The news of Air Vice Marshal Terry Omatsola Okorodudu’s passing settled on my heart with a heaviness that momentarily suspended breath. Only days earlier, we had marked his 70th birthday with gratitude and joy. The shock deepened into a quiet, disarming sorrow that follows the departure of a man whose presence steadied every room he entered.
Nigeria has bid farewell to one of its finest officers, a gentleman of rare warmth, sharp intellect, and generous spirit. And those of us who had the privilege of knowing him have lost something personal, something irreplaceable.
I met AVM Okorodudu in 2008, during his service as Defence Attaché at the Nigerian Embassy in Moscow, Russia (2006–2009). It took only a single introduction — through his remarkable wife, Joan — for him to fold me warmly into his orbit.
From that moment, he was unfailingly kind, attentive, and encouraging in a way that felt both natural and deliberate. He was the sort of man who made room for people, who insisted on seeing the best in them, who carried a quiet, confident tenderness beneath the uniform.
Terry — because that was how he insisted I call him, though I never did in his lifetime — never imposed ceilings on anyone, and certainly not on me.
Not long after we met, he became only the second man in my life to tell me, without hesitation or qualification, that I carried power and I should never limit myself. He said it with a calm certainty that disarmed me. It was the kind of affirmation that stays with you, the kind that rearranges something quietly but permanently inside you.
He was a disciplined officer, but above all, a profoundly humane one. His mind was bright, curious, and restless for ideas, for building, and for creating possibilities where others saw only limitations. There was something deeply entrepreneurial about the way he approached life: always thinking, always connecting dots, and continually lifting others.
He rejected the divisions that fracture our country. Tribe and religion had no bearing on the warmth he offered. He didn’t ask where you came from before deciding how much of himself he would give. His belief in equity, unity, and dignity for all was instinctive. In that sense, he was wonderfully radical.
I considered him a feminist before the word became fashionable, a natural advocate for women long before the world demanded it. He believed in equity, in unity, in the audacity of a Nigeria that could belong equally to all its children.
There were moments when this conviction revealed itself with startling clarity.
That conviction surfaced often. In 2009, at his Ikoyi home one evening, with Joan nearby, as the news played on television, a headline about a rape case filled the room. Someone asked him what he would do if such a thing were to happen to his daughter. Someone asked him casually, “Terry, what would you do if this happened to your daughter?”
I watched his entire demeanour change. His face tightened in a raw mixture of rage and anguish. He said slowly, with a conviction that carried unmistakable weight, that he did not know how he would live through such an experience unless the perpetrator met justice at his own hands. And in that moment, I believed him, and so did everyone else in that room.
Another evening at his home, as Joan and I sat with him, the conversation turned to a man who had abandoned his responsibilities as a husband and father, leaving his wife to bear the burden of raising their children alone. I saw that same pain flash across Terry’s face. He spoke with a depth of feeling and clarity.
“This is one of the things that wounds me most deeply,” he said. “I cannot bear to see women suffering. In my hometown and across Nigeria, I see women carrying burdens that were never meant for them.
“They hold families together while the men who should stand beside them wallow in idleness. And too many times, the very man who should protect her is the one who inflicts the deepest wounds, adding violence to the burdens she already carries.
“It is an injustice that offends my spirit. If I ever get political power, my first and fiercest commitment will be to women — to freeing them, equipping them, honouring them.
“We cannot claim to build a nation while half of its strength is crushed under avoidable hardship. This is wrong, and we must do better.”
His generosity found another expression in the work of his wife, Mrs Joan Okorodudu. Her light stretches across continents, and she once confided that her husband’s steady kindness powered much of her philanthropy in the modelling world.
Joan opens doors for young people whose dreams feel out of reach because of their circumstances, and Terry supported her without hesitation. Their home often fills with hopeful youngsters seeking guidance, opportunities, and a chance at a better life.
He never complained. Not once. Instead, he welcomed them, encouraged them, and made space for their dreams. Many of those children went on to build careers, to step onto global stages, to transform their destinies because he and Joan believed they could.
ISIS Models stands today as a global institution not just because of Joan’s brilliance and tenacity, but also because of Terry’s expansive heart. He gave everyone around him the wings to fly.
I am a testament to his light. Terry looked out for me in ways that were both quiet and profound. He looked out for me in that same steady way. He opened doors, offered counsel, and trusted my instincts even before I fully trusted them myself. There was no request too small, no conversation too insignificant for him to lean in with that familiar mix of seriousness and warmth. He was, in the truest sense, a protector of dreams.
When I left the banking industry in 2010, he backed me with a conviction that never wavered, and in 2013, when I founded my online newspaper, The Trent, he was our loudest cheerleader, cheering us on, offering counsel, sharing ideas, and believing in us, until the final days of his life.
Commissioned as a Nigerian Air Force pilot officer on January 5, 1976, AVM Okorodudu rose through the ranks on merit, serving with honour until retirement.
He was the pioneer Managing Director of Aeronautical Engineering and Technical Services Limited, a subsidiary of the Nigerian Air Force, and later became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Harry’s Friends Club, a respected think-tank promoting good governance.
In politics, he was a steadfast chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Delta State. He made significant contributions at the national level, including serving on the Security Committee of the 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, a role he executed with the same diligence and patriotism that characterised his military career.
At seventy, he leaves behind a life that mattered, not because of the rank he attained, but because of the hearts he touched, the people he lifted, the family he cherished.
I join His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Delta State Government, the All Progressives Congress, the Nigerian Air Force, the Okorodudu family, and his many friends and associates in mourning this irreplaceable man.
My heart goes especially to his beloved wife, Mrs Joan Okorodudu; his son, Bidemi; his daughter-in-law; his four grandchildren; and the larger Okorodudu family, who will feel this absence in ways words cannot console. And so will all of us who encountered his goodness and warmth.
On January 10, at the National Military Cemetery in Abuja, we committed him to rest, returning him with gratitude to the nation he served so faithfully. Nigeria has lost a brilliant officer, a warrior for our unity and peace. Delta State has lost a pillar. His family has lost their heart. And I have lost a friend.
May the Almighty God grant him eternal rest and comfort those he leaves behind. May his memory remain a blessing, a reminder that kindness is strength, and that a life lived with generosity reverberates far beyond its length.
Farewell, AVM Terry Omatsola Okorodudu. You were one of one, and your light lives on.
Aziza Uko is one of Nigeria’s leading political and leadership communication strategists, a respected brand consultant, and the Executive Editor of The Trent. A seasoned communications professional with over two decades of experience across media, marketing, political strategy, and corporate communications, she has shaped some of the country’s most influential political campaigns and public narratives. Aziza is also a publisher, writer, and media entrepreneur. She can be reached via email [email protected].
