Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her husband, Dr. Ivara Esege, are grieving the loss of their young son.
Reports from Arise News confirm that one of their twin sons, Nkanu Nnamdi, passed away on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, following a brief illness.
This heartbreaking news follows similar tragedies in the Nigerian entertainment community in recent years. In 2025, veteran Yoruba actress Peju Ogunmola and her husband, Omobolanle Sunday, lost their only child, Ayomikun, after a brief illness in Ibadan. In 2024, actor Francis Duru announced the death of his son Ifeanyi, describing him as a brave fighter whose passing he still reflects upon. Comedian Aphrican Ace and his wife also mourned the loss of their newborn son in 2024, who was born prematurely and passed away within a day.
In 2023, skit maker Olagunju Solomon Olamide, known as Akika, shared the news of his son’s death on Father’s Day, expressing the pain of losing him before he could share memories together.
The Adichie family’s loss adds to a string of deeply saddening events, reminding many of the fragility of life and the profound grief of losing a child.