Winner of 37million naira NLNG prize, Oke, dies at 51

BREAKING: Winner of N37m NLNG prize, Oke, dies at 51

Renowned poet and winner of the NLNG Prize for Literature, Ikeogu Oke, has died, The PUNCH has learnt.

Oke, it was learnt, died in Abuja on Saturday night after an undisclosed ailment.

The poet gained nationwide fame last year when he won the 2017 Nigeria Prize for Literature for his book, ‘The Heresiad’, a book of epic poetry.

The deceased was presented with a cheque of $100,000 (N37m) by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited.

Oke’s collection of poems entitled, The Heresiad, beat Ogaga Ifowodo’s A Good Mourning, Tanure Ojaide’s Songs of Myself: Quartet to claim the prize after an intensive adjudication process.