Dear Fidelis Mkparu MD: 

Well done and thank you for this beautiful write-up on The great Reverend. Of course you also write with great advantage, having lived with him as closely. My sense is that for most post war students, all have upon them, their own special Father Tagbo influence. For me, the great Reverend Father was a very civilized personality who merged polish with decency in an era of significant indecency, lawlessness and confusion. Perhaps his greatest strength lie in being able to tame the “Wild East” when the initial post war students arrived back at GSSA, mostly half students and half soldiers. In my house – Afikpo House then, I still remember my great dread for the likes of Omile CC aka “Tears of Agony” who minted out stress and misery as fast as one could say JJC!. Father Tagbo tamed all that. He was to me a quick study who came from CKC after the war to quickly learn and restore the great traditions of GSSA, to the extent that it served us well in spite of a threatening dilution from war. He had this unique ability to foster zero tolerance for mediocrity much with less speech than most, often with just a mere stare.  Whenever he spoke however, his speech was inspiring and lasting. “Eating is a civilized action” he once said and to this day I have never forgotten to associate eating with civility! 

His attire of steady spotless white, in that era of dust and displayable scarcity, was for me one of the greatest assignment of hope and direction that a young student could ever have – it was a promise, a sought of “yes we can” before Obama!  The Reverend NC Tagbo may not have been a god to me but God knows that he was as godlike as a man could be. For he has earned his weight in the golden history of post war GSSA and the memories many of my time.

Ozoemena, L.