Ex-Tide Staff Dies At 62

The death has been announced of Pastor Franklin Paul-Worika, a former staff writer and senior Stone-Sub Editor of The defunct Nigerian Tide.

Pastor Franklin died at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital at the age of 62, after a brief illness.

Until his death, Franklin Paul-Worika was the resident pastor of Church of God Mission International at Buguma, Asari- Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Pastor Franklin was a freelance journalist whose comments and essays especially on religious affairs were regular features of several newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s.

He worked as a Cultural Assistant with the Rivers State Council of Arts and Culture before his foray into journalism.

He also worked as a features writer and Correspondent with National Wave Newspapers, one of the foremost independent newspapers in Port Harcourt. Late Franklin was also a very prominent member of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) in Rivers State and the Eastern Zone.

He was also an active member of the Nigeria Red Cross Society and a very prominent member of the Sharks supporters Club in the 1970s and 1980s.

According to a family source, burial of the late Pastor Franklin is scheduled to hold at Ogu on Saturday, September 8 while service of songs will hold on September 6, 2012 at the Church of God Mission International provincial headquarters at Egbede Street, Port Harcourt.