• Commiserates with Makinde, Ajimobi’s wife, family
A chieftain of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Oyo State, Oyedele Hakeem Alao, has described the late former governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, as someone who was not a pushover in Nigerian politics.
Alao, the AD candidate in the 2019 governorship election in Oyo State, who stated this in his condolence message, also commiserated with Governor Seyi Makinde, family and political associates of Senator Isiaka Ajimobi.
The AD leader, said the news of the death of Ajimobi took him by storm as he particularly commiserated with Mrs Florence Ajimobi, the deceased governor’s loyalists, his party, APC, saying, “we take solace in God as death is a divine arrangement which no human can alter.”
The death of Ajimobi, the immediate past governor of Oyo State, was announced on Thursday, June 25, weeks after he had been on hospital admission to treat COVID-19 infection.
Alao’s whose condolence message was contained in a release signed by his spokesperson, Omotayo Iyanda, also mourned the demise of two prominent indigenes of the state, Chief Dauda Adisa Ladapo, the Babaloja of Ibadanland and Mr Gbolagade Ogun Maject, a popular Nollywood artiste, both who passed away last week Thursday and Friday respectively.
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In his statement, Alao, said: “As we are in a mournful moment in the state over the demise of our governor, this is another opportunity for all political and public office holders to think very deeply on the way they have been running the affairs of the state,” saying, Ajimobi had contributed his own quota as a former governor in the state.
Alao, extolling the virtues of the deceased, said, “Senator Ajimobi, who made his foray into politics in 1999, and later became the Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District in the Nigerian Senate from 2003 to 2007 and Governor of Oyo State between 2011 and 2019, having retired as the Managing Director of a multinational oil company, has made his marks in both private and public governance, particularly within the Nigerian political space.”
“After he lost his bid to return to the Senate in the 2019 election, only three months ago, Senator Ajimobi, an illustrious son of the state, was named the National Vice Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), South-West, and even, while on the hospital bed, he was announced as the Acting National Chairman of the APC, to salvage the party from its impending crisis.
“These are all testimonies that Senator Ajimobi was not a pushover in the Nigerian politics,” Alao said, as he admonished politicians that “Whatever you are today, whatever you have become and acquired in life, remember death knocks on everybody’s door one day. There is no gain in being selfish and oppressive while in power.
Alao further said in his release: “Senator Ajimobi, born December 16, 1949, at his 70th birthday last year, made a statement that hardly had anybody lived up to 70 in his family lineage. This statement, though made in carnal flesh, was prophetic. And true to his words, our governor, Senator Ajimobi, left us at 70!
“Barring all his flaws and shortcomings, Senator Ajimobi was a governor in Oyo State, whom we will never forget in a hurry. When he was in power, he was in firm control of the state.
“As painful as his death is at this time when his loyalists and party, APC, need in most, we can only take solace in God, beseech God to grant him eternal rest and grant his family and loyalists the fortitude to bear the loss.
“We, the entire OHA Team, home and abroad, pray God to spare our governor, Senator Isiak Abiola Ajimobi, of the punishment of the hereafter,” as we pray for Chief Ladapo and Ogun Majek to find peace with their creator.
Written by Lai Mahmood
