That the news of Chief L. E. A Aimiuwu joining his ancestors on Wednesday 15th April, 2015 came as a rude shock to numerous individuals and groups is understandable considering his phenomenal contribution to the body of management and training the world over. This despondency-creating incidence and the attendant bewildering consternation emanated not from their expectation that Chief Dr. L.E.A Aimiuwu was beyond dying but from the inconsolable regret that he could still have served humanity in countless areas had he lived longer. Yes, his ‘living longer’ was merely a wish, which it has pleased the Almighty to deny us of and by the way, who are we to complain?
The absolute resourcefulness of Chief LEA was simply infectious, no one who came across him in life ever departed from his presence without taking ‘something’ away. The Institute for Benin Studies, Benin City had a rare opportunity in 2005 to have this quintessential manager of human and material resources deliver her 7th Chief (Dr) Jacob Uwadiae Egharevba (MBE) Memorial Lecture on Friday 2nd December at the Oba Akenzua II Cultural Complex, Benin City. The passionate believer in the past achievements and potentials of the Edo man demonstrated his unapologetic desire for the re-enactment of the famed Edo greatness as recorded and applauded by the early visiting Europeans.
The Osayuwanoba of Benin Kingdom would fanatically flaunt his long flowing traditional dress of the Benin Chief anywhere in the world and was always ready to educate whosoever is at earshot about the beautiful Benin. It was no mere co-incidence therefore, that the title of his 2005 lecture was “Edo N’Imose: Regenerating a Great Civilization”
At the lecture, he went on to elucidate that Edo N’Imose was the caption of a song he composed in 1998 to signal the launch of the African Renaissance Movement, inspired by the richness of a truly African Civilization – that was BENIN. The Making of Great Benin he said began “long, long time ago, about the beginning of the last millennium, when stories circulated in Europe of a legendary land and magnificent people, and a great king. Later reports by voyagers attested to a capital city of unbelievable beauty, world class layout, advanced road network, beautiful orchards in each compound, strong healthy people, world-class astrology, advanced mathematics, world-best arts, resplendent culture, incredible political order, plus a very stable government in an era of fratricidal squabbles and instability in Europe”
Coming from such an enviable ancestry coupled with his management carrier that spanned three decades, which enabled him to make operational / training visits to over 200 operations overseas, across continents, the renowned Management Strategist remained as urbane and humane as they come. He could interact with virtually every segment of the society and fluidly find relevance in all areas of intellectual endeavour.
Chief  LEA had the ability to hold any audience spell-bound for hours on end with his unbelievable knowledge that seem boundless while his articulation seamlessly weave in an unending stream of pure intellectualism. His gentle and genial disposition attracted both the young and old who felt well at ease in his presence devoid of the usual propensity of such distinguished personalities for overbearing aloofness.
Regretfully, he did not live long enough to witness, participate and savour the immense benefit of the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Chief Aimiuwu would have (were he to be alive today) reiterated some of his highly valued motivational and unassailable prognosis inculcated in his disciples. He would have told President Buhari that:
–    Development process has to be nurtured over time. We must rediscover and instill the right attitudes, the right values, and the right beliefs, to have a fighting chance;
–    The greatest empires in history; were built on discipline, but collapsed from indiscipline;
–    The only place where strategies are perfect is on a strategy document. Pieces of paper, no matter how beautiful, will not run a factory! We must still work the works; and
–    Corruption is neither inevitable nor insurmountable; however, that potential is not wealth. It remains potential until management is applied to it.
The legendary intellectualism left behind by the good Chief will continue to impact, shape and reshape the future managers of this great country, Nigeria because he believes (believed?) that human civilization is on the forward march, and those who refuse to board the vehicle of progress simply get left behind.
As an apostle and an ‘ambassador’ of the Benin race, Chief L.E.A Aimiuwu in analyzing the Europeans’ assessment and ancient reports about the Benin cosmology, quoted one of them as saying, “the great reverence they give to their king is such that if we (Europeans) were to give the same to our saviour Christ, we should remove from our heads many plagues which we richly deserve for our contempt”
Such was his own level of reverence to the Benin Monarch and indeed to the entire Benins that he felt compelled to leave a lasting legacy by composing that wake-up song, ‘Edo N”Imose’. So passionately, painstakingly and meticulously at any given gathering; he taught the lyrics, dictated the tempo and organized the rhythm of this song that I feel compelled also to have it sung at this event in honour of Chief  L.E.A Aimiuwu.  It is my considered belief that he would love to hear it forever and ever.
Interestingly, he who would not see death (AIMIUWU) must respond when the guardian angel (EHI) answers ‘present’ before God (Ehighatiene, ta gha khuenie)
May the gentle, intelligent and accommodating soul of Chief Lugard Ehimatiomwan-aiyo (Ehimatie) Aimiuwu rest in the bosom of the Almighty where the Saints Triumphant sing unending Hallelujah. Amen.
Oba ghato, okpere. Ise.

Aiko Obabaifo
is the Executive Secretary, Institute for Benin Studies, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria
[email protected]
08033909089; 08052438001.