Ex-students, students, staff and friends of the prestigious Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar, Cross River State, are in mourning over the death of the enigmatic principal of the institution, Samuel Ikpeme, yesterday, November 22, 2018, after a brief illness.
Known to most students and ex-students of the institution as “Ete Ikposa”, the late Ikpeme, a proud alumnus of the oldest secondary school, East of the Niger, was an uncanny disciplinarian who nurtured several students to greatness in the institution. Family sources maintained to www.calitown.com that funeral arrangements will be made public in due course.
Promoters of www.calitown.com, proud beneficiaries of Ikpeme’s tutelage, in a written reaction to the news of his death stated that, “…such a rare gem deserves to have been alive, long enough, to reap the full fruits of his selfless grooming of several Howadians, scattered all over the world. He was a man of character, fatherly, considerate and firm. Those who passed through him, can attest to this fact. While it is not in doubt that he was a standard disciplinarian, we doubt however, if Hope Waddell as an institution, will ever be able to replace our dear “Ete Ikposa” . May his good works while on earth continue to flourish and may God grant the family he left behind the fortitude to bear this painful loss.”
Similarly, the President and Executive members of Hope Waddelk Old Students Association, HWOSA, Calabar branch, prayed “God to comfort the bereaved family, the Hope Waddell Community and HWOSA worldwide in this period of grief while the soul of the departed rest in perfect peace”, according to a statement signed and distributed online by Ekanem, Itohowo, P. A Information, HWOSA Calabar.