T.M Aluko is dead

[Sola Osofisan]

Renowned writer T.M. Aluko is dead. Reports say he died at 4.02am this morning in a Lagos hospital. He was 91 years old.

Aluko, who had suffered a stroke that left him unable to use the right side of his body, was 91years old.
Despite this restriction, the author taught himself to write with his left hand and launched his "Our Born-Again President" in November 2009 a few months after his 91st birthday.

Aluko became popular amongst Nigerian readers for his satirical works like ‘One Man, One Wife', ‘One Man, One Matchet'; ‘Chief the Honourable Minister'; Kinsman and Foreman'; ‘Conduct Unbecoming.' He also produced the more autobiographical works like ‘The Story of My Life'; and ‘My Years of Service', about his years in the Nigerian civil service.

More on NEXT (http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/ArtsandCulture/Books/5562814-147/t.m_aluko_is_dead__.csp)

[Sola Osofisan]

One of the giants...

[Dela Bobobee]

May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.
I wish I could live as long as he did. A whopping 91 years old.
Waoh, that was a great man with a great mind gone from the surface of the earth, but not from the bottom of our hearts. He lives in our minds forever.



In Memory of TM Aluko

There lies TM Aluko today like a baby
But we all knew him as a great man
‘One Man, One Wife’, - no extra lady
We all placed on concubines a ban
Then he said ‘One Man, One Matchet’
A satire on ‘Chief the Honourable Minister‘
Who fumed but still buried the hatchet
He lost the case, no help from his barrister
With such volatile ‘Conduct Unbecoming’
In contrast to you; a man so unassuming

Adieu, Aluko! ‘Our Kinsman and Foreman’
I wish and pray that ‘The Story of My Life’
Would be as illustrious as a good newsman
Who preached peace and stirred no strife
May ‘My Years of Service’ only to humanity
Be my epithet as I engrave this solemn epitaph
Of a man who cheated stroke with impunity
And learnt to write with his left hand an epigraph
There lies TM Aluko, a great man at ninety-one
Fare well, rest in the bosom of the mighty-one.


© Dela Bobobee

01-05-2010