Edward Babatunde Blyden, 73, Father of Sylvia Blyden, Dies

Edward Blyden, who mentored his daughter Sylvia Olayinka and watched her grow into one of Sierra Leone’s most successful newspaper publishers and entrepreneurs, died Tuesday, February 14, at his home in London, England.

He had been suffering from diabetes for some time.  Two summers ago, Mr. Blyden, a retired pensioner, suffered a heart attack on a London bus. He was admitted at Homerton Hospital before family members were contacted leading to a nationwide search.

In announcing her father's death, Sylvia, current Sierra Leone minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children Affairs, said in her WhatsApp message: “Sad to report that we just lost my father, Edward Babatunde Blyden.  He died peacefully in London at 7:30 p.m. this evening 14th February.”

Edward Babatunde Blyden was born June 12, 1943, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He would have turned 74 this year.

“Amongst his wide array of service to our country is the fact that he wrote the Sierra Leone National Pledge with Dr. Kadi Sesay when the two of them worked at the National Commission for Democracy,” the minister said.

In addition to Sylvia, his wife; three daughters, Babsy, Sylvia, and Cheryl; son,  Edward Babatunde Jr., sons-in-law, Ashley, and Isaac; daughter-in-law, Elsa, and several grandchildren, survive him.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ebola: The More We Learn, the More We Realize How Much We Don't Know

Image
Alex Bonapha, chairman, Kailahun District Council O bservers say the controversy erupting in Kailahun over the case of a dead baby might just open up critical questions on the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. "While the child appears to be at the center of this controversy, the real question being raised here is the mode of transmission: Is this virus transmitted or transfused?" asks Chernor Bah, chairman of the African Socialist Movement of Sierra Leone. Bah thinks “we need to listen to Mr. Bonapha's concerns.” A lex Bonapha is chairman of Kailahun District Council. In a tersely worded statement sent out Saturday, Bonapha said: "We are strongly contesting the validity of the one case today in Kailahun.  A young child of 9 months, fell ill and was hospitalised at the Nixon Memorial Hospital in Segbwema. They requested blood transfusion and a donor offered his blood. Eventually the child died and a swab was collected to verify the cause of death. It is this...
Read more

28 Years Since the Death of Salami Coker

In words that echoed around the world, a commission of inquiry in Sierra Leone held the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) responsible for extrajudicial killings in1992. The junta's attempt to justify these executions retrospectively by decree, on the basis that the 26 people were alleged coup plotters, was an unlawful abuse of executive power, the commission said. In particular, the Commission found that the deputy chairman of the NPRC, Solomon A.J. Musa, was personally responsible for acts of torture on detainees. They called the executions a flagrant violation of international standards.   Among those executed on December 29, 1992, were: Lt. Col James Yaya Kanu, former commanding officer of the 4th Battalion James Bambay Kamara, former Inspector General of Police Corporal Mohammed Mansaray, alias Candapa of the 1st Battalion Warrant Officer Class 1 Kargbo, alias Fernando of the 1st Battalion headquarters Lieutenant colonel (Rtd.) Kahota M.S. Dumbuya, Army Head...
Read more

'Magazine Has Lost A Son'

Image
President Koroma sympathizes with the Fadika family Tuesday, August 8 Moseray Fadika was a keynote speaker at yet another event Friday, Aug. 5, when he felt ill and was rushed to an emergency room.  The man would die later that evening at the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, east London. The cause of death is still unknown.  Fadika’s sudden loss has sent shockwaves through Sierra Leoneans online, across the small West African country and around the world. Frost Illustrated, a weekly newspaper in Fort Wayne, Indiana, described the popular  businessman-philanthropist turned politician as one of the wealthiest men in Sierra Leone, who built his fortune in extractive industries. Sierra Leone is rich in mineral resources. Diamonds, gold, bauxite, rutile and iron ore are known to exist in large quantities. Fadika never made Forbes Africa’s wealthiest lists, and no one knows just how much he was really worth. But by some estimates, he could have been Sier...
Read more