Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada The rude news of the death of my very good brother, friend associate and compatriot, Mr Bimbo Fakorode, was received like a whirlwind rumbling through a thick forest.
The previous night, I had seen someone of his semblance dancing on a gritty floor, his face lighted up, his white garment, flying to the drumbeat of the wind. His oval face was unnecessarily snow white. He had a chain on his right hand, and what looked like the Holy Book on her left hand. Then he stared at a long nexus of cobwebs that clouded the sky.
Suddenly, he turned into a master spider and zoomed through the endless network.
He later took a break and then headed skywards. “Egbon Bimbo Fakorede.” I woke up. So, it was all a dream. I maintained a cold calm the morning after, only for the sad, nauseating and rude news to be broken.
Sometimes death is crazy. She is the invincible mover of all things. She is speechless, but very wicked and indiscriminate. No age is too young or any old enough.
Death is even more pitiless, when she kills slowly. There is nothing as traumatic as seeing death hovering around ones bedroom like an incubus, and you are left with nothing to do. You stare at the spiteful claws of death, even as she whispers every morning and at sundown, repeating only one sentence: “I’m here to take you but I will be slow and steady.
No doubt, I have lost a friend and a brother. He was a colossal figure by my side when I was declared wanted by the then Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mike Okiro, in the middle of the storm of liberation struggle for the Yoruba race in year 2000.
Mr Bimbo Fakorede was also one the first two people I consulted in Europe before the Oodua Progressive Union, OPU was formed in 2011. Our relationship was cordial and nothing would have caused the thought that this long, mutual rapport would be so abruptly severed by the cold hands of death.
The heart tearing news was broken to me by Mr Mark Oyetunji, Special Adviser, OPU, Europe and since the rude news, everything went blank, still and static.
Death is inevitable. We loved Fakorede, so sincerely but God loves him most. God took him to the place of everlasting rest, the very day we celebrated our widows, the wives of our gallant soldiers who died in the course of liberating our motherland. We will miss your word of wisdom and the role you normally play in OPU, Germany and the European Union (EU) will ever be fresh in our memories.
“Now that Late Fakorede is gone, all I can say is that he had done his part. Goodnight and safe trip to the great beyond, knowing that death is a debt we all owe and a debt we must pay back. Adieu, gallant brother and rest in peac. Sunre omo oyo ojo ba lee omo atiba…..Sun re o.
Signed
Otunba (Dr) Gani Adams,
Global Convener, Oodua Progressive Union (OPU)
