Veteran Journalist, Eddie Aderinokun, dies at 80

* He made unforgettable contribution to literature and sports — Buhari

THE Aderinokun family has announced the death of their illustrious son, Otunba Eddie Olayiwola Aderinokun, a veteran journalist, published poet, eminent culture patron and sports administrator.

According to a statement released by his younger brother, Chief Kayode Aderinokun, on behalf of the family today, Otunba Aderinokun died “on the 3rd of January 2021, following a brief illness.”

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said President Buhari has extended condolence to the Aderinokun family. He recalled Aderinokun’s “unforgettable contribution to knowledge via literature, especially poetry.”

The president also acknowledged Aderinokun’s “footprints in sports development, particularly volleyball, where he made his mark as a very successful Chairman of the Nigerian Volleyball Federation.”

According to Adesina, the president said as President of Nigeria League of Veteran Journalists, Aderinokun “shared his wealth of experience, and guided younger professionals on the path of ethics and good conduct.”

Condoling with the family, friends, the media, and sporting fraternity, President Buhari urged them to strive to keep his memory alive, saying tat posterity would not forget his contributions.

Aside his meritorious career as a widely traveled journalist, who rose to become editor of then influential Daily Express, he was also a poet, who published over seven collections of his writings while alive, among which were, Indigo Tears and Milestones. He was reportedly working on a compendium of his volumes of poetry when he died.

Otunba Aderinokun was a vice president of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA. He was instrumental to the birth of the Lagos chapter of the association, providing a much-needed home to the body at his Surulere Lagos guest house in those birthing years; essentially playing host to the weekly meetings of the writers and enthusiasts of the body.

He also extended supports to other culture-based initiatives such as the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA, the Coalition of Nigerian Artists, CONA as well as the Arts Writers Association of Nigeria, AWON — all of which he gave both material and moral supports at their births in the early 90s.

For many years, Otunba Aderinokun was the Chairman of the Nigeria Volleyball Association, and was credited for having singlehandedly helped to restore the glory of the game at the time.

Otunba Aderinokun was modestly celebrated on occasion of his 80^th birthday anniversary last July in Abuja, by family and friends, especially in the political circuit, where he spent his last years. He had suffered the loss of his last daughter, Bisola, a few weeks before then, and thus was least interested in the celebration, though his friends and associates insisted.

On the occasion, President Buhari acknowledged his contribution to journalism, and the creative sector, describing him as a ‘rare treasure and a patriot’, who had done much to uplift the two passions he committed himself to — journalism and sports.

Aderinokun, older brother of the former managing director of Guaranty Trust Bank, the late Tayo Aderinokun, was a close confidante of many eminent Nigerians, the acquaintanceship of whom he made when he was the influential editor of Daily Express. These include former head of state, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on whose Africa Leadership Forum (ALF) he served for years; and the businessman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, with whom he served on the African Business Roundtable, ABR. Aside helping to manage the media profile of Tukur when he was chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, he also wrote a literary autobiography of the man, The Global Villager: Bamanga Tukur, published by Monumenta Communications.

Aderinokun was also given due credit as a grandfather of pop music in Nigeria, having used his influence as editor of the defunct Daily Express to encourage the birth of the careers of many of the bands then.

In an article written to mark his 80^th birthday in July last year, his bossom friend, Toni Amadi, wrote:

“Some say if the veteran journalist-cum-poet, whose full name is Otunba Eddie Aderinokun, did not set up the Clusters pop group in Lagos in the late sixties, a pop-rock genre wouldn’t have emerged. Others would rather counter, claiming emerging popstars would have shouldered such a daunting task. Irrespective of which conviction you chose to back, there’s no gainsaying that Eddie, who doubled as a sports promoter back in his days, is among the prominent figures of his time who paved way for the now thriving African music genre. Yes, you’d read that right. Fela had tapped him for the cause.”

In the article, titled, “Top Pop-Rock Grandee At 80. Eddy Aderinokun Is Founder Of Nigerian Pop Music”, Amadi continued: “Eddie, who was only a young journalist and sports enthusiast at the time, was said to have taken the bull by the horn; set up a five-man outfit, and called it the Clusters. At the end of the Biafra-Nigerian war, he embarked on a talent hunt within the embattled region. It was during this trip that he recruited Berkely Jones, a guitarist, who fueled the band and became a pop culture icon in Lagos. He also joined Tony Amadi, Linus Okechi, and Jibade Thomas to create a promotional outfit that propelled the Clusters and fledgling groups, kickstarting a musical revolution.”

In one of the earliest reactions to news of Otunba Aderinokun’s passing, writer, medical doctor, and founding chairman of ANA Lagos, Tolu Ajayi wrote, “A very sad loss. He was a real gentleman, and a selfless one too. He was in fact the choice of some people in the ANA National to be the inaugural Chairman of ANA-Lagos but when the Meeting had unexpectedly decided I was their choice (to my surprise too), he’d cheerfully accepted the Vice Chairmanship, and brought his great social and political connections (which I did not have) into play and got ANA-Lagos a donation of ten thousand naira (which was a lot of money then) from Federal Information Minister Chief Alex Akinyele’s (who was his friend and colleague in the public relations industry) Ministry and he actually gave so much of his time to pursue the cheque, and I remember him taking me to the Minister’s Press Conference to twist their hands publicly to give us the cheque, and it was this money we had used to publish our first anthology. I’m recalling all this now so we can all know and appreciate what a fine man he was, and the great support he had given to ANA-Lagos in the beginning. May his great soul RIP.”

Current chairman of ANA Lagos, Ifeanyichukwu Avajah, wrote: “I called you Uncle Eddie. Otunba Eddie Aderinokun we hold you in glimpse no more. The warmth of your reception hosting ANA Lagos decades ago lingers. The warmth was genuine and simply magnetic, luring one like a bee to nectar. I longed to fellowship in the gathering of kindred writers, made possible by your generosity. You were an authentic voice, poet and literary icon, shining bright among the galaxy of literary stars. ANA Lagos would not forget you. I do not forget you. May your soul rest in peace, as you journey homewards to heaven’s gate. Farewell Uncle Eddie. Yours truly…”

The Committee for Relevant Art, CORA, to Aderinokun was a pillar of support wrote: “The CORA commiserates with the Aderinokun family on the passing of Chief Eddie Aderinokun — Journalist, Poet and Culture patron — an enigmatic and resourceful patron of the CORA and its projects. He was Vice President of Association of Nigeria, ANA, as well as mentor/patron of the Lagos ANA since its birth. We commiserate with our Board member, Chief Kayode Aderinokun and the immediate and extended Aderinokun family. May God give him his deserved rest, and protect all that he has left behind.”

More tributes have continued to pour into his family from his friends, associates and beneficiaries of his generosity, who are spread around the world.

“Funeral arrangements will be announced by the family,” according to Chief Kayode Aderinokun, his younger brother, a banker, businessman, published poet and culture patron in his own right.

On his writings, the late Otunba Aderinokun had said on occasion of an interview to mark his 70^th birthday anniversary in July 2010, “I believe I was born with “the talent for writing. But I must confess that I was influenced so early by such nursery rhymes and other foreign books that we were exposed to while in school. I was always fascinated by the titillatingliness and rhyming schemes in these works and I found them most entertaining in the simple and alluring rhymes…

“My major inspiration in literature is William Shakespeare. So I can say I have two Bibles – the Holy Bible and William Shakespeare’s works. Like the Holy Bible, Shakespeare’s also deal about every aspect of life. In his works, we have issues about nature, life, betrayal, religion, politics, economy, hatred, ambition among many others. Despite the fact that he never attended a university or a training school in literary writing, Shakespeare excelled in literature and his works continue to serve as reference points for scholars and researchers.”

On why he preferred poetry to other literary forms, he said, “I choose poetry as a medium of expression because I realised that out of all the genres of literature or the arts, it is the closest to prose and that only a few people were interested in it. So having realised that in our time, literary writing was not so recognised in journalism, I opted for poetry which is the strongest of all the genres. Although I ventured into virtually all areas of the arts, but poetry was most appealing because it enables me to say many things or record many of my experiences in verse form. But before this, I started with journalism and equally excelled in it. I became editor of the defunct Daily Express at 29, and I later served as chairman of the Nigeria Volleyball Association with a track record of excellence in performance.”