By Cheta Okeke
When I saw the trending pictures of Dr. Tim Menakaya’s 90th birthday, the first thing I quipped was that Ide Umunya is neither in his Anambra hill-top home nor his Abuja residence.
Dr. Tim is a man of many positive parts and he is no stranger to opulence and good care. Hence, I was curious to unravel the location of the birthday celebration that apparently appeared like a private event. I later looked at some more pictures and noticed that some people actually wore something that looked like a uniform in the birthday pictures. When I could no longer contain my inquisitiveness, I quickly had to embark on a journey to unravel what really happened and if per chance, Dr. Tim has a new home that reflects the frame of his 90th birthday picture background. It was during this inquiry that I was surprised to discover that Nigeria’s first Minister of Health upon transition to democracy in 1999, had celebrated his 90th birthday in the hospital!
It is not strange by any strand of imagination for people of Ide’s age to be hospitalized. As I gathered, Dr. Menakaya had been hospitalised for days which spilled into his birthday. Earlier, he was just fine and strong while the 90th birthday celebration was being planned. So, in fact, his conclusion was that the birthday had been put on hold till perhaps, he was back from the hospital. But unknown to him that his wife, Barr. Ogo Tim-Menakaya, had come up with a different plan to beat the unexpected hospitalization that was to obstruct the original plan. After carefully thinking through it, Barr. Ogo Tim-Menakaya planned a quiet celebration of her husband’s 90th birthday with his close friends, right in the hospital where Dr. Menakaya had been for some days prior. This turned out to be a remarkable happy moment for the former minister.
Instead of cancelling the birthday celebration altogether, the event went on with family, friends, who were joined by the nurses and doctors, who have been taking care of him in the hospital for well over a week since he was hospitalised. The celebration was a notable highpoint for Dr. Tim Menakaya, who was excited to have some family and friends turn up for him in the hospital to mark his 90th birthday! The implication is that Dr. Tim who was largely unaware of the ‘new plan’, and his wife, Barr. Ogo Tim-Menakaya, the architect of the new plan, placed a higher premium on gratitude and thanksgiving. Rather than focus on how sudden hospitalization had disrupted the original modest celebration of Dr. Tim’s 90th birthday, Mrs. Ogo Tim-Menakaya came up with an idea to still celebrate her dear husband that has attained the uncommon age of 90 years, rather than postponing the celebration because of the hitch. For a fact, being in the hospital didn’t cancel the fact that Dr. Tim is a man blessed with long life and good health, and it didn’t cancel the fact that he is now 90 years old. It should therefore also not cancel the commemoration of this special feat.
The original plan was that the birthday celebration would be marked in the Abuja home of Dr. and Barr Tim, in a much organised atmosphere that is fit for a man of his standing. Events would turn out differently, but, Mrs. Menakaya, knowing that it’s better to celebrate such a feat, than complain that the original plan had been disrupted, was able to disarm the disruption. Indeed, there is no special time or place to celebrate a worthy landmark and truly for Dr. Tim, the celebration meant so much to him so that the basis of his hospitalization almost disappeared. For him, sharing his 90th birthday cake with his wife, other family members, friends and staff of the hospital was an absolutely great delight, as he was obviously surrounded by those who love and care about him.
It is definitely the ideal to celebrate such a landmark age of an icon like Dr. Tim as earlier scheduled, but it’s even more important that all disruptions to the original plan was put aside to still celebrate the blessing that Dr. Menakaya had been. As we already know, the Menakayas can always plan more beautiful commemorations outside the hospital, but this, cannot wait and it is good that we learn to stick to what is more important.
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