Kenneth Gyado’s obituary: It was not about “see Paris and die”; death news was surreal – THE CONCLAVE Board of Editors

The Facebook notification by Terna Gyado for the family was what upended the surreal nature of the news of the sudden, shocking and painful passing of our friend, Mr Kenneth Tersoo Gyado, in his sleep in far away Paris, France. Kenneth’s decision, foisted on him by forces greater than he was, to answer the final call in Paris was not the case of “see Paris and die”, a cliché that we have grown up to assimilate in our part of the world, until now that Dubai has forced a revision of that assertion, to validate the beauty, the awe-inspiring features and fixtures that exemplify Paris-the significant European city and global centre of art, fashion, gastronomy and culture, whose 19th century cityscape is crisscrossed by wide boulevards and the river Seine. Not at all, our very own “Ken G” as we were wont to address him, had visited and seen Paris many times for business and holiday before this last fatal visit, where the Almighty God permitted death-the end of life. It was in the enclave of beautiful Paris that death took Ken G’s beautiful life, a vibrant life, to be sure, that encapsulated his 53-year odyssey that found anchorage in the philosophy of existentialism. There was nothing more that death could do to his soul. Yes, for Ken G, the sting of death is gone. But for us who mourn him, the reality is too heavy a burden to bear.

English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who would later become a cleric in the Church of England, John Donne, it was, who once said: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” The death of Ken G diminishes the tribe of those of us he proudly associated with. He was proudly APC. He was proudly Catholic, and he was proudly humanist. He was an incurable “gunner”-he would swim and sink with Arsenal. He proudly celebrated these identities and associations on his Facebook page-a medium with great potential for reaching mass audience globally. Five days before the news of his death broke on Saturday, February 8, 2025, he had taken to the same Facebook page with a post of his picture wherein he donned his winter coat, announcing to his friends via the social media platform his presence in Paris: “cold, breezy but still beautiful…” He had added after the ellipses” “where are my buddies?” This shout-out would appear premonitory as his almost characteristic sharp voice with a streak of influence of his native Tiv tongue was thereafter silenced eternally.

Advertisement

Our association with Ken G dates to the inception of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. The refined alumnus of St John’s Boys Day Secondary School, Gboko and the University of Jos was one of our numerous friends in the Publicity Directorate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). All journalists who covered the activities of the PDP at that intersection knew Ken G. There was also another great guy in that Directorate-Nwachukwu Ngige, who was Ken G’s office colleague. Ken G was a jolly good fellow. His loyalty to any cause or person he believed in was solid. Our subsequent interactions always found convergence in the socio-political interactions created by a former Benue governor, one-time Senator, ex-minister and current Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume. Those interactions provided some significant intersections that defined the humanism in the corporeal being of Ken G.

Indeed, we had opportunities of coming together at some points to assist Senator Akume in the media during some of his (Akume’s) political ventures. Ken G and others in the media team deferred to one of our editors, Sufuyan Ojeifo, to consummate an important intervention. Ken G made it a point of duty to encourage him to see it through. He had this peculiar way of addressing him: “Ojeifo, my man!” He said to him: “You are in the field. Many of the editors are your friends. You are in a better position to accomplish this task for us. You will always deliver, I trust you.”

Ken G’s sense of humour was writ large. But on one occasion, Senator Akume turned him into the butt of the joke. It was a notorious fact that Ken G was on the big side. When we converged on Akume’s residence on a Sunday morning for a Thanksgiving Mass for Akume’s son who passed his promotion exam in his office, Ken G was trying to get a seat for himself in the living room. Akume looked at him with a smile on his face, asking him if the seat he wanted to sit in could carry him. We all laughed it off.

Kenneth Tersoo Gyado always had his eyes on the ball. He was good at networking. He made friends easily and kept fidelity to friendship. He defined his aeon with the magnitude of his self confidence and determination to fulfil purpose in life. Although, he answered the final call at 53, yet he would be sorely missed for his eventful life. Scottish poet, Thomas Campbell, once said: “To live in the hearts of those we love is never to die.” Truly, Ken G’s spirit lives, so does his memory. You have taken a bow and exited the stage, rest in peace, our buddy.

● THE Board of Editors of THE CONCLAVE online newspaper takes this opportunity to commiserate with the family of Ken G on his death. May the Almighty God grant his wife and three beautiful children as well as his extended family members the fortitude to bear this great loss. Amen.