Alex Ikwechegh Mascot: The odyssey of a trailblazing philanthropist (Part 1)

He was born in opulence and had the luxuries associated with affluence at his beck and call until he turned 11 when his rich father succumbed to the cold hands of death.

What seemed a bright future for the young boy suddenly became gloomy when another tragedy struck in quick succession. This time, it was his young mother. Her inability to come to terms with her husband’s untimely death and manage unexpected pressure from greedy uncles (jostling for his properties) led to her death three weeks after.

Like a hungry lion ambushing a susceptible gazelle, the uncles appropriated the lot leaving this boy and his six siblings at the mercy of providence. In a swift vicissitude of fortune, the young boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth had begun to hawk ice water on the streets of Aba to survive.

The majority of youngsters his age would have yielded to peer pressure and cast adrift. But he embraced the dehumanisation to complete his academic pursuit (that started at Constitution Christian Private School, Sacred Heart College and UNICAL) at the University of Essex, London, where he also obtained a degree in psychology.

Three decades after, the deprived boy has braved the odds to become a household name in Abia State and Nigeria. Popularly called by the moniker, “Onye Ocha Aba” (Aba Whiteman), Alex Ikwechegh Mascot is not just a name but an elixir that brings succour to the hearts of dejected.

WATCH: Alex Ikwechegh empowers Abia

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Reliving his childhood experience will leave tears in the eyes of the fainthearted or make the temperamental quiver in anger.

He said, “I saw my father become so wealthy and do so much for people and then he passed away. After his death, we lost everything we had because we were young and our uncles took advantage of us and liquidated virtually everything we had.

“My mother died in the process, three weeks after my father passed away. It was a tough experience for my siblings and me because we are seven in number. We struggled to go to school, feed and take care of ourselves.”

Now, this is enough reason to be resentful or settle scores. But he conquered resentment to become a supportive pillar to tens of thousands of people in a similarly deprived situation. He set aside the law of retaliation to put smiles on the faces of widows, indigents and the less privileged school children across Abia State for the past 10 years.

ANOTHER VIDEO of Alex Ikwechegh putting smiles on the faces of people

Unlike some of his contemporaries whose philanthropic gestures are quid pro quo, Ikwechegh sees his as fulfilling covenant with God for his faithfulness towards him.

“Oftentimes, people ask what compels me to engage in philanthropy. Part of my agreement with God is that if I’m blessed, I’ll never allow anybody to experience what I went through as a child. My philanthropic gesture is an agreement I had with God that I must, at all times, do for people what I want others to do for me,” said.

He said it’s a shame that the African context views everyone who engages in philanthropic activities as doing so with ulterior motives. He, however, compared the notion to the western world where wealthy men split their wealth and distribute it to charity and urged Africans to emulate them.

He said that his becoming a local government chairman was also predicated on his philanthropy which was at a very minute stage then. According to him, in 2012, when he began to engage in philanthropy, people misconstrued it as a ploy to seek for elective position in 2015.

“We built a school, built a NEPA office, awarded scholarships, gave bags of rice to widows and the elderly without publicising it because social media hadn’t become popular back then.

VIDEO: Alex Ikwechegh, the philanthropist

“If you checked our catalogue of things that we did, you’ll see the pictures, although they look old. You’ll see that these were pictures of things done in the past.

“In 2016/2017, when we expanded the number of students on our scholarships scheme from 50 to 100, they said ha! He’s doing it because of politics. When we started distributing palliatives (as they call them now), some people said he must be up to something.

“We gave out generators, set up businesses for people, giving them money, then people said he is preparing for 2019, look at him. But to their surprise, nobody saw me in 2019. I only came to campaign for our amiable governor and left as I did in 2015,” he said.

Such a fascinating story cannot be exhausted in one edition. So, we put a temporary halt to it until next week to calm nerves down and allow the wise to reflect.