Stella Oduah Loses Son

THE BEREAVED…

In the hitherto enviable and exotic world of former minister of Aviation, Senator Stella Oduah, the sky is no longer a silvery and opalescent delight; it is now pitch black and brackish. And sadly, it would take almost forever for things to return to normalcy for her.During the year, her son died after a brief Illness. It was a devastating and distasteful death that plunged the entire Oduah clan into a pall of gloom.

HOW KUFORIJI OLUBI HOSTED THE PARTY OF HER LIFE, JUST BEFORE SHE DIED
Otunba Kuforiji Olubi was a lucky woman. Unlike her ill-fated peers, she did not evaporate without an eyewitness. She did not groan in dying, twisting the sweaty sheet around her chest. She did not gasp for breath feeling as if her senses drowned while she thrashed alone in the dark. Nobody has such terrible memories of Kuforiji-Olubi. Kuforiji-Olubi died on December 3, at Lagoon Hospital, Lagos. She was aged 80. She died soon after she celebrated her 80th birthday with family and friends at a high-profile thanksgiving at the All Saints’ Church in Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

SAD! EX-EFCC BOSS FARIDA WAZIRI LOSES DAUGHTER
During the year, Farida Waziri, former EFCC boss, lost her daughter, Jackie Ifidon-Ola, to the cold hands of death in Abuja. It was a devastating and distasteful death that plunged the entire Waziri clan into a pall of gloom.

TRAGEDY OF THE RICH… IBRU DYNASTY BUCKLES TO DOUBLE CALAMITY
Three tragedies in quick succession are too close to call for a family attuned to bliss and comedy. Ask the Ibru family. That the scion of the Ibru dynasty, Olorogun Michael Ibru died recently is no longer news. Earlier in the year, Felix Ibru, a former senator and ex-governor of Delta State, died at 80.

AGONY OF A LAWMAKER…SENATOR MARAFA LOSES TWO CHILDREN TO GHASTLY ACCIDENT
Death, the hideous grim reaper, sauntered into the life of Senator Kabir Marafa, representing Zamfara Central, and plucked two beautiful flowers from his orchard. The Senator representing Zamfara Central Constituency in the Senate, lost two of his children, Awwal and Maryam, to a motor accident along Dandotton Tsafe, on their way from Kaduna on November 7, 2016.

LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT! DEATH STEALS FOLORUNSO ALAKIJA’S YOUNGER BROTHER
Even the garden loses its glamour, and the elder tree, its precious shade. The almond branch loses it avian tenants and the desultory sunlight eventually recedes. In the same vein, happiness and life deserts the Ogbara clan of Ago Ikorodu, Lagos as the family mourned the death of their beloved, Barrister Olawale Dawood Ogbara. He passed away on September 16 at his Lagos residence, after suffering an asthma attack. He was aged 58. Ogbara was the younger brother of Folorunso Afusat Alakija.

SO SAD! TIMELESS LESSONS IN OJO MADUEKWE’S SUDDEN DEATH
Also during the year, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, former Minister of Transport and Foreign Affairs, embarked on a trip of no return few minutes into his arrival in the country for his wife’s 70th birthday. Friends and family of the 71-year old tread with heavy steps to his final resting place although few minutes before his demise, they were preparing to hit the dance floor with him in celebration of his beloved wife’s 70th birthday.