OPINION

Tonye Princewill @ 44

 By Odimegwu Onwumere

Birthday is as much an interesting, exciting, or unusual to be worth remembering, or likely to be remembered day that comes to a person ones every year. Prince Tonye TJT Princewill celebrates his on every 4^th of January each year. 

This crowned Prince of the ancient Kalabari Kingdom of Rivers State has clocked 44, and he is like a crab that can’t be chewed-up in the hidden without anyone hearing the sound of its mastication. Therefore, it is of the essence on an occasion like this to take the philosophy and beliefs of the prince to the West End in order to encourage the myriad of people that span across Nigeria who believe in him.

On the contrary, Princewill rarely sees his Birthday as an avenue to showcase privileged circumstances; he would rather prefer hobnobbing with the less-privileged in the society of his choice and encourage them in the manner he could without even sounding his bamboo-size trumpet. During this year’s birthday, those who are very close to the Prince would attest to the fact that his GSM line was not reachable, a case that perhaps showed that he did not want any form of distraction from those who are of the same well-heeled position with him where he was thinking about the downtrodden in the society and sundry. 

This is a pointer of the level that Princewill can go in seeing that he ameliorates the beckon of belligerence and wretchedness on the faces of people, who perhaps do not have the concept or have lost hope in life that they are no more part of the country. Princewill uses his Birthday to influence change among the people, consequently bringing about national developmental change through human resources, which is the best forms of change in the human memoirs.

Being an apostle against gross incompetence which has been part of the banes bedeviling the country, his advise to people, mostly the youth, is to be humane and enterprising. Send him an email in a minute Princewill will reply you in a second. The same is applicable to sms. Those close to him can authoritatively say. He is one man who loves humanity no matter any contrary opinion. He does this as his smidgen to contribute to save the battered world that is governed today by materialism. The consequent of this is that his action in salvaging the system has held him down, but he does not bother to stop the crusade for the unity of Nigeria to the next level. Against this backdrop, if Princewill were Igbo he would have been given a title such as Ugwu mba. (Prestige of a people). But if Nigeria must today showcase her new heroes, it is certain that Princewill will be among. 

For a person to clock 44 in a country where the life span ratio is very low is not a feast of porridge. Princewill Tonye Princewill’s journey to this age could not have been a kid’s play, especially in a country like Nigeria where the journey to adulthood is associated with tolls of pains and penury. Upon these, Princewill has not seen any reason why anybody should take the country backward. He admonishes people to prevent things that can be prevented and avoid things that can be avoided but not avoiding the statehood. This is exemplified in his Season’s Greeting thus: “Be your brother’s keeper.”

His faith in team work can never be overemphasized no matter how long the trial might be. He admonishes anybody who comes in contact with him to always reflect positively on the state of Nigeria in order to progress to a better country. He would say: It is important to keep in mind that a flame does not have to be present for a fire to burn.

The fire must come first! He avers that building a country without a sense of nationalism is mumbo-jumbo, and advises against any forms of light featherweight patriotism. A man with such a progressive mind and thinking for the country and countrymen deserves to be celebrated. No amount of pages of book can contain Princewill’s unequivocal love for the country and humanity. It is clearly insufficient to celebrate this dude any time. May we celebrate with him in the next 44yrs, if he so desires. Happy Birthday Prince Tonye Princewill!

Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, Media/Writing Consultant and Motivator, is the Coordinator, Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV); and Founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State, Nigeria