24 Prominent Nigerians Who Once Suffered Agonies of Losing Their Wives Or Children
Life is full of ups and downs, joy and sorrow. From the time of Adam and Eve, the first couple, according to the biblical accounts, when their son,Abel, was murdered by his own brother Cain, till date, it is hard to see anyone who passed through this world, lived long and accomplished something great without having a moment of sorrow or loss.
So, whether you're still struggling to succeed or you have a lot of successes you have achieved in life, we want to let you know that "The rich and successful people do occasionally cry".
We published here some of the notable Nigerians who had suffered the agonies of losing their wives, husbands and, or children to the cold hands of death.
While some of them like Dr Olu Onagoruwa, Stephen Keshi, e.t.c., did not recover from the shocking effects and agonies, others like Obafemi Awolowo, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Prince Jide Kosoko,moved on with their lives and even achieve more goals.
President Muhammadu Buhari
He lost his mother while he was in house arrest in 1988, less than three years after his removal as Nigeria Head of State. His first wife, Safinatu (née Yusuf), whom he divorced in 1988, also died of diabetes on 14 January 2006 . His first daughter, Mrs Zulaihat Junaid also died of sickle cell anaemia in November 2012. His first and the only son from his first wife, Musa, had also died, making Buhari to have tasted fully the agony of losing mother, daughter and son.
Alhaji Shehu Shagari
This first Executive President of Nigeria who was in power between October 1, 1979 and December 31, 1983 once lost four of his children in a road crash one day, The horrendous incident happened many years after he was removed from office as president.
Dr Olu Onagoruwa
This legal icon and former Attorney General cum Minister of Justice lost his son, a brilliant lawyer, who was assassinated by the hit men of the then Nigeria maximum ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha, after he was sacked for rejecting eight draconian decrees promulgated by Abacha, under whom he was serving as the Attorney General.
The agony of the assassination, after he has been sacked, led to triple tragedies for him as he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed, this was compounded by the death of his wife. Consequently, he never fully recovered from the stroke till he died in 2017 at the age of 80years.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo
This late sage and first Premier of the defunct Western Region of Nigeria, was the former Federal Commisioner(Minister) of Finance who had a bitter experience in 1963 ? when his first son, Segun Awolowo Snr., a brilliant lawyer, trained at the University of Cambridge, was killed in an auto-crash.
The tragic death occurred while Awolowo was in detention over a treasonable felony and Segun had come to give his father legal defense.
Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe
This first indigenous Governor-General of Nigeria and her first President had cause to mourn when his first wife, Floral Ogbenyeanu Azikiwe died in August 1983 Although Zik already had a second wife the deceased was aged 66., The couple had been married since April 1936. Floral was the first First Lady of Nigeria and mother of Zik first set of children.
Alhaji Lateef K Jakande
This first executive governor of Lagos State and former Minister for works lost his first daughter while she was doing her doctorate. It was a great sorrow for him.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
This former President of Nigeria has lost three of his former wives. The third, Stella Obasanjo, being his wife and the First Lady of Nigeria, till her death in 2005.
Gen. Ibrahim Babangida
This self-styled former military president of Nigeria had a dose of losing his loved one when his heartthrob, Mrs Mariam Babangida, Nigeria's most celebrated and flamboyant First Lady, died of ovarian cancer on 27 December 2009 in a Los Angeles, California hospital..
Chief M.K.O. Abiola
This Nigeria elected president that was neither sworn-in nor allowed to govern, had his taste of sorrow when his childhood lover and first wife, Alhaja Simbiat Atinuke Abiola died of breast cancer in 1992. The death actually marked the beginning of his ordeal. While in prison, his second wife, Kudirat Abiola, who hoped to become the next First Lady of Nigeria, if her husband's election is validated, was brutally assassinated in 2005 by the Abacha killers squad.
Chief (Mrs) H.I.D. Awolowo
They called her Mama Nigeria during her funeral. But this matriarch of the Awolowo also had cause to mourn twice over deaths of her second daughter, Chief Mrs Ayo Soyode and her second son, Chief Wole Awolowo, who both died in their 70s.
These were in addition to the tragic death of her first son, Segun Awolowo Snr., the brilliant lawyer who had earlier died in his early 20s while her husband, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was in detention over treasonable felony.
She however laughed last few months to her death, when her granddaughter, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo became the Wife of the Vice President of Nigeria.
Mrs Ajoke Murtala Muhammed
She is the wife of former Nigeria Head of State, Late Gen. Murtala Ramat Muhammed who was assassinated on 13 February, 1976. The sudden gruesome murder plunged her into first mourning because the man just spent six months in office and she had not settled down to perform the role of a First Lady when the assassination was carried out.
In 1994, her first son, Zakari, was also killed at the age of 28, making her to mourn again.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
It was a great loss for this former governor of Lagos State and presidential e of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) when his eldest and highly intelligent son, Mr Kazeem Olajide Tinubu, died of heart attack at age 37 in October 2017. It was a sad thing for him.
Chief Alex Akinyele
For this former Minister of Information and a Public Relations guru, life is e admixture of honey and bitter. He once lost his wife and married another Indian woman.
His son died, causing him a great sorrow. While undergoing this pain,he suffered stroke and died in that condition.
Adams Oshiomole
While he was governor of Edo State, death walked into his house majestically and snatched away his wife, who had been battling with cancer for a long time.
Prince Dapo Abiodun
Barely a year and few months to his election as governor of Ogun State, this Prince from Iperu Remo, Ogun State, who was then the Chairman of Corporate Affairs Commission, lost his first son, DJ Olu to the cold hands of death.
Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi
This General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church and holiness preacher saw the other side of life when death sneaked into his privacy and took away his hearthrob of many years,Pastor Abiodun Kumuyi in 2009 . It was a great sorrow for him, but he summoned courage to even preach at the funeral.
Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye
For this highly anointed man of God and General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God(RCCG) who used to describe himself as the favorite son of God, it was an unbelievable and very shocking news to many people across the world when it was gathered that Adeboye's son. a vibrant pastor and his lookalike, Pastor Dare Adeboye, just died in his sleep, without any reported complain of sickness or notice of premonition.
To Pastor Adeboye and his wife, the death of their promising son, Pastor Dare Adeboye, was a great emotional trauma which they can't express in public, but had to endure its agony privately.
Pastor Taiwo Odukoya
This Founder and General Overseer of the Fountain of Life Church, lost his heartthrob, Pastor Bimbo Odukoya, who died in the Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 crash that occurred in December 2005.
It was a great misfortune for this man of God whose wife was a popular televangelist, role model, mentor and pastor to many youths and singles whose famous Talkshow programme on TV was a preference to millions of viewers.
Chief Reuben Fasoranti
For this retired leader of the Afenifere,a Yoruba sociocultural organisation, it was a great agony for him when his lawyer daughter, Mrs Olufunke Olakunrin, was allegedly assassinated by some callous herdsmen around Ore, Ondo State, in 2019 while she was returning from a visit to her father in Akure.
For a nonagenarian man to have lost a 54-year-old daughter in a cruel manner like this, it must have brought a great sorrow to him.
Prof Theophilus Ogunlesi
This first professor of,medicine in Nigeria and father of great American banker cum airline merchant, Dr Adebayo Ogunlesi, got a dose of bitter side of life when death snatched his wife and mother of all his children from him and he couldn't rescued her with all his knowledge of medicine, because, of all the creatures of God, time and death remain untamable.
So, this nonagenarian medical expert has remained a widower since the departure of his wife.
Richard Mofe-Damijo
This Nollywood superstar, and lawyer had cause to mourn when his first wife and celebrated journalist, May Ellen Ezekiel Mofe-Damijo famously known as MEE died of complications while being operated upon to remove the fibroid that have been hindering her from conceiving.
MEE who died at age 39 in 1996, was older than him: And, to move on with his life, he remarried an AIT young broadcaster, Jumobi Adegbesan, who later left TV for the corporate world.
Jide Kosoko
Here is a veteran actor and Nollywood superstar who was bereaved twice within 11months interval.
His first and second wives died in turns, during childbirth.
After mourning twice, he remarried another two wives, which he said weren't intentional decisions, just for him to move on with his life.
Stephen Keshi
This late Nigerian football defender and the coach of Nigeria National football team, Super Eagles, had his own taste of bereavement when his wife died on December 10, 2015, after battling cancer for three years.
About six months after mourning his wife, Keshi also died of heart attack on June 7, 2016.
Patrick Doyle
Tragedy struck twice in the house of this veteran broadcaster and actor when sickle cell anemia claimed the lives of people he loved so dearly.
The first to die was his first wife, whom he lost to sickle cell anaemia, 10years after their marriage.
Barely a year before his 50th birthday, his teenage son also died of sickle cell anaemia.
For a man whose father died, four months before he was born, he had seen the two sides of life and had mourned repeatedly,
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