Charly Boy, recently buried his father, Late Justice
Chukwudifu Oputa, and it was not without
controversy. He raised eyebrows when he
appeared at his father’s funeral service, seated
and flanked by two strange looking ladies. He
also reportedly had a face-off with Imo State
Governor, Gov. Rochas Okorocha. Read excerpts
from this interview he had with Vanguard :
You gave your father a befitting burial. How did
it go?
Everything went fine. We give God the glory.
I feel a sense of relief now. Relief, because
the troubles associated with burial
arrangements have been over. The stress
has reduced.
I quit smoking for over five years now, but I
started smoking again about three weeks
ago because I was running mental, preparing
for my father’s rites of passage.
I have had this discussion with him almost a
year ago when I asked him how he would
want to be buried and what would be his
expectations. He replied saying that ‘ I know
that no matter what I tell you now, it would
end up being the Charly Boy show. Even at
that, I would be happy but all I would say is
this: don’t spend too much money.’
This is because he was a simple man
nature. My father was always worried
concerning how I do things because I have
never done things in small measure. I thank
God for his mercies that I was ready for this,
mentally and spiritually. Though I would
have wished that God had given us more
time, but that is the reality of life. I am
happy that I am able to give my father a
befitting burial.
Were you happy with the way the burial was
organised?
Nothing good comes easily. I delegated
duties and that was what helped me. But to
a large extent, as an event organiser, I would
give myself a pass mark.
Were you satisfied with the level of state and
federal governments’ participation in the burial?
I set out to bury my father without expecting
anything from anybody. That was why I had
kept saying, after my father’s death, that we
are going to be responsible for his burial
rites. We fixed the date by ourselves and I
wasn’t relying on anybody for anything. But
if anybody wants to be part of the burial
arrangement ,there’s no problem.
But it made headlines last Saturday that you
snatched the microphone from Owelle Rochas
Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, at the funeral
service. What informed your action?
I didn’t embarrass him. You can believe
anything you read from the dailies. But I
can’t go out of my way to embarrass
anybody. I only insisted that I wouldn’t
tolerate people with bad political breath to
preside over my father’s burial rites. The
corpse belonged to the Oputa family, and not
the state or federal government.
Being Charly Boy, my action creates a lot of
controversies. I am not a politician and I can
never be one.
I don’t do things the way every other person
would want to do them. My own things are
bound to be a little different. Integrity is my
watchword and when I give you my word,
you can go to sleep. I expect same from
people who deal with me. I didn’t
understand why somebody would graciously
choose to assist us by making a donation to
the family and thereafter, they went on air to
announce it. That was not a gentleman
action and it was what really angered me.
Secondly, three days after my father’s death,
I sounded a note of warning that it won’t
turn to a political thing. You know the kind
of father I had, and what he stood for. I
don’t want them to politicise his burial rites.
After they made the donation, and I never
denied that they didn’t give us money. But I
was embarrassed that they were announcing
it over the radio and in the pages of
newspapers.
If you are doing something with the family,
first of all, we are the chief mourner, as well
as Governor Rochas Okorocha, but it would
be proper that they confide in the family in
whatever they were planning to do in respect
of the burial rites. If there is something we
can bring to the table to enhance it, then it
would be to the credit of the governor. But
he didn’t do that and they were all shifty.
We didn’t know what they were planning,
they didn’t care to know what we were
planning.
What Was it what informed your action at the funeral
service?
First of all, I am not a church goer. I am a
Buddhist, though I was born into the
Catholic doctrine. And part of my reason for
not going to church is the fact that I have
been to a lot of churches. For the first 20
years of my life, I was a mass servant. I was
an ‘altar boy’ because my father was a
disciplinarian. If you don’t go to morning
mass, you are bound to be in trouble.
I did all that for 20 years, and that’s the
kind of background I was coming from. But
things have changed regarding the mode of
worship in most churches. They spend more
time than necessary. Why should we be
praying for two to three hours non-stop? I
have other things to do. At the funeral
service, I was told that Mr. President’s
representatives and other dignitaries have
arrived my home town.
Unfortunately, one of my legs was paining
me, and that was why, if you were in church
that day, I was sitting down throughout.
People didn’t understand why I was sitting
down. I couldn’t stand up for too long. Now,
we have spent about two to three hours in
the church. We couldn’t afford to give all the
politicians that attended the funeral rites the
opportunity to pay tribute to my late father. I
felt the only person who should deliver a
speech was Mr. President’s representative.
At that point, I was so stressed and tired. All
I wanted was to commit my father’s remains
into the mother earth. So, I insisted, as the
eldest son of Justice Oputa, I decide how
things were going to be done. At that point,
I said please, no more talk, it’s too much, let
one person speak so we can go and finish
the business. That was what happened but
you know people will misinterpret it. That is
their business, not mine.
