According to Country Meters, a
live update of countries’ population, Nigeria recorded 7.6 million births and
2.5 million deaths in 2018 and still counting.
As the year inches closer to its
end, we take a brief look at some those who bade farewell to the world in 2018.
IMAM IMAM
Fine, gentle, free like air, the
demise of Imam Imam hit the world on April 27 of the outgoing year. Born on
July 16, 1977, in Gboko, Benue state, the deceased hailed from Taraba state.
All Imam wanted was to be a journalist, and a journalist he did become.
“Of all the things I’ve ever
wanted to be in life, becoming a journalist was on top of the pack. I thank God
for making me realize one of my life objectives,” Imam had written on December
30, 2017.
Until his death, Imam was the
spokesman to Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto state.
IKEOGU OKE
Oke spent 27 of his 51 years in
life writing a poem! In his lifetime, he weaved poetry from the web of
words and won prestigious awards, including the 2017 edition of the Nigeria
Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Prize for Literature.
His poetry and short fiction have
been published in the US, UK, Nigeria and India since 1988 when his talent
started blooming.
The writer and former journalist
died of an undisclosed ailment on November 24.
RAS KIMONO
Under Pressure singer, Okeleke
Elumelu better known as Ras Kimono, bowed to the pressure of death on June 10.
The dreadlocked superstar lived
and breathed reggae in all of its entirety. He used the genre to speak, without
ceasing, of the ills of the land and to fight the cause of the oppressed.
He once famously said: “As long
as Ras Kimono lives, then reggae is still alive in Nigeria”
Three months after the music icon
passed on, his wife, Efe Mena Okedi, joined him in the great beyond.
TOSYN BUCKNOR
Lagos went “voiceless” when on
November 19, Oluwatosin ‘Tosyn’ Bucknor, an on-air-personality with Inspiration
FM, died.
Tosyn was 37. She died due to
complications from sickle cell anaemia. Young, vibrant, but with a drop of
death in her pool of life, Tosyn succumbed to the lifelong battle she had
fought against “her genes”.
All she wanted for an epitaph
was:
Here lies she who lived short
but well
No regrets for her, but all her story tell
No regrets for her, but all her story tell
DEJI TINUBU
Tinubu died doing one of the
things he knew how to do best—playing football.
The sports administrator,
sportscaster, engineer, died aged 52, after he grabbed his chest and slumped on
the pitch on January 25.
DT, as he was popularly called,
was very instrumental to the development of Lagos state sports from the
grassroots. He eventually became a board member of the NFF. He was part of the
think-tank that shocked Africa as Nigeria against all odds won the African Cup
of Nations in South Africa in 2013.
“If not for birds and booze I
would’ve played for England,” he had said.
ALEX BADEH
Badeh’s death came as a rude
shock to Nigerians. It was one thing that he died, and it was another that a
former chief of defence staff, the topmost military position on the Nigerian
soil, was shot dead while returning from his farm.
He was born into a family of
peasant farmers in Vimtim, a little town in Mubi local government area of
Adamawa state, on January 10, 1957. He was chief of air staff and also
commander, presidential air fleet (PAF), under the administration of former
president Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was so good at his job that he
flew former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter on different occasions.
Badeh’s demise got Nigerians
asking about the safety of ordinary citizens in the midst of an insecurity war
in the country.
THE VICTIMS OF INSECURITY
The list is innumerable and the
names are not all known, but undoubtedly, the world must have felt your
presence and impact.
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