OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE ALUKO FAMILY ON THE PASSING AWAY OF
PROFESSOR SAMUEL ADEPOJU ALUKO
Forwarded by
Professor Mobolaji E. Aluko
alukome@gmail.com
With a deep sense of loss, yet with great gratitude to our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ for a full and Christian life
well-lived, we announce
the death of our exemplary husband, father and
grandfather, foremost academician and consummate patriot
Professor Samuel Adepoju
Aluko, at 12.30 am (UK time) on Tuesday February 7, 2012, at the
Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He died
peacefully and
painlessly with prayer and songs [“Great is thy
faithfulness, O God my Father”, etc.] after a brief illness. At
or very close to his bedside were his loving wife of fifty-seven
years, Joyce Anomoghan, some of his six children, twenty-four
grandchildren and other family members.
Born at Ode-Ekiti, Gbonyin Local Government, Ekiti State on
August 18, 1929, he attended primary school at St. Mary’s School
Ode-Ekiti and
Emmanuel School Ado-Ekiti, secondary school at
Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti, and university at the London School
of Economics. He taught and had top administrative duties at
various educational institutions, particularly the University of
Ife, Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, with sabbatical stints at the universities
in Birmingham, Harvard and MIT, among others.
His service as adviser and social critic in public policy,
politics and economics to various local, state and federal
governments in Nigeria and
abroad are well-documented, a passion for which
he demonstrated right to the very end of his life. He loved
sports, travel and his family dearly.
The outpouring of a sense of great loss, yet of love and
admiration that our family has witnessed in print and by
personal contact, from the
top of Nigerian society to the ordinary citizens
for who “Papa Sam Aluko” had a passion, has been overwhelming.
We thank everybody who has got in touch with us or has tried to.
No greater joy do we have – or would he have had – to be so
re-assured that he impacted not just our family but the lives of
thousands, even millions of other people in Ekitiland, Nigeria
and the rest of the world. Even in transition to the glorious
arms of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we hope and trust
that fond memories of his illustrious life will continue to
inspire people.