Two long years without the boss
Sonny Onyegbula pays tribute to Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem some two years after his passing on African Liberation Day.
On 24 May 2009, I was traveling on a mission from Moroto to Kotido in the impoverished Karamoja sub-region of north-east Uganda when my phone rang. It was my wife calling and her voice sounded very worried. She broke the sad news that calamity had occurred and that my boss, friend and brother Taju was dead. I was too shocked to react. As soon as I gathered myself I asked her what happened and she explained that the information that she could gather was that he had died on his way to Jomo Kenyatta airport to board a flight to Kigali on an official assignment. His car fell into a ditch and overturned several times. I called some friends in Nairobi and they confirmed the sad news. Taju was indeed dead.
How time flies – it is now two years without Taju.
When I was in London recently and went to visit his wife and young daughters the sadness of Taju's demise struck me ever so much. Taju in his lifetime lived a fulfilled life and spoke truth to power. He was a passionate activist for change and development and championed the cause for the poor and neglected. Even though Taju is no more we that knew him and his family feel blessed that we were privileged to have known him and shared in his vision. As we remember Tajudeen on the second anniversary of his death on 24 May 2011, let us remember his family and pray that God will keep them, bless them and give them the fortitude to bear the monumental loss of a giant, husband and father.
May your great soul continue to rest in the bosom of the lord Oga Taju.
Your brother,
Sonny Onyegbula
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