Writers Mourn lettered Men, Solzhenitsyn, Jose and artists

PRESS RELEASE                 Writers Mourn lettered men, Solzhenitsyn, Jose and Artists Just as the Centre of Excellence chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, Lagos was just marking the longevity associated with writers and fighters in the persons of Dr. T.M Aluko and Dr. Nelson Mandela's 90th birthdays,and preparing to jointly examine Lessons From Mandela and Fela, Two System Fighters on Saturday August 9, 2008, a major writer and fighter, Mr. Alexander Solzhenitsyn of the dreaded system of Josef Stalin's Soviet Union, passed away at 90 too. So did the quintessential Nigerian journalist, Mr. Babatunde Jose at 82. ANA  Lagos mourns the great Russian novelist, Alexander Solzhenitsyn,the writer who fought Josef Stalin's  repressive Russia to a standstill with his courage, his pen and his voice. He also did so much to the general understanding of repressive systems and the appreciation of prison literature with works like The Gulag Archipelago, One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich among his many books with which he exposed Stalin's Russia.For the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA Lagos, it is both prophetic of their celebration of the longevity associated with writers and fighters as evidenced and celebrated in Dr.T. M Aluko and Dr.Nelson Mandela, as it is of their topic of discussion for Saturday 9 August in their every second Saturday of the month reading on: Lessons From Mandela and Fela, Two System Fighters. In the words of  Mr. Chike Ofili, the chapter Chairman, "To help bring the distant death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the great and unbowed Russian writer that resisted the tyranny of Josef Stalin's misrule with his courage, pen and voice home to our Nigerian environment, is to try to apprehend the repressive psychological weather of fear that journalist-fighter Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe worked under colonial Nigeria, that the afrobeat musical maestro, Fela Anikulapo Kuti and the fire brand legal luminary, Gani Fawehinmi who were constantly gallowed by repressive military regimes in Nigeria, operated in; whilst not forgeting Prof. Chike Obi, Prof Wole Soyinka and Dr. Bala Usman. So was A.S of Russia in Stalin's gulag" . We also mourn Alhaji Babatunde Jose a lettered and committed man of the pen who was much sold out to journalistic excellence at a time when news gathering was much more challenging.We celebrate rather than mourn the autobiographical author of Walking a Tight Rope  and greatly hope that today's journalism in Nigeria that is increasingly getting compromised in standards and ethics, and ever waiting for the news to walk its way into the newsroom in a wait-and-get manner, will find rejuvenation from his death says Chike  Ofili. In similar manner, the body of writers commiserate with the Performing Musician Association of Nigeria,PMAN and broadcasters for their losses too many."We are bowed by the death of the revolutionary fighter singer, Sunny Okosun, the technical depth of the musicianship and musicology of Steve Rhodes, the pleasure giving music of Oliver de Coque, the budding music of Sammy Needle. So do we fondly miss the fast fading research enabling broadcast presentation style and politeness of the late NTA man, Mr.Segun Apata, and Mr. Alade Aromire the resorceful movie maker in the yoruba tradition who brought entrepreneurship and the will to solve a threatening challenge to the movie making business hobby, and for his business acumen even in the Estate business.    The Centre of Excellence chapter of  the ANA, Lagos invites writers and the general public to its 2pm meeting on Saturday 9 August at the Aina Onabolu , National Arts gallery Wing of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.       Signed Mrs. Christy Odia P.A to the Chairman: Association of Nigerian Authors, Lagos.