THE ORACLE AT 76

For more than fifty years, the House of Igbinedion has never failed to celebrate the birthday of its patriarch annually. In the early years of this ritual, very little literature accompanied it as part of the programme of events. In the last ten years however, the programme of events has featured a large dose of literature annually.

We have come to the point in this eventful journey where we realized that we have written more than enough for the information of all those who would like to know of any aspect of the life of the Titan, Igbinedion. We have, to the best of our ability, told the story of his illustrious life for the benefit of all those who thirst for information on the living legend and Esama of the universe annually. One fact remains unassailable however. There is always something new that crops up about the Esama every year. There is always something to celebrate in the life of the Esama every year. When Sir Dr. Chief Igbinedion celebrated his unforgettable 70th birthday on six locations (Okada his place of birth, Benin City, Lagos, Abuja, South Africa and London, United Kingdom) in 2004, his biographers and close associates thought the phoenix had come to the zenith of his achievements on earth and that he was ready to commence the last phase of blissful retirement after seventy active years of extraordinary success in diverse fields of endeavour.

All these people have since the last five years realized how wrong they were in 2004. His personal achievements and God’s blessings upon him have never ceased to happen every year since 2004. Chief Igbinedion is indeed the professional biographer’s delight.

In the light of all these facts, we have been constrained to pause to re-examine the life of the man Igbinedion in all its ramifications. In doing this, we have endeavoured to look at his early years on earth, his years of adolescence; adulthood, his exploits in the business world, his family life, social and religious life. We have looked at the various challenges he has had to tackle in his busy life and how he overcame every obstacle, holding high the trophy of victory. It was in the course of this thorough and tasking re-examination that we stumbled on who truly the man Igbinedion is. What is the force driving him on and what exactly is his mission on earth? All these enquiries led us to one word. Chief Igbinedion is an ORACLE.