Gone With The Water

The parallel in both situations isn’t lost on me. Perry Tukuwei. Matthew Perry.

This week, I’ll be keeping it short. 

Yesterday, while still trying to decide on what to write about, I stumbled on a shocking piece of information on X (formerly known as Twitter) that made me really sad. 

It wasn’t pleasant news. 

Coming days after learning that one of the brightest lights in the Bayelsa journalistic landscape had died, I was in no place to learn of the death of anyone else. But who am I? I don’t control such things and knowing what I do about life, I don’t think that the elements and forces that do are open to consultations on the timing and manner of exit when it comes to the matter of who crosses over and who gets to continue on for one more day. 

Since nothing is guaranteed, at the end of the day that’s all we have, right? One more day. 

I got to learn about the passing of Perry Tukuwei on Facebook. It was a cryptic post from someone I follow that sparked my interest. It didn’t take much digging for me to realise that the burning candle on a black background was for Perry. 

I wouldn’t say Perry and I were friends, but I remember him being one of the first journalists in Bayelsa to interview me about my writing and books. My first interview with him was for TV and the second was for radio, I think. 

He worked for the AIT/Raypower media group and due to his general interest in the literary community in Yenagoa, and my job working for the Government of the day, our paths would cross every now and again. 

When I eventually joined social media and we started following each other, I enjoyed both the humour and intellectualism in his posts. He liked to use the Ijaw word galabagalaba a lot and it made me laugh whenever I saw it in something he wrote or posted about. 

I don’t recall us being in online conversations, but he would often like my posts and I would do the same whenever I came across his. Occasionally, he would say something nice so I knew he was happy for my progress just as I was for his.   

Not too long ago, I saw from one of his posts that he had been appointed to lead the media team for one of the aspirants in the November Governorship elections in Bayelsa. 

I was happy for him but I never got around to letting him know this even though I made a mental note to do so. 

Victim of a boat mishap on the campaign trail, Perry Tukuwei Jr. drowned last week. There has been an outpouring of prayers and good wishes for his repose and strength for his family since the news broke. 

He was a good person. He lived a good life. There was no limit to how far he was going to go in his career and in life, but that life has been cut short. 

His death is painful and it saddens me. I am sad at such a great loss for his family and Bayelsa State. Talented people like Perry don’t come around too often. 

This was the loss I was mourning in private when I saw the post about Matthew Perry. I knew him from the TV Series, Friends. Matthew was found dead in his bathtub. 

Though I only knew him from TV and mostly as the character, Chandler he played in the hilarious sitcom that aired from 1994 to 2004, hearing about his death felt like hearing about the death of a close friend or family member because of the memories associated with that time of my life. 

The parallel in both situations isn’t lost on me. Perry Tukuwei. Matthew Perry. One drowned and one died in his hot tub. Both are immensely talented with so much more to give. 

There used to be six friends on Friends, but now there are five. 

There used to be this great journalist in Bayelsa, but now he is no more. 

Rest in Peace.