Ikeogu Oke

- Abdulhafeez T. Oyewole 

A renowned Nigerian poet and the winner of the 2017 NLNG Prize for Literature, Ikeogu Oke, is dead.

Born in 1967, he passed away last night, Saturday, 24th of November, 2018 at the National Hospital, Abuja, after a brief illness. 

The poet, who was also a journalist, gained nationwide fame last year when he won the 2017 Nigeria Prize for Literature (Poetry Category) for his book, The Heresiad, a book of epic poetry.

3 Shortlisted books for 2017 NLNG Prize for Literature

The deceased was presented with a cheque of $100,000 (N37m) by the Prize sponsor, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited.

This Oke’s operatic poetry titled, The Heresiad, beat Ogaga Ifowodo’s A Good Mourning and Tanure Ojaide’s Songs of Myself: Quartet, to claim the prize after an intensive adjudication process.

Ikeogu reading the poem he wrote for Okigbo at Ojoto

Ikeogu Oke's poems and other writings have appeared in journals, anthologies and other publications worldwide. He has performed his poems at various fora in Nigeria, South Africa and the United States, including as a special performance poet guest of Brown University in 2014. He graduated with a BA in English and Literary Studies from the University of Calabar and an MA in Literature from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. In 2010, Nadine Gordimer, the winner of the 1991 Noble Prize in Literature, selected his second collection of poems, Salutes without Guns, as her Book of the Year for the Times Literary Supplement. 

His other books include In The Wing Of Waiting, The Lion and The Monkey, The Tortoise And The Princess and Where I Was Born.

Meanwhile, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), through its National President, Denja Abdullahi, has expressed deep shock over the untimely death of the late poet laureate.

According to the Nigerian Authors' President, "Ikeogu Oke was a committed member of ANA and together we (the deceased and him) have criss-crossed Nigeria on several literary ventures, ranging from Arrow of God @ 50 in 2014 to the recent Return To Idoto 2 which held in Ojoto-Awka in August, 2018."

Abdullahi who said Ikeogu was a friend and compatriot, described him as an affable, gentle and enigmatic fellow who lived and breathed poetry. 

The ministry's Director and cultural technocrat prayed that God give the deceased family and the literary community the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss, while also praying that his poetic soul rest in peace.