There are few people, who would pass through the path Daniel Onwe had traversed in life and not crumble. Apart from growing up the very hard way, finding his balance at various stages of his journey has been quite tortuous. Born into a polygamous home and to a father, who could barely provide decent meals for the family from the little he earned as a soldier in the Nigerian Army, the 44-year-old knew the true meaning of deprivation from a very early age. Unlike most kids, who enjoyed their formative years relatively in good health and peace of mind, Onwe’s childhood was stolen away from him by polio. The sickness took away his legs even before he started walking. There was little or no chance for him to make it in life at that point. A bleak future was what awaited him.
“Immediately I was affected by polio, almost everyone wrote me off,” the Enugu State native told our correspondent during a chat earlier in the week. “For most people, the sickness meant the end of whatever dreams I could have had in life. Even though I was about two years old at the time, the chances of becoming anything in life were already under strong doubt especially considering the type of poor background I came from. I stood no chance as far as many people were concerned,” he said.
Born and raised in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Onwe woke up one morning suddenly realising he could no longer move all four limbs. With no prior signs of sickness, the situation baffled his parents and other family members. Their fears grew. But after weeks and months of searching for a solution, he was finally taken to a health facility around Oji River in Enugu where a surgery was performed on him. Even though there was a slight improvement and he could thereafter move his hands, the sickness held on firmly to his legs, launching him into a world where every bend was filled with thorns.
Being the son of a military personnel, he understood quite early what relocating from one part of the country to another meant. By the time he was six – the age many of his peers started primary education, his father was posted to Benin, Edo State, after initially being transferred to Jos in Plateau State. Weeks after arriving the ancient city, Onwe could still not attend primary school even though there were so many around. His desire to get his life back on track was dealt another terrible blow.
“When we arrived the barracks my father was posted to in Benin, I had hoped that I would immediately begin primary education there but that was not the case. The school that children living in the barracks attended was inside the town, quite far from us, and because I couldn’t climb into the military truck that conveyed them to and from school as a result of my condition, I had to stay back at home and wait until a primary school was built in the barracks before I could begin my education. I was a little over seven at the time.
“Sadly, the month I finished primary school coincided with the period my father retired from the army; so automatically we had to relocate to our village in Enugu. That changed all the plans I had for my secondary education,” he revealed.
In Enugu, life took a completely different turn for Onwe. His thoughts of consolidating on his primary education to carve a promising path for himself despite all the odds against him as a result of his physical state met a brick wall. The more he pushed, the more often he realised he was helpless. Perhaps the long-predicted end had come, he reckoned.
“As much as I had desired to attend secondary school when we moved to Enugu, circumstances made that dream to remain out of reach all the time.
“The closest secondary school to our village then would require me using a taxi to go there and return home. If I were to go by commercial bus, I would have to board a vehicle two to three times which would be very stressful for me considering my condition. My parents didn’t have that type of money to support such, so that marked the end of my secondary school dream.
“After giving up on secondary education, I decided to learn a trade, at least to keep myself busy and make meaning out of my life. But due to my disability, I couldn’t find a place to learn anything. Nobody wanted to take me because of my condition. I was really interested in learning radio and television repairs and approached a lot of people but I was rejected at every point. A lot of people would prefer an apprentice that could run errands for them and not one they, in fact, had to dedicate special attention to.
“After then, I went into some petty trading. After reading a book titled ‘Where there was no doctor’, I started selling some analgesic but thank God, I didn’t run into any sort of trouble. I was around 13 at the time and people would come to me for all sorts of drugs. Some were even calling me ‘doctor.’ It was the knowledge I got from the book that I used to prescribe drugs to people for various sicknesses. My father was the one helping me purchase the drugs from the nearest town to ours. I did that for about five years,” he said.
Believing that he had finally found a worthy path for himself in life, the young lad put the setback he had suffered in the past and prepared for a future as a ‘village doctor’. It was his only viable option at that point since education was no longer forthcoming. You cannot blame him. He had confronted obstacles all his life.
“While I was prescribing and selling drugs to the villagers, I completely forgot about education, believing that it was not for me. But one day, a different thought came to my mind and that launched me towards commencing studies.
“I gathered the textbooks of my elder siblings that had finished secondary school and started reading. I read various subjects and was able to understand them. Subsequently, I began to acquire some books on my own. At that point, I started nursing the idea of sitting for General Certificate Examination but some people felt I was becoming too ambitious. They felt that even people who went through secondary school had not passed GCE; I was aiming to do so.
“However, my sister assisted me with the fund to register. My father, in fact, tried to discourage me in a subtle manner. He asked me several times if I was sure I was not going to be wasting that money used to buy the examination form. I studied on my own in the house but few weeks to the exam, I enrolled at a tutorial centre just to see if all I had been reading was correct or not. I saw that I knew all that they were teaching there and in fact, others came to me for more explanation. I was very happy.
“By the time the result was released, I passed six papers. I got four ‘As’ and two ‘Bs’. That was in 1992. At that point, I just wanted education even though I didn’t have a particular course in mind that I wanted to study at the university.
“But after coming in contact with a family when I was taken to a vocational training centre, my idea changed. I made up my mind to study law. I did the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination not too long after that period and passed. I got admitted into the University of Uyo in 1995/1996 session,” he said.
Onwe’s feat at the GCE and UTME despite not attending secondary school for a day marked the beginning of a new and interesting chapter in his life. His resolve to succeed in spite of his disability became stronger. The thought of leaving Enugu for Akwa Ibom, a completely new environment, to study, and his family’s poor financial standing did nothing to discourage him. He was prepared to endure the pain to enjoy the gains later in life.
“Leaving Enugu for Uyo under my condition called for some serious considerations but because I had got used to difficult situations, it didn’t really bother me. Going by the way my parents brought me up, I could do a lot of things for myself without relying on anyone. I went to Uyo by myself to do all the necessary registration and purchase items that I needed as a fresh undergraduate.
“However, arriving on campus, I realised that it was a completely new world. Moving from one lecture hall to another from my hostel was very difficult but I had to adapt fast. Finding myself studying law at the university was an excitement too big for me that I completely forgot about the discomfort I faced on a daily basis.
“Over time, the finances of my family improved. Also, after passing GCE, I was able to get a small job with it at the local government office as a Welfare Officer. So, by the time I got admission into the university, I was granted study leave with pay. That helped in supporting my education.
“While on campus, I conducted tutorial classes and I was quite in hot demand. A lot of people knew and always came to me for further explanations on certain subjects and topics.
“After finishing from the university, I was admitted to the Enugu campus of the Nigerian Law School in 2002. There also, I faced a lot of challenges especially moving from one lecture room to another from my hostel which was about 20 minutes’ walk but at the end, I triumphed.
“My parents were very happy and proud on the day I finished from law school. It came as a surprise to many people in my community because they could not understand how somebody who did not attend secondary school could go on to become a lawyer,” he narrated excitedly.
Upon graduation from the law school, Onwe returned to Enugu where the authorities of Nkanu West Local Government Area immediately upgraded him to a full-fledged Social Welfare Officer following his remarkable academic feat despite his physical disability. But after working there for a while, he relocated to Lagos to begin a new life and hone his skills as a budding lawyer. Learning the rudiments of the profession working across different law firms, the 44-year-old after a few years branched into private practice. Today, apart from being the Lead Partner at Daniel & Sophina, a law firm he co-founded, he had employed and mentored several lawyers over the years, who had gone on to do well for themselves. In addition, he is now a prominent speaker at many public events across Nigeria and beyond, noted and celebrated for his advocacy in favour of special people in the country. Success follows him everywhere these days.
“Even though polio stole my childhood, I was determined not to allow it kill my joy and happiness as an individual,” Onwe pointed out, a bright smile lighting up his face. “A lot of people wrote me off as a result of my disability but I was determined to let them know that even from a barren land, the finest fruit could spring forth. I felt the best way I could silence doubters was to break barriers despite the hurdles life had placed in my path. Disability is by no means a limitation. As far as I am concerned, it is an avenue to show people how great God is. And for me, God’s greatness has been immense in my life,” he added.
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