at Adventist College of West Africa (ACWA). Tom had come with the aspiration of getting registered into the Adventist College of West Africa (ACWA) the next academic session. Meanwhile, while Tom was serving as a houseboy in Pa Ajike's house, God brought Clara into the same household, being her uncle's family, and here comes a housemaid! But the future remained unknown to Clara and Tom and to the rest.

Eventually, when the time came for Tom to survey the ‘wife market’, he did but first got it wrong. In the process, Tom burnt his fingers and so leaked his wounds. God had mercy on him as he cried, redirected his footsteps, and removed some scales that had blinded his vision for many years. Lo and behold, there in one corner lived a beautiful, intelligent, humble, and unassuming girl who indeed was all that Tom needed. During this big search, the mention of Clara's name by Tom's mother caused his heart to pause and have a flashback. It then began to dawn on Tom that here was a girl who had, by Divine providence, crossed his path a number of times in the past but, in Tom's reckoning, was not then considered fit in Tom's choice set for a wife-to-be.

Flashback. Think of when both Clara and Tom, as teens, lived with the Pa Ajikes with she serving as a maid and Tom serving as a houseboy; the many years during which Clara accompanied Tom in his car, at different times, on her way to her brother's house after church service in Yaba, Lagos. How about the many times she and her friends visited the family house of Tom's parents during the yuletide season as the entire family spent their holiday in the village.

As God would have it, in the fullness of time, the scales all dropped off Tom's eyes. A panorama of Clara's compatibility with Tom then glowed in his eyes. Clara's beauty, apparent spiritual audacity, and her perceived level of intelligence now weighed so much on the scales, and Tom wasted no time but sealed his decision to grab Clara to become his for life. One is tempted to ask: Is this episode not like the proverbial case of ‘a person traveling so far to Sokoto town in search of a particular treasure whereas the person unknowingly was already in possession of a similar treasure in his ‘Sokoto’ i.e. trouser's pocket? Awesome.

To the glory of God, this awesome nuptial bond yielded a son, Victor, a highly promising personality. His birth miraculously happened after seven years of father and mom prayerfully waiting for the blessing of the womb. How thankful Victor's dad and mom are to the Benevolent God for answered prayers.

HER FAITH

Right from her toddler years, little Miss Clara unwittingly expressed her disdain for idolatrous practices, indirectly pledging her loyalty to God Almighty. A particular case surprisingly occurred one early morning as she was woken up and was about to be initiated by the elderly women into the community faith of ancestor worship. With sleepy eyes and mumbling lips, she retorted: ‘No, I am not interested in joining you people. I want to become ‘Mma Teacher’ – meaning a woman in the teaching profession. Some wise elders wondered at such a lofty statement emanating from the lips of a slumbering toddler, and so these elders quickly ruminated on her reaction and advocated that little Clara should be left alone.

Her audacious attitude to spiritual life was evident so early in life, and was made manifest even on the matter of her vehemently refusing to compromise on the Sabbath-keeping faith! She would rather bear some sufferings and deprivations consequently. And suffering she did experience sometimes for faith's sake and without regrets. A few times she was beaten and deprived of certain privileges by some ‘loved ones’ who were bent on saving her from the ‘wrong’ trajectory she had followed. When it was time for her to be enrolled in secondary school, she was threatened to abandon Sabbath-keeping, otherwise, the sponsor would withdraw the privilege. Standing firmly on her convictions, and remembering the Bible quote: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29), Clara opted to suffer deprivation of educational sponsorship to secondary school, rather than give up on her faith as a Seventh-day Sabbath keeper. God eventually won the battle for her after two years of staying at home. Her post-primary education was fulfilled thereafter.

Not only that. Other subliminal persuasions targeted at her as a teen could not deter her. Think about the days this poor girl was being taunted by one elderly woman, a neighbor to her family. This woman frequently frightened her by saying ‘Look here, Adanneya, you can't find a rich husband within the SDA church to marry you in the future because that church is filled with poor people. You better return to the popular church that your parents have been taking you to since childhood.’ As God would have it, time did not prove the elderly woman right after all.

Many years passed by and one day, this particular elderly woman saw Clara escorting her fiancé, Tom, from her parent's house. The woman could not hold back her emotions. She exclaimed ‘Adanneya, so at last you got a great Seventh-day Adventist man coming to marry you! No wonder, you in your teenage years actually saw the future that we elders could not see, and it was that vision that powered you to resist all discouragements on the issue of Sabbath-keeping!’ Of course, not. Clara did not in her teens see the future. She had only believed that her future was securely in God's hands. And God honored her faith.

Having been exposed to the Seventh-day Adventist brand of Christianity in her teenage years on the then-campus of ACWA, Bible texts meant so much to her. For example, the Bible passage: ’What shall separate us from the love of Christ … shall tribulation? …’ (Romans 8:38 -39. So motivated, she voluntarily made up her mind to serve God at all costs. Her spiritual life could fit the scenario captured in a hymn titled ‘I Saw One Weary’ composed by Annie Smith (1852), stanza three of which reads:

‘And there was one who left behind
The cherished friends of early years,
An honor, pleasure, wealth resigned,
To tread the path bedewed with tears
Through trials deep and conflicts sore,
Yet still a smile of joy he wore;
I asked what buoyed his spirits up,
‘O this!’ said he - ‘the blessed hope.’

Certainly, ‘the blessed hope’ of Christ's Second Coming to take us home to Heavenly Paradise consistently ignited her zeal for God. Through her commitment to the faith, God granted her the opportunity to serve at several times in different local churches of the Seventh-day Adventists (SDA), especially at Faneye Street, Yaba, Lagos, and at Babcock University in various capacities: Sabbath school officer, choir member, choral group member, Young Adventist Women Ministries (AWM) leader, Adventist Women Ministries (AWM) member, deaconess, and so on.

A great daughter of heavenly Zion, a woman of destiny, she hardly accepted any compromise especially on matters of ethics, morality, and spirituality. Doubtless, the memory of Clara would be: A woman of value, valor, and integrity; a lady of boldness, courage, and forthrightness; a compassionate, wise, and humble companion; a highly brilliant, intuitive, and disciplined scholar. A great mother in Israel, nay, a fantastic mother-in-Ilishan for thousands of students, ex-students, and their parents.

HER INTERESTS

She easily remembered the lessons she learned in her home economics class in secondary school. A great cook, she loved household activities. Often, Clara took an interest in playing the role of mediation for individuals experiencing conflicts in their homes or interpersonal relationships. About two weeks before her passing, while on her sickbed, she expressed immense joy upon learning that one of her close friends, a mother, had finally reconciled with her adult/married daughter despite apparent irreconcilable differences. Clara also found fulfillment in counseling or mentoring students and their parents. Additionally, she was passionately involved in singing in choirs such as the Heritage Choir in Yaba and engaging in Christian volunteering services of the Adventist Women Ministries (AWM).

THE CURTAINS DRAWING DOWN

In Clara's lifetime, she encountered serious health challenges, yet she maintained a cheerful countenance virtually at all times. Enduring four surgeries, including non-invasive closure of a hole in her heart, a metallic knee replacement, a biopsy, brain surgery, and tumor debulking, Clara's unwavering faith in God as her unfailing Healer remained steadfast. Despite the traumas associated with her health issues, including pains from a cancerous wound in her right eye and debilitating weakness from the side effects of radiology/chemotherapy, Clara once declared in a statement that mirrored that of Patriarch Job (Job 13:15): ‘Though He (God) slays me, yet will I trust Him.’ This resolute assertion, though jolting, provided solace to her husband, knowing her unwavering trust in God Almighty.

As the curtains of her life gradually drew down, during family devotional periods, she often requested the family to sing one of her favorite hymns titled ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God.’ The stanza she loved most encapsulates her faith:

‘Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving will be losing
Were not the right man on our side,
The man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus it is He
Lord Sabbaoth His name
From age to age the same
And He must win the battle.’

In God's time and wisdom, on January 22, 2024, our beloved Clara was called to rest. The news of her passing elicited a "massive wailing wall " from hundreds of fans, friends, colleagues, relatives, and acquaintances across the world. Tears flowed freely, and many questioned God's timing. While immediate answers were elusive, fervent prayers sought comfort, knowing that understanding would come in time. The vacuum left by Clara's departure is substantial, and the pain in our hearts may not easily be assuaged. However, as believers in Christ, we find solace in the words of I Thessalonians 4:13-17.

Dr. Clara Ogbogo Kalu Egwuonwu, fondly called ‘Aunty Clara’ by many, or ‘First Lady’ by some, is widely admired and will be sorely missed. She is survived by her devoted husband, Dr. Thomas Kalu Egwuonwu, son, Victor (Twik Hozay brand), elder brothers, among whom are, Chief Uguru N. Okoro , Acha N. Okoro, and Udonsi N. Okoro, as well as sisters, in-laws, cousins, nephews, nieces, friends, and several ‘academic sons and daughters.’

All we can say is ‘Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ I Cor. 15:57. Yes, victory beckons us as we approach the Great Resurrection morning. It won't be long. By God's grace, we will reunite with our beloved Clara and all other saints who have gone ahead, and we will part no more. Praise the Lord.

Sleep on, she must for now.