By Ayo Onikoyi

On Tuesday afternoon, Nollywood actor, Clems Onyeka breathed his last after being mercilessly cut down by stray bullets, arising from a gun battle between cops and robbers in Asaba, Delta State. Suddenly, the quiet actor, who was never celebrated by the media became a subject of media jamboree.

But by some design of fate or poetic twist of ordinary events of life, Clems probably saw his death coming and even made a joke of it. Though it never occurred to the actor what he was talking about could turn out to be what has been written in his own book of life.

Barely two weeks before the fateful day, the actor called Potpourri and demanded to have something written about him. Then, he had just won an award and he wanted it written on the Potpourri column.

“My brother, I enjoy your column so much but nothing has ever been done on me yet, or are you waiting until I am dead before you write about me?”, he queried. To which I replied, “Clems give me something good to write about you and I will do it”.

Then he told me of the award he had just won but didn’t give me enough material to work on. He said he would get back to me but it seems that will never happen now.

I still haven’t got over his death because it was something that told me in clear terms life has no sense of fairplay. I doubt if any story or interview had ever been done on him until his death. May his gentle soul rest in peace.