Tribute: Why I Mourn Saint Obi

By Rose Peter – Graham

I am mourning my dear friend, Saint Obi. I am so sad. This life…only God! Yes, only God can unravel this mystery called life.

When I lost someone so close to me… I become incoherent. I disassociate myself from everyone else before I can even think of healing. When I was single, such measures worked, but now that I relate with over 50 people a day, I am just so overwhelmed.

I don’t have the powers to know when someone will die, but there is some force that usually pushes me to put a call through when my friends are going through rough patches.

A few months ago, I called a colleague of mine to kindly help me with Saint’s number. He asked why I wanted it and why I didn’t have it. I told him the truth. He promised to send it but he never did. He played God. I still wonder why that could be a big deal, knowing we are all part of a creative family even though I reside and work in London now. Worse still, I recall his elder brother, who is also in the industry, reacted the same way a couple of years ago. I was tempted to wonder why they made a colleague and friend’s number such a coded affair, so shrouded in secrecy.

However, I just left it to what I was convinced of was their hidden misogynistic tendencies.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I feel I shouldn’t blame any of them for not passing the number to me. I blame myself for not trying harder to reach my friend, a friendship I cherished.

In our limited time on this earth, we seem to be forgetting a lot. Most of us think we will live forever. And we just continue on the high way of life. And most times, we don’t understand that the choices we make, especially in Marriages, could Make or Break Us. I know friends who have lost their lives so young because of the kind of partners they chose. Both men and women. The wise ones were able to escape with their lives intact.

I don’t know what Saint’s last days were like, but I do remember him in his high flying days looking like some Gladiator in ancient Rome, ready to bring the arena down. I tell you something, if Saint Obi was in America, like I usually say to him then, Brad Pitt will have nothing on him.

I remember giving him such a fantastic introduction during an event I MCed at The Collisium in Opebi , Ikeja, Lagos, during some grand event the industry had in those days. I can still see the look on his face. Saint was in shock… and he had that boyish smile playing on his face like an accomplished lieutenant.

After his active days as an actor in Nollywood, Saint wanted to do projects of his own. He was so passionate about it and told me he was pitching it to GlobaCom and reaching out to the Chairman, Mr Mike Adenuga. Saint was really excited about this project. He showed me graphics representation of where Globalcom’s adverts would be inserted .

I was expecting to see this project take off, but nothing happened. I asked him about the progress, and Saint told me that he was hopeful that they would see the essence of being part of the project. Sadly, for some reason, the project never took off. Then, I noticed the same Globalcom visibility in Kunle Afolayan’s projects. And I couldn’t help but wonder what barriers Kunle was able to surmount that Saint Obi unfortunately couldn’t .

Well, I came to the UK after marriage… and judt before i lost my phone then, I called Saint, one of those unusual days. It was just to say hello. He was happy to hear from me. Still talking about the project, he said, ” Rose, there is a lot we need to talk about . I responded, ” Great, why not?”

It was a short call. He said he needed to run off. I said, “It was fine.”
I looked forward to reigniting the conversation in the immediate future. But that was not to be.
That was the last time I spoke to my very dear friend.

My Hulk of a friend! Strong, Brilliant with Beautiful Personality. Now I speak about amazing Saint in past tenses. What a life! What a loss! What a tragedy! It’s like a silent mystery, but after reading a rare, exceptional narrative by my equally awesome friend, Zik Zulu, I realise the hard truth, that my friend, the great actor, perfect gentleman, the Nigerian Saint has gone to join the Saints in heaven.