The din of life helplessly quiets in the home of Ronke Ayuba even as you read. Sorrow and pain relentlessly creep into the once boisterous household to steal the life of Ronke’s estranged husband, the former Minister of Communications, and former military governor, Maj. Gen Tanko Ayuba.
He passed on last Wednesday, at the age of 70. Tanko who served as a Senator representing Kebbi South constituency in the Senate in 2007, died of an undisclosed ailment on his leg which left him with walking stick for years at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos.
Unbeknownst to a lot of people, Ronke and Tanko had been separated since 2007. The senator’s grouse was that Ronke allegedly abandoned her matrimonial home in Festac, Lagos when the going was rough for him.
Interestingly, however, you couldn’t have forgotten so soon, way back then, thousands that loved her rosy cheek, brilliant eyes and coral lips swarmed around their television sets at 9 p.m. every night; like proverbial pilgrims seeking the golden fleece to fuel their innate fires, men and gangly young adults sat enthralled as they listened to Ronke Dalley recite the news on NTA network.
Add her infectious charm to her resonant voice and you have a perfect epitome of the best of Nigeria’s exotic beauty staring back at you from the silver screen. Like a centripetal force, Ronke, drew viewership from the male folk in particular to the NTA news broadcast. She subsequently grew in stature and went on to occupy a niche at the apex of Nigeria’s high society.
