After service on Christmas day, my older sister had swung by the house as usual and without warning I blurted out Chico has passed on. She was shocked as she repeated his name questioning my sensibilities.
I had also sent a message on WhatsApp to Ibrahim my brother in-law(who had met Chico during our early days on the set of Ripples) and his response was “I remember Chico, very hardworking person, what happened”?
Akunne John Achebe my friend and brother had also called frantically to clear this disbelief(Back in the day when Ripples reigned in majesty, we filmed in his house in Aguda as our set for Nnamdi the character interpreted by professor Sola Fosudo)he must have passed out when I confirmed it.
That reaction of disbelief in my estimation is how everyone who met Chico would be greeted by this news of his death.
Chico impacted positively on everyone he met.
About three decades of my relationship with Chico flashed through my mind. I remember when Chico first joined us as a Production Assistant on the set of Ripples, I remember how enthusiastic he was at learning and mastering the rudiments of production. I also remember how Passionate and trustworthy he became.
Chico latched on desperately to responsibility and he evolved the uncanny habit of recruiting a family like participation on job executions.
I remember somewhere in 1988 in UNILAG while I was pursuing a Masters Degree programme, once, during lectures, I looked out the window and saw Chico sitting patiently in our Ripples branded Volkswagen Kombi bus and then I knew, If I had had a choice I would have been sitting next to him inside the bus driving to wherever we had to be. It was Friday and all of Africa waited expectantly for the new episode of Ripples and we didn’t have any episode to air. What we had was 8hours to film, edit and submit to NTA headquarters in Victoria Island Lagos. Chico looked calm even though I was certain that inside of him, he was in pieces. Ripples had never repeated an episode on air and somehow he knew we wouldn’t repeat.
He had successfully transferred the panic of failure to me and I am sure to all the other members of cast. Overtime, we had assumed the collective responsibility of making sure his older brothers project “Ripples” didn’t fail.
That quality Chico possessed was a strategy even he didn’t know he possessed. His charisma, persuasion and determination defined his approach to work using friendship as a vehicle.
I remember a lot more of Chicos exuberant nature his child-like excitement when he bought his first car, when he moved to his apartment, and in all of this, I remember his excitement when he saw Joy for the first time while we where recording ‘Two Can play’ Chico was unpretentious as we could literarily see his heart jump for joy.
How do you describe a guy who was expressively, brutally blunt?
The last time I saw Chico was a couple of weeks ago at the Premiere of Nevada Bridges’s Movie ‘To All The broken hearted’.
Bob Ejike was prepping for his new movie, Chico was doubling as Coordinator and Director and we had been speaking on and off in this regard. Out of the blues smack dab in the middle of our discussion he said “Kepy, I almost died O, I was in hospital for four weeks…my heart…
I just kept looking at him because if you know Chico you would also appreciate how restless his mind was. So I waited, I thought to myself this is yet another story forming but when I took a closer look at him I noticed his shrunken features but didn’t make much of it because in our adult juvenile way we believe in the invincibility of our lives.
But, the reality of the 25th of December is shattering. Our vulnerabilities exposed, our frailties laid bare, this story is still in the making.
Adieu Chico. We will all meet to part no more.
