Audu, Alamieyeseigha, HID Awolowo, Oronto… 10 deaths that shook Nigerians in 2015

It is normal. It is not everyone who sees the beginning of a year that goes on to witness the end of such year. Year 2015 was no different. Many were born in the recently-ended year, but a lot of people also crossed to the great beyond.

In this piece, we briefly highlight 10 of those deaths that made the headlines in the outgoing year.

ABUBAKAR AUDU

Till date, the dust raised by the death of Audu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Kogi state November 21 election, is yet to settle. The period of his death almost sparked a constitutional crisis because such is unprecedented in the country.

Audu died shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the poll inconclusive. The electoral body backed up its action with a provision of the electoral act, which states that a winner cannot be announced in an election where the margin between the two leading candidates is less than the number of voided votes.

The commission scheduled a supplementary election and asked the APC to replace Audu, which further deepened the crisis: Audu’s running mate said he ought to have been declared governor-elect, but his kinsmen nominated the eldest son of the deceased to replace him. Idris Wada, the incumbent governor who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also asked INEC to declare him governor-elect, saying his opponent “died with his vote”. Audu was 68.

DIEPREYE ALAMIEYESEIGHA

Not a few found it difficult to believe the death of the first civilian governor of Bayelsa state. The incident happened in October, a time when the rumour mill was agog with reports that there were plans of extraditing him to the UK to continue facing his corruption charges.

Alamieyeseigha died on his sick bed but the family was able to prevent the report of his ailment from spreading to the media, such that the news of his death came as a rude shock. He reportedly died from shock. His wife had a terminal illness, his son got divorced from his wife; the governor-general of the Ijaw nation, as his supporters dubbed him, died unhappy. He was 63.

HID AWOLOWO

“No matter the age, no one wishes a loved-one dead.” This saying captures how the Awolowo family reacted to the death of their matriarch. The picture of an octogenarian weeping as he mourned HID went viral and that was just one out of the numerous persons who wished Pa Awolowo’s jewel of inestimable value lived eternally.

A reporter described her burial as the biggest social gathering of 2015. The first four citizens of the country witnessed the burial in person. She was buried on November 25, the day she would have clocked 100.

OKUNADE SIJUWADE

A revered and arguably one of the most influential kings in Africa, the death of the immediate past Ooni of Ife also came as a surprise. As against tradition, the news filtered in shortly after he departed this world. Sijuwade had gone to the United Kingdom for medical attention and those who were unaware of the trip waved aside the report of his death.

The initial denial of the Ife traditional council did not also help issues but no matter how long a lie goes, truth will always catch up with it, according to an African adage. So, the council had no choice but to announce the passage of the Ooni. Currently, a youthful king sits atop that throne. He was 85.

ADE ADEFUYE

He was Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States. Adefuye narrowly escaped the hammer of the then new administration, which recalled ambassadors. President Muhmmadu Buhari was to visit US and he needed to play some key roles during that visit and that was how he retained his job.

However, his death came at a time when he was set to quit the plum job. Adefuye died exactly a week to the farewell ceremony that staff of the Nigerian embassy in the US planned to organise in his honour. He spent five years as the head of the Nigerian diplomatic mission in America. He was 68.

AHMED ZANNAH

Zannah’s political career gained relevance in 2011. A businessman and member of the board of different federal establishments, Zannah beat Bukka Abba, former secretary to the Borno state government, to the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the primary of Borno central senatorial district. He eventually contested the election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and defeated Ali Modu Sheriff, former governor of the state and strongman of Borno politics.

He won his re-election bid in 2015, but died a month to his swearing-in. In his lifetime, he tried to make case for the people of the state who were ravaged by insurgency. Before his death, Zannah promised to support implementation of the Lake Chad replenishment project, which would bring water from a river in the Congo Republic to Lake Chad. He was 60.

ZANNA MUSTAPHA

Until his death, Mustapha was the deputy governor of Borno state. He died on August 15 while on an official assignment to Adamawa state. The news of his death was, to say the least very, shocking. He retired into his hotel room in Yola a night before without any complaint, but his lifeless body was found around 7:30am the next day when he was about to be invited for breakfast with the governor of the state.

The deceased, who served with Kassim Shettima, Borno state governor, between 2011 and 2015, was having his second term in office when the call of nature came calling. He enjoyed a close relationship with Shettima.

An officer of the Nigerian Navy, Mustapha resigned in 1993 and went into private business. He died at the age of 49.

GAMALIEL ONOSODE

The ‘boardroom guru’ as he was fondly referred to by his admirers, Onosode was a quintessential Nigerian. A technocrat and a perfectionist to the core, he sat atop the board of many companies. He was also the pro-chancellor of three Nigerian universities.

One of the last public functions he attended was the convocation of the University of Lagos, where he was honoured alongside Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG); T.Y. Danjuma, former minister of defence, and other eminent Nigerians.

At that occasion, where he was accompanied by his wife of several decades, Onosode spoke on issues of probity and integrity.

He was a devout Christian and started Good News Baptist Church in his sitting room on February 1, 1984. Onosode died at the age of 82 after a battle with bone cancer.

ORONTO DOUGLAS

Douglas was the special adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on research, documentation and strategy. He died eight years after he was first diagnosed with cancer. Though his family members and friends saw death coming his way, it didn’t take away their pains.

Douglas, whose health condition improved for the next three years after the diagnosis, became visibly sick in the year preceding his death. He had gone for his routine medical checkup in the United States when the doctor told him that his days were numbered.

He eventually died exactly three weeks after, at the State House Clinic in Abuja on April 9, 2015, at the age of 48.

UCHE CHUKWUMERIJE

A former minister of information under the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida, Chukwumerije also served as a minister during the interim government of Ernest Shonekan. In 2003, he was elected to represent Abia north senatorial district at the national assembly and won another term, though under the then newly-formed Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), after falling out with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for opposing the third term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He returned to the PDP again, where he failed to clinch the ticket to secure his fourth term bid as a lawmaker.

He died of lung cancer in April.