Strictly Books With Chux Ohai

Tess Onwueme, Africa's best female dramatist and Professor of pui Cultural Diversity and English at the University of Wisconsin, Eau De'Claire, USA, is bereaved. The internationally acclaimed playwright, so prolific that she is currently working on her 19th book, has lost her mother,

Madam Maria Ndidi Akaeke, to the cold arms of death (excuse the cliche). Born on April 20, 1933, Ma Akaeke (a.k.a. Mama Lagos) died on August 12, 2005. Described as a very loving mother and grandparent by her children, she is said to

have passed on at the age of 72 years after a brief illness in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State. This, no doubt, is a great loss to Onwueme who, despite her busy schedule, had to fly into the country on several occasions from her base in the U.S. on account of 'Id her late mum's failing health. It is believed that her relationship with her mother had, to a large extent, inspired her lofty achievements on the literary firmament. A spitting image of the deceased, Tess must owe her emergence over the years as a writer with active conscience to her early education at home under the guidance of Ma Akaeke. The result has been a close-knit bond between mother and daughter, so tight that even the long distance between Nigeria and America could not threaten it. Ma Maria N didi Akaeke would be making her final journey from the mortuary of St. Mary's Hospital, Ogwashi-Ukwu, on September 15, 2005 to her home at Isah-Ogwashi-Ukwu where she would be lying in state till the next day. An elaborate wake-keep and performances precedes a Christian service and traditional burial rites before her interment at sundown in her compound.

Daily Independent, August 29, 2005