“Life is short. Life is short. Life is short. Make hay while the sun shines. Make hay while the sun shines. Make hay while the sun shines,” the preacher
Oronto Natei Douglas (1966-2015): An exceptional enthusiast for justice and development thecable.ng - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thecable.ng Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“Life is short. Life is short. Life is short. Make hay while the sun shines. Make hay while the sun shines. Make hay while the sun shines,” the preacher bellowed. While I was still in a state of bewilderment trying to grasp his drift, the preacher said, “Work while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work”.
Men come and men go. But does history make the man or does the man make history? When this old philosophical conundrum was put across to Nelson Mandela, he responded that history makes the man. Though others may have a different opinion, this was certainly the case of the Okoroba-born scholar, orator, activist, intellectual giant and philanthropist, Barrister Oronto Obebitazibanateiami Douglas, who sojourned planet earth for forty-eight years.
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Oronto’s parents, Pa Obebara Douglas and Mrs Igoni Douglas, probably saw what others did not see and named him Obebitazibanateiami, which in the Ogbia language simply means “
The good of God will get to me”. The Natei in the name took prominence and, indeed, the good of God got to many people and communities through Oronto Natei Douglas, popularly known as OND.