But for the current insecurity situation in the country, it is the kind of event that would make all roads to lead to Zaria as the Faculty stages a memorial of the three it calls the Irokos of its innovations in dramatic arts.
The innovations were theoretical and ideological, rare anywhere in Nigeria before things started to collapse, especially the universities.
The Irokos all died in an accident a decade ago on their way back to Zaria from Abuja. The accident occurred when a motorcyclist dashed into the highway. In other not to crush the cyclist, the driver of the bus ramped on the break.
The outcome was a somersault that led to the instant death of two of the Irokos: Prof Sam Kafewo who was the Head of the Department of the and Dr. Martins Ayegba, an Associate Professor. Prof Jenks Okwori died a few days later in the hospital. Another lady whose name was given as Aisha and who had been employed in the Department barely a year also died.
As it turned out, neither the driver nor any of the undergraduate and postgraduate students who went for the event in Abuja in the bus died.
That is one manifestation of how underdevelopment works. Otherwise, road demarcations and road use awareness ought to make it impossible for a motorcyclist to dash into the highway anyhow.
The world of knowledge felt it globally, with pains flowing from the Diasporic community, particularly in the USA.
No one who encountered Jenks Okwori aka Chokoli, will find it easy to forget him in a hurry. So proficient in that realm of knowledge that all three staged their death in the way of drama except that, this time, it was not an untruthful lie. It was, indeed, Nigeria’s loss!
