Rewane-Demola for burial next week

ONE month after a tragic end came for Dr. Irene Rewane, eldest child of the late Ologbosere of Warri Kingdom, Chief O.N Rewane, arrangements have been concluded by the family to lay the retired radiologist to rest next week Friday.

The deceased was, in the wee hours of February 10, burnt to death in her Lagos residence at No. 5, Tola Adewunmi Street, Maryland. According to reports, the inferno started from her bedroom in the duplex apartment occupied by her and a domestic worker.

Attempts by security men and private guards in the estate to douse the fire and rescue the 72-year-old medical practitioner of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) failed as the entrance door to the building was securely locked.

Activities for the final rites of passage will begin on Thursday, March 10, with a Christian wake at 5.00p.m. at Trinity House, Water Corporation Road, Victoria Island, Lagos. She will be buried the next day after a funeral service at Chapel of Resurrection, 1004 Estate, Victoria Island with the interment strictly for private family alone.

Irene, born in Lagos on April 29, 1944, spent her childhood both in Lagos and Warri, Delta State. Upon her father’s departure to England in 1952, she had to move to Lagos to live with her famous uncle, Pa Alfred Ogbeyiwa Rewane, who was assassinated in 1995 during the despotic regime of General Sani Abacha.

She started her education at LADILAC Institute Yaba before moving to Baptist Girls High School Agbor and Hussey College Warri. She gained admission into the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1965 to study Medicine, where she met her husband, Dr. Adebiyi Damola.

She is survived by four children, namely Toyin Akinrolabu, Dr. Biyi Damola, Folakemi Damola and Bukola Ebisan Oluanuiga.