T.M Aluko passes on

We are hearing of the death of novelist T.M Aluko, author of One Man, One Wife (1959) and One Man, One Matchet (1964). A native of Ilesa, Osun State, Aluko died at 4.02am this morning in a Lagos hospital at the age of 92.

A fighter to the end despite a debilitating illness that left him paralysed down the right side of his body (he had to teach himself to write with his left hand), T.M. Aluko on November 9, 2009 launched his last novel, Our Born Again President, in an event attended by many including J.P Clark-Bekederemo, Segun Olusola, Michael Omolayole and Justice Kayode Eso (who had known the novelist from secondary school days in Ilesa Grammar School in the 1940s). The novel's launch came 50 years after One Man, One Wife. Poignantly, Segun Olusola sang a farewell song in Yoruba for Aluko on the day. Many would have known this was the last time they would see the author this side of the river.

The novelist is survived by his children, one of whom is baritone Tayo Aluko, famous for one-man shows including 'Call Mr. Robeson' and 'I Got A Home In Barack'.

• Update: Aluko, dogged fighter