Grieving widow turns late husband’s Facebook page into moving memorial

After the death of the 47-year old professor of communications at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa State in November 2014, his wife, Emilienne, has turned his Facebook page into a memorial, posting several emotive poems she wrote in honour of her late husband.

Mrs. Emilienne has so far posted about 24 poems on Facebook, dedicated to her late husband, besides several beautiful quotes she posted on the page.

When Jacob Jacob, an associate professor of communications at AUN wrote of Late Prof. Akpan on Facebook, “Nurse-logs never die”, Emilienne, who is also a lecturer at AUN, was right there to complete the line, “They live on in the gills and caps of mushrooms, in the fronds of ferns and in the roots and branches of trees that they nursed”.

Mr. Jacob had, during Mr. Akpan’s burial, used those beautiful words in a tribute to Mr. Akpan who was his teacher, colleague and friend.

‘Nurse-logs never die!’

Such profound words! A fitting summary of the life of Mr. Akpan, a simple man from a village called Obotme in Akwa Ibom State, who through his teaching profession and his Christian faith, led many young Nigerians to self-discovery and fulfillment!

Emilienne’s poems are mostly quatrain and lyrical. They are mournful. Through them, Emilienne mourns her husband.

Emilienne used the power of poetry to tell how lonely and how sad life could be for her and their two young daughters, since the death of Mr. Akpan.

In her poem titled ‘Office’, Emilienne wrote “I’m here to take away your things/ And clear the office space/ One of the hardest things for me/ To do, it must be said.

“Your books, your notes, your very self/ Permeate just everywhere/ It is as if you are right here/ With me to bid farewell.”

In another of her poem titled ‘Home’, she continued her sorrowful conversation with her late husband: “You should be here to keep a smile/ on faces since forlorn/ to close the wounds in broken hearts/ and still the raging storms.”

The poem is posted alongside a photograph of Mr. Akpan, wearing a beautiful Ibibio traditional attire and holding a walking stick, with his face looking upward into the sky as though he were in some communication with some heavenly beings.

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