Former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has lamented that with the demise of former Managing Director of Daily Times, Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba, the media has lost one of its best and brightest, community of creative writers has been robbed of one of its leading dramatists while the rank of progressives has been depleted.
In a special tribute to the late Onukaba, the All Progressives Congress National Leader said the late foremost journalist was full of life and “ever bristling with ideas”.
The tribute was entitled “Onukaba: Never in the Past Tense”. It was personally signed by Tinubu.
In it, he said: “Since I was apprised of the heart-rending news of the sudden and unexpected demise of my very good friend and associate, Dr Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba, I have been unable to bring myself to conceive of him in the past tense.
Onukaba was so full of life, ever bristling with ideas.
“Following the recent Day of Tributes and Eighth Day Fidau Prayers held in his honour by his professional colleagues and friends in Lagos and Abuja respectively, I find myself unable to live in continued self-denial.
“Indeed, Onukaba died, in very painfully sad circumstances, on Sunday March 5, 2017, four days before his 57th birthday.
“I had known Onukaba over the years, since the early days of his most illustrious journalistic career. Our relationship, however, grew stronger with the advent of democratic rule in 1999.
“As Governor of Lagos State, operating from the Government House in Alausa, Onukaba who served as Managing Director of the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc, was a shouting distance down the road in his Agidingbi office. Our paths crossed regularly as he sought to breathe a new lease of life into the nation’s foremost newspaper conglomerate.
“He kept in touch even after our exits from government and we usually shared views on his political project in his bid to lead Kogi State.
“The tragic demise of Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba, leaves a humongous lacuna not only in his biological family, but in the minds and psyche of all of us who knew him and interacted with him in his brief but eventful life.
“The media has lost one of its best and brightest; the community of creative writers, where he was a luminous figure, has been robbed of one of its frontline dramatists; the rank of progressives has been depleted by the exit of this unyielding optimist.
“With the outpouring of grief and pledges of support for his young family and legacy, I am reassured that Onukaba, will not die in our minds and in our thoughts.
“May God forgive him his sins and grant his soul peaceful repose, Amen”.
