The media and literary community lost a major member on Sunday, when poet, journalist and arts patron, Eddie Aderinokun, passed away.
The elder brother of another influential writer, Kayode Aderinokun, and late co-founder of GTBank, Tayo Aderinokun, bid the world BYE at the age of 80.
He was one well-travelled and eminently connected media practitioner who brougth glamour into the business.
Apart from being prolific, he did the same to the literary world, with many writers who matured especially in the 1980s and 90s being beneficiaries of his natural tendency to mentor people.
His former priestly office in the Eric More area of Lagos, at a memorable era, was like the headquarters of the Association of Nigerian Authors.
Indeed, it was the venue where the Lagos State branch of the association got life, as he hosted many of their Saturday meetings.
Aderinokun also had intimate and beneficial relationships with many of the individual members, acting like a godfather of a kind.
It is thus with an uneasy nostalgia that some of the characters who experienced the man popularly called Uncle Eddie will relate to the news of his passage.
One of such people, Akin Adeoya, who has also become a ‘big boy’, could not escape such a puzzle on Monday evening when he spoke briefly with Phenomenal.com.ng on phone.
“Baba ti lo,” he said before this writer uttered a word, meaning ‘Baba has departed.’
Like this news platform, Adeoya is eagerly eagerly prospecting information on Aderinokun’s passage.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has paid the writer a tribute.
He expressed sadness over the death in a statement released by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria noted that he saluted the more than 60 years of vibrant journalism practice by Aderinokun, which saw him rise to editorship of the then reputable Daily Express Newspaper, and his contribution to literature through many books, particularly on poetry.
“Also unforgettable are his footprints in sports development, particularly volleyball, where he made his mark as a very successful Chairman of the Nigerian Volleyball Federation,” the president said.
He also lauded the fact that Aderinokun, as President of Nigeria League of Veteran Journalists, shared his wealth of experience, and guided younger professionals on the path of ethics and good conduct, adding that all these would be recorded in his favour by posterity.
