In Loving Memory ofStanley
Egwuatu
NwaUbani

27 September 1946 · Ajata Isieke Ibeku

Born at sunrise

He was born in the early hours of the morning at Ajata Isieke Ibeku, in Umuahia, in what is now Abia State. His mother, Rachel NwaUbani of Ogboko Ouzitem, Bende Local Government Area, was tending the family farmland when he came. The family regarded his birth as a blessing and a symbol of hope.

He was the youngest of three children of Mr Ruben NwaUbani, a businessman of Ajata Isieke Ibeku. The family later settled permanently in Isieke Ibeku, Umuahia North — and for the rest of his life, however far he travelled, he stayed connected to it.

31 December 1963 · Enlistment

He went with a friend, and came back a soldier

As a young man he had a strong sense of adventure and discipline. Seeking a meaningful path, he accompanied a close friend to a military recruitment centre — and enlisted in the Nigerian Army on 31 December 1963.

Service identity: EX-63NA/4137, Private Stanley Egwuatu NwaUbani (NA63). He served diligently and earned the respect of colleagues and superiors.

31 March 1968 · Abagana

The road between Onitsha and Enugu

During the Nigerian Civil War his courage and resilience were tested. On 31 March 1968, during military operations near Abagana on the Onitsha–Enugu road, he sustained severe injuries from an explosion. The blast caused multiple shrapnel wounds and significantly affected his eyesight.

He was one of the brave survivors of the Abagana Disaster. Through the International Committee of the Red Cross he was evacuated to Austria, where surgeons removed shrapnel and worked to preserve his vision.

What began as a journey for recovery became the foundation of a new life.

1972 – 2007 · Vienna

Thirty-five years at the United Nations

Following his recovery he remained in Austria and represented the United Nations proudly for thirty-five years — at UNIDO, and later at UNOV. He stayed passionately connected to Nigeria and returned home to keep family and community ties.

Before his retirement in 2007 he received a commendation from Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

1976 onward · Marriage & children

Forty-eight years with Stella

In 1976 his family went looking for a wife for him. His cousins knew a girl from their school — Stella Onyeberechi Odinkemere of Amuzuku. He flew home to meet her, and they flew back to Vienna together. She became Mrs Stella Onyeberechi Ubani, and they were husband and wife for forty-eight years.

For years before that he had written to her, and he used to put perfume powder inside the letters. The postman would puncture the envelope, put a little of the powder on himself, and then deliver it.

Stella joined the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Vienna in the eighties, as Social Secretary to the Ambassador. She is there still.

Four children were born, brought up and educated in Vienna, London and America — Clements Helböck Ubani, married to Yuil Ubani, blessed with a son, Leonard; Martyn Ogechi Ubani, married to Sabine Ubani, blessed with two children, Aaliyah and Louis; Nnenna D. Ubani, of Abuja, Nigeria; and Elizabeth I. Ubani, of the United Kingdom.

He lived in Austria for fifty-seven years. He was a man of integrity, fairness, discipline and determination. He loved sport and kept an active life. He never lost touch with his homeland, and faithfully maintained his visits to Nigeria.

Later years

Two old soldiers

Years after the war that nearly killed him, General Yakubu Gowon — Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces through the war — came to see him in Vienna, at the Residence of the Nigerian Ambassador. Stella was beside him. The soldier who had been left for dead on the Abagana road received the man who had commanded that army, as a guest.

2 May 2026 · Vienna

He finished his course

He passed away peacefully on 2 May 2026 in Austria, an octogenarian whose eighty years of impact left a legacy of courage, service and devotion to family.

He is remembered as a Nigerian Army veteran, a survivor of the Abagana Disaster of 31 March 1968, a distinguished United Nations staff member, a loving husband, father and grandfather, and a proud son of Ajata Isieke Ibeku.

May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.