…And Top Businessman, Okon Iyanam was Killed

HIGHLIFE

Gently, she sobbed, clasping her hands to indicate her mood. Her tired gaze stared into the distance. And her eyelids blinked as if to shut out the present. But she couldn’t. Vignettes of blood and hastily carved curses stole from her lips into the chilly air. Muna Iyanam is bereaved! Her partner has been killed in cold blood. If Muna, indeed, had one chance to make a wish, she would wish the death of her husband was a mere nightmare. Watching her bemoan her fate, you could feel and touch her grief and like someone who has signed out on laughter, the sounds and melody of tumbrels and harps for her have stopped making any meaning for now.

It’s often said, other deaths only speak but murder shrieks out. Yet each man kills the thing he loves. Some do it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word. The coward does it with a kiss, the brave with a sword; Okon Iyanam’s murderers did it with a blazing gun. Last Wednesday, Iyanam was killed by some gunmen at his guest house in Mowe, Ogun State. His family and friends are still mourning and wondering what could be the motive of his murder. They are at a loss about who could have been responsible for the gruesome act.

Hence the matter remains a Gordian knot as no one can categorically trace his death to a specific person. But that Iyanam met his end in a gruesome manner that ill-fated Wednesday night is not in doubt. In the wake of his demise, not a few friends and family alleged that there is more to his death than meets the eye. The death of this young businessman reminds us of our dour humanity, and of the fragility of our hold on human subsistence. The world is indeed a stage and life itself is but a walking shadow.

Life is a permanent shuttle in the sepulcher, and what we have are fleeting memories, stilled mementoes, fraught memories and the fractured memorabilia of those who are gone forever, never to be seen again. Iyanam was until his death the Chief Executive Officer of Bond Consulting. A pioneer staff of Globacom, he left the telecom company and was briefly with the Enyi Odigbo-led DDB Lagos before joining Insight/Grey.

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