- Joke Silva, a seasoned actress, has shared her final moments with singer Onyeka Onwenu.
- Onwenu collapsed at Stella Okoli’s 80th birthday party, and was confirmed dead at Reddington Hospital in Lagos.
- The singer performed songs at the Fountain of Life Church in Ilupeju, attended by presidential candidate Peter Obi and Enugu state governor Alex Otti.
- Silva shared her final moments with Onwenu during her last performance, stating they danced together at the Ebony Vaults in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Veteran actress Joke Silva has shared her poignant memories of her final moments with the renowned singer Onyeka Onwenu.
Onwenu tragically collapsed during the 80th birthday celebration of Stella Okoli, the founder of Emzor Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company, on July 30, shortly after her performance. She was later pronounced dead at Reddington Hospital in Lagos.
A service of songs in honor of the singer took place last Friday morning at the Fountain of Life Church in Ilupeju, drawing attendance from notable figures such as Peter Obi, the presidential candidate, and Alex Otti, the governor of Enugu State.
Onwenu was laid to rest at the Ebony Vaults in Ikoyi, Lagos, on August 30. In a recent interview on WithChude, Silva recounted that she and Onwenu shared a dance during the latter’s final performance.
Silva further disclosed that shortly after Onwenu sang her beloved hit “One Love,” she collapsed into her chair. Medical personnel present at the event attempted to revive her, but she ultimately succumbed at the hospital after nearly two hours.
“We were at the party together at the same table. At some point while she was performing when she was going around the room, she came to me. You know, I’m a super armchair dancer. I don’t like getting up to dance, but I love dancing on my chair, and she was performing, and I was enjoying her performance and was dancing to it. So she just came round the room to where I sat and pulled me up, and we had a bit of a twirl,” she said.
“She was singing ‘One Love’ and close to the song I went back to my seat and she also went back to her seat. And it was when I looked across that I heard Shola Momoh saying ‘she’s not well. She slumped on her chair’. But then she was just unconscious. She had an impulse.
“CPR was performed while she was laid down on the floor. We tried to revive her. We asked for doctors in the house to come and look at her and they did. Later on, I went to the hospital. And she was there for about one and half hours before she finally passed.”
