Samuel

On Monday, I lost another friend, a brother, Samuel Ikechukwu Ogbotobo, who was born on the 24th of November 1997 in Delta state. Samuel was a young man, full of strength and energy, he was honest to a fault, he was always straightforward and like me did not like formalities, he preferred to be free with everyone that he communicated with, he was the first person that made me believe that people falling under the anointing is real, Samuel had a melodious voice and he was in quite a number of choirs. I was introduced to Samuel in my 100 level in the university by a close friend, our friendship really kick started in my 200 level just before he went on Industrial Training, as often as possible we checked on each other, Samuel was someone I really admired, when I started my blog, he always supported me, constantly reading my work and commenting to me directly, I find it difficult to open up to people but with Samuel it was easy, he inquires about how I fare spiritually, physically and mentally, he also had an affinity for soccer just like me although he was a Chelsea fan, so he banters me when Maguire does Maguire things and I do not hold back when I am schooling him on Chelsea’s performance. Before his death Samuel created a group, School of Leadership, and there amongst other things he taught us that in every aspect of life that we would need a certain capacity of leadership to be able to move forward. Samuel had camaraderie with some wonderful people, Charles, Robjay, Joe Cole, Jeremiah, Jim Beglin, Michael amongst others.These roommates were as closes as best friends could be, and Samuel usually encouraged us as much as possible to be strong in the faith because he knew that certainly there would be trials. 

Samuel was initially diagnosed with Hyperglycaemia also known as High Blood Sugar, and in one of my recent chats with him he was try to convince me to minimise on junk and start patronising the “fruits with God given sugar” little did I know, he really did not want to bother us, his friends, with his ailment, he was always trying to be available for us despite his condition. Samuel lost the battle but he won the war as I am confident that he is with the Lord now, he was defeated by a bacterial infection in his blood called Septicaemia and by a diabetic complication called diabetic ketoacidosis, and according to research by the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and others, there are more than 100,000 diabetes ketoacidosis cases a year in Nigeria. He has was managing the diabetes ketoacidosis but it got aggravated by the septicaemia, he went into a coma as the doctors tried to reduce his sugar level and also treat the infection. 42 hours of battle and Samuel surrendered to go to his maker, he left behind an elder sister and brother as well as a cluster of close friends and well wishes. I pray that God grants us the fortitude to bear this loss as we console ourselves with the fact that he is in a better place with no more pain or drugs.