Forget all his billions stashed in different bank accounts; forget all his houses scattered here and there; forget all his numerous exotic cars neatly tucked inside his many garages, billionaire businessman, Peter Eloka Okocha, has one secret agony that that he has been nursing for years now – he’s so, so unhappy about the way his father and mother died! Not only that, he also doesn’t know where their graves are! And that’s the one that daily breaks his heart.
The mother died inside the bush and his father, in the North. Both deaths, of course, were necessitated by the unfortunate Nigeria/Biafra war. Leaving the 63 year-old Ibusa, Delta State born father of four (Emeka, Sadiq, Shola and Peter, Jnr) to be brought up by his ten elder sisters and grand mother.
Being from a very poor background, sending him to school and taking care of his needs were so difficult that YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine learnt that they resorted to selling their late mother’s trinkets to pull through. Amidst that, he secured a scholarship from the then Military Governor of the old Bendel State, Brigadier General Samuel Ogbemudia and thus was able to complete his education.
Born in Jos, the Plateau State capital, he managed to travel abroad after his secondary education where he read Economics at the North Eastern Illinois University, in the United States of America and thereafter secured his MBA from Roosevelt University, also in USA, specializing in International Relations.
While still in America, he met and married a black American who goes by the name of Mitchelle and who stood by him all through his turbulent school days and today they have four fantastic children.
Decorated with the chieftaincy title of Omeba, which means philanthropy-personified, by his traditional ruler, HRH Prof. Louis Chelunor Nwoboshi, Okocha eats only twice daily – and here is the reason: while growing up, there wasn’t enough for him to eat, so he’s still used to that old way of life.
Now the proud owner of such companies as Matel Foods & Drinks Ltd, Okocha Motors, Chrismatel Shipping Company Ltd, Ulticare Lyka Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Sadiq Petroleum, SMC Textile, Sun Beam Trading Company, Michelle Trading Company and Vivaldi Nigeria Ltd, the easy going mogul lives in an 11-bedroom house, with a tennis court, indoor swimming pool, a gym, among other life’s niceties. And inside that massive compound are a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, Mercedes Benz of various makes and models, as well as some of the best SUVs that money can buy.
But unfortunately, none of that gives him the kind of joy, happiness, satisfaction and contentment he would have been savouring and basking in today had his parents not died while he was still in his teens and under circumstances he doesn’t like.
A close friend of our former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and fellow billionaire, Chief Cletus Ibeto of Ibeto Group, Okocha, who coined his company’s name, Chrismatel, by combining his late mother’s name (Christiana) with his wife’s (Martel) has swimming, jogging and playing with children as his hobbies.