IGNATIUS AJUONOMA: Tribute To A Man Who Conquered Disability To Excel In A Demanding Profession

As someone who was blind, it would have been easy for him to resign to fate and simply relied on begging for alms for sustenance and survival. But that was not the life Ignatius Ajuonoma wanted.

He was a man who never wanted to live on society's sympathy or handouts given by concerned individuals who pitied his condition. He wanted to live by his own standards.

By what he achieved later in a demanding profession like journalism in more than two decades, Ajuonoma largely achieved what he set out to.

He lived by his own standards -- standards if excellence and complete dedication to the ethos if his profession -- to the admiration of all.

Ajuonoma died recently, following complications that arose from an unsuccessful surgery. But he will be remembered as one who overcame the obstacles of blindness to still make an impact in his chosen field if human endeavour.

Ajuonoma was known for his uncanny ability to report or analyse sporting events with the adeptness of one who could see.

It appeared that he got double in other areas what he lost in form of blindness as his senses of touch, taste, smell and perception were extraordinarily sharper.

But perhaps his greatest asset was his ability to report football games like one who really watched them. He never seemed to amaze a lot of people who either watched him talk about sports generally on television or radio.

That he could analyse games or predict them, using past antecedents and statistics garnered from painstaking research so masterfully was what endeared him to a lot of sports lovers.

Ajuonoma also did not allow his disability to prevent him from savouring the adventures and fun of reporting live matches.

He was one journalist who could travel far and wide, reporting matches and doing on-the-spot analysis for either Ray Power 100.5, Faaji 106.5FM radios or the African Independent Television (AIT) -- under the umbrella of the Daar Communications Plc group.

He was known all over Nigeria for his passion and indefatigable application to the job. No doubt, Ignatius Ajuonoma's trail-blazing achievements in his unique brand of journalism will be a hard act to follow in years to come as it is not always that a blind man could dare to succeed in a profession necessarily tailored for the naturally sighted.

For Ajuonoma, the word 'impossibilty' did not exist when it came to vigorously pursuing his dreams of making it in life despite the natural hurdle that came in form of blindness.

For him, the often used cliche, "there is ability in disability" held more far-reaching meaning for him, much more than any one else.

May his soul rest in peace.