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Onyeka Onwenu, Beloved Nigerian Entertainer and Journalist, Dead at 72

Onyeka Onwenu, the beloved Nigerian singer-songwriter who had a storied career across entertainment, media, and politics, has died at age 72.

In 2013, she played alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandiwe Newton, and John Boyega in Half of a Yellow Sun, based on the novel of the same name by formative Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Onwenu avidly engaged in Nigeria’s social, economic, and political spheres, earning one of the nation’s highest honors in 2011 when she was named Member of the Order of the Federal Republic. She ran for public office twice, and though she lost both races, she was appointed chairperson of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture by its governor in 2013 and later led Nigeria’s National Centre for Women Development.

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