Writer, journalist and distinguished academic Professor Nduka Otiono has lost his mother, Madam Benedicta Uzochikwa Otiono, who passed away at the age of 91.
The burial is scheduled for January 17.
In a tribute, the Delta Literary Forum (DLF) extolled the virtues of the departed matriarch, highlighting her enduring legacy of wisdom and nurturing qualities that touched not only her immediate family but extended to grandchildren.
“No matter how old a matriarch may be, her breast of wisdom-weaning skills is inexhaustible as children and grandchildren will like to suck forever,” the Forum noted in their condolence message, adding that her longevity was a testament to good genes that would benefit future generations.
Drawing from Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, the forum’s message poetically compared Madam Otiono’s departure to natural phenomena: “The swallow is never seen to peck holes in its nest when it is time to move with the season.”
According to Azua Alonu and Albert Ograka, chairman and secretary of DLF, respectively, Professor Otiono should find solace in the fact that his mother “left her home intact without a hole in her nest,” highlighting the graceful manner of her departure.
The forum celebrated what they described as a “goddess-grandeur going of an exit,” acknowledging both the somber nature of the loss and the celebration of a life well-lived.
