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The professor of Literature, Isidore Okpewho, has passed away, but the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has expressed sadness over the death, saying he was Nigeria’s literary icon. The governor said by the icon’s stature and contributions to human development, the professor would surely be adored around the world.
Okowa described Okpewho’s passage as a monumental loss to the country and the literary world.
The governor in a tribute and condolence message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu, extolled the immense contributions of the late writer to the growth and development of literature in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.
He said that his literary works promoted Delta State, Nigeria and Africa, hence he would be celebrated by all lovers of literature all over the world.
Okowa also described Okpewho, winner of the 1976 African Arts Prize for Literature, 1993 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book in Africa, and a 2010 winner of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) in the Humanities as a consummate patriot, a great literary icon, a teacher par excellence.
The governor said: “On behalf of the government and people of Delta State, I commiserate with the Isidore Okpewho family and the entire literary world over the demise of the late cerebral writer of ‘The Last Duty’ fame.
He went on: “We have lost a great man whose contributions to the literary world can best be described as legendary. He will be sorely missed by all and sundry whose lives he affected in many ways with his literary arsenal. I therefore, urge all who mourn the demise of the late professor, Isidore Okpewho, to take solace in the fact that he remains alive through his literary works.”
He prayed God to grant his immediate family the strength to bear the irreparable loss, pointing out that his achievements in different areas of national life will always be remembered.
The death seems to increase the sorrow of the people of Delta who have also lost a business mogul, Michael Ibru, foremost entrepreneur and founder of the Ibru business dynasty.
Ignatius Chukwu & Mercy Enoch
