Psalm 116: 15
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
This memorial website was created in memory of our beloved mom, daughter, sister and grandmother Mrs. Oby Theodora Nwankwo, 61, born on September 22, 1956 and passed away on December 9, 2017.
She touched so many lives.
We will remember her forever.
Please click here for additional information or to send flowers.
For questions and comments, please contact
the family via email at VONDTeam@gmail.com
Tributes
Leave a tributeAkona
On behalf of your Nieces and Nephew Confidence, Kingsley, and Peace (Chichi)
Isaiah 57:1-2 NLT
I read this scripture this morning and it reminded me of aunty Oby and the legacy she left behind.
Your Niece
Peace Ainerua (“Chichi baby” as you will always call me)
Though I flinch when I think it's been 4 years since I heard you call me "Choko baby", I am forever grateful for the legacy of love and the beautiful memories you gifted me with.
Your love is timeless, and it will always be my life's guide. At every juncture of my life, I still feel you beside me, egging me on. I'm so blessed to be of you.
Miss you everyday & always, my forever MommieLove.
Forever your sis
Dr( Mrs ) Adewumi Oluwadiya fwc
NNVS Volunteer Ambassador
Retired Director ( PRS)
The Presidency
Abuja Nigeria
U S Resident Bowie MD
I was thinking of you today. Your memories will live on in our heart forever. May God continue to bless your children, their spouses and your grandchildren. I miss you Aunty
In loving memory
Peace (Chichi) Ainerua
My exploits on affirmative action was due to your training, mentoring and support for me and others in Rivers state to conduct advocacy campaigns for the adoption of the affirmation action measure in the state. You were instrumental to the first public hearing I participated in at the National Assembly.
Your contributions to women empowerment and development is enormous. I recall the series of training on Advanced Women Human Rights. Those capacity building sessions moulded and prepared me for a career in the non-profit sector. You believed I could do it and you invested so much in me. It is still hard to believe that you are no longer with us on earth. I keep feeling that one day I will see you again in one program or the other. God knows best. Adieu! Daughter of the most High God! Rest in Power in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen!
Just last week, some of us met to talk about the gender and equal opportunities bill, and how to advance that cause. And we remembered you. First one sister, then another, by words, by a smile, by a faraway look recapturing your essence, we all felt you and your impactful work. God bless you more, and may your legacy endure.
Thank you so much for all you were to us, knowing you has made me a better person.
It still feels like a dream especially whenever i see a picture or hear people talk about you. I really miss you but i am glad to know that you are in a better place. Continue to rest in the bosom of the Lord and may God continue o comfort all those you left behind.
Adewumi Oluwadiya PhD
Retired Federal Director
The Presidency , Abuja
We're consoled that you are resting peacefully in the Lord.
We miss you.
The Harris-Eze family
She was resourceful, kind, dependable and a child of God.
It was about the time of one of the Nigerian Constitutional conferences, my Igbo Organization here in the US wanted to get a copy of the then operative Nigerian Constitution (not sure which one before 1999 or was it 1999?) and since I was about to visit Nigeria, I was given the task to procure a copy.
I thought it was an easy task like going out to any bookstore and buying a copy or as ,many copies as you liked.
But, like anything Nigeriana, what you think is easy usually twists you around. I had two more days left in Nigeria before catching my return flight and nobody between Onitsha, Awka and Enugu had any clue where I could find any copy of that book. It occured to me to call Oby. She confirmed that no copy of that constitution was readily accessible but she would ask around. She was a judge of the Nigerian High court and would know about such publications. A day before my flight. Oby got me a copy of the book. I could only imagine what labor and finance she expended to get hold of that one copy and I was afraid to ask further after she refused any payment.
Quiet and reserved , she would comfortably sit in any public function without attracting attention to herself, unless she is officiating or called out for recognition.Her warm personality endeared her to so many people of commendable character and disposition. She is missed and will remain missed for a very long time.
So, my friendship with Ifeoma Rosemary Ndigwe which led to my meeting her elder sister Oby, first at New Haven in 1987, and later at Independence Layout Enugu, has ended with both sisters dead?
Satan, you're a bastard! And I was sending email wondering why Oby wasn't replying...
My condolences to the family, especially her twin girls.
I'm Dame Joan Oji, PhD
Ifeoma's course mate at ABU Zaria
It’s still painful knowing you’re no longer with us :(
We love and miss you always and forever, you will never ever be forgotten.
Continue to rest in the Lord’s bossom.
Love always xxxx
Recently, at the Women's Conference in Nigeria, I shared a story about women who are the true sheroes of our time. Even though you are gone, your name featured prominently in my submission. You remain a true icon of our time whose legacy will endure. Rest on darlyn Nnem
JANUARY 22, 2018
Nigeria Loses a Treasured Justice Advocate
Nwankwo Advocated for the ICC, Women’s Rights
Elise Keppler
Associate Director, International Justice Program
Oby Theodora Nwankwo, a Nigerian activist who tirelessly advocated for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and women’s rights, died on December 9, 2017. She was 61 years old.
I got to know Oby through our common work to push back against unprincipled attacks by some African leaders on the ICC. The attacks surged after the ICC issued arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010 for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
At the time, people had limited knowledge of the ICC’s role as a court of last resort, and many did not know that several African governments had requested the ICC to investigate crimes in their countries. The court’s critics exploited this, spreading false information about the court being biased and targeting Africa.
Oby stood out as someone willing to jump in and speak up on behalf of victims, whether in Nigeria or around the world, countering the prevailing narratives in African media. “It is high time African governments and the AU [African Union] put themselves on the right side of history and support justice for victims, not abusive leaders,” she said.
Over the years, Oby was a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and she led the Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court and the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Center. Oby also helped guide the work of the global Coalition for the International Criminal Court through its steering committee.
Oby encouraged strategic activism. When al-Bashir turned up in Nigeria after the ICC issued warrants against him, Oby went to court to insist on his arrest – after which al-Bashir hightailed it out of the country. Activists in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa have taken up similar efforts, campaigning on the streets and in the courts for al-Bashir to be arrested when he arrives or threatens to arrive in their countries.
I looked to Oby for guidance, sound advice, and the passion needed to keep at it even when the landscape was challenging. Her efforts have made a difference. In the past year, some of the worst attacks on the ICC emanating from Africa have ebbed, and more than a dozen countries stepped forward to reaffirm their commitment to the ICC.
Nigeria – and Africa – lost a tremendous activist. Oby’s energy for the cause will remain in my heart as the work continues.
Leave a Tribute
Akona
Please be patient.
Oby the Great mentor and Uplifter
OBY, We would wish that God give you beauty in your next incarnation, but God did endow you with abundance of beauty--inner and outer beauty. So please come back the way you were. But please come back bringing longevity, not just for you to stay in the world longer, but for those you would leave behind in your next life to have had a longer time with you. The hurt of the departure of someone like you is so deep that it creates a deep gorge in your friends' and family's heart. As with all things that happen to us human, we leave it to God. You even knew and acknowledged this, hence, you named one of your beautiful, intelligent, brilliant daughters Ralu. You will ever be remembered for your goodness, grace, fellow feeling, generosity, integrity, accountability, ethics, and morals. Remain in God's Bosom, the great one.
Christiana Okechukwu, your ever morning protege.
The Transition of a Godly Warrior
It was the 9th day of December, 2017, two days to my birthday. My phone rang very early in the morning and I picked it up. It was not the prayer line but Oby, Jr. She called to tell me that her mom had gone home to be with the Lord fifteen minutes earlier and before I had time to scream, cry or offer consolation, she said something that comforted and silenced me. I lay on my bed numb. Was this a defeat or victory? Did I just lose a battle or did I win? Did the Nigerian Victory Intercessory Fellowship, the church, her children and other praying saints miss God somehow? I have just been hit below the belt.I did not recover for some days. I just lost a friend, an international icon, a prayer warrior, a good samaritan, a lioness, yet a lamb. A saint has been called home, but why at this time? Uzo's wife is pregnant. What do I tell Sister Oby's wonderful children, amazing daughter-in-law, committed and selfless sons-in-law, admirable grandchildren. As my numbness wears away and pain sets in I cried out to God for comfort. He reminded me this scripture. 1 Cor. 13: 9-12
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
Our all-knowing God allowed what is best for Oby. It is not the length of years we spend on earth that matters to God but our accomplishments for the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 58
10 If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Sister Oby, verse 12 is for your children.
12 Those from among you
Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
Those who loved you will sherish your godliness until we meet again in our eternal home nevermore to part.
Adieu woman of God
Ugo Apugo
for the Nmereole Apugos and the Nigerian Victory Intercessory Fellowship.
My sister, friend and mentor!
My life with this amazing, awesome, generous, kind, accommodating woman Aunty Oby started over 35 years ago when i was just in my early teens in secondary school. I knew i had a senior cousin named Oby but our paths never crossed as she had left home at the time i was growing up so her name was just somewhere in my heart until that day in Queens School Enugu. It was our visiting sunday and the only person who ever visits me regularly in school (my mum) had come and left so i joined up with my friends to receive their own parents and partake in the endless flow of rice and chicken. Until i saw some senior girls excitedly looking for me "Nkoli, you have a visitor at the gate....Ima is looking for you"!!! Me? Surely they had mixed up names, not me, and i knew nobody called 'Ima" so i passed and politely told them the visitor isnt mine and besides my mum had come and left. Being seniors, they ordered me to proceed to the gate immediately while they all followed after me. I had no choice and as i approached the gate, i saw my first cousin Oby and a dark handsome man with the most beautiful warm smile i ever saw. I was a very shy little girl in those years and was lost for words, Oby introduced me to Victor and said to me 'Nnechi, i came to introduce my fiancé (she just got engaged that year) to you, his name is Victor", she turned to him "Victor, this is my little sister, Nkoli". They gave me N20 and left, i stood there transfixed to the spot. N20???? That was my entire pocket money for a full term!!! Just like that? As i turned to go i saw that many seniors had gathered and were watching me with respect in their eyes. "So you are Ima's sister, eh? O my! we love Ima" they chanted. Ima??? I did not understand, my cousins name is Oby. It was later that I learnt Oby used to be an actress and had starred in a popular stage drama "I must marry Ima" She had starred in the drama which went round most secondary schools in Enugu. That was how i became popular in school, 'Ima's" sister they called me and wanted to know everything about her.
After this, Oby and her husband 'adopted' me and took me into their home, she would pick me up for vacations and bring me back to school at resumption. Most of my high school friends knew her so well that each time we met even decades after high school, the first question will be 'How is aunty Oby?', most of them did not know she is not my sister. Her home was open to all and they were free to visit me and sometimes stay the night, the kitchen was open to all (and you know what that means to hungry teenagers in boarding school!).
That was the start of the very close relationship i had with aunty Oby and her husband (a wonderful kind and perfect gentleman). When i graduated and moved to Lagos, the relationship even got stronger, uncle Victor will always stop over to see me on his numerous international trips out of lagos and my visits to the east to see my late mum always included a stop over at aunty Oby's house.
It is difficult to believe she is gone, however i thank God for the gift of her friendship, the wisdom and knowledge she imparted. She had a very high EQ and would always say to me "Nnechi, weli uche" meaning 'use wisdom'. She was calm and very gentle with an almost fragile demeanor but the greatest mistake anybody can make is to take her for granted. She was highly cerebral, well travelled with strong people skills, it was rare to see her lose her temper visibly.
Aunty Oby, thank you for your love and friendship, thank you for being a rallying point for the entire family.
As you start your journey to eternity, i am sure you are with the saints triumphant smiling sweetly and wondering why we grieve over your loss. You are in a better place! This is my comfort.
May God keep you until we meet again at the feet of Jesus.
I will always love and cherish you.
What more can i say except that i bow respectfully to the wish of God almighty and will never question His right to call his children home at will, i can only say 'Thank you Jesus' for the time she got to see her children and Childrens children.
Ijeoma Ada Eze Uzu!