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Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi
Akeredolu, is dead, the state government has announced.
The governor, popularly called
Aketi, was aged 67. He lost the battle to death on Wednesday morning after a
prolonged health battle.
Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate
of Nigeria (SAN), ex-president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and
ex-Attorney General of Ondo State, was a second-term governor before his death.
The state’s Commissioner for
Information and Orientation, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, announced the governor’s
death in a statement.
“Mr. Governor peacefully
departed from this world in the early hours of today, Wednesday, December 27,
2023.
“This tragedy has left behind
a profound void in our hearts. Governor Akeredolu answered the eternal call
while receiving medical treatment in Germany. He succumbed to complications
arising from protracted prostate cancer,” the statement read.
Ademola-Olateju said a letter
has been sent to President Bola Tinubu to inform him of Akeredolu’s passing,
adding that the family and the state government will release further details
regarding the funeral arrangements.
A
fearless crusader
Aketi, as he was fondly called
by friends and admirers, wore many hats and was acknowledged by many of his
contemporaries as a dogged leader with unbending personal convictions. Until his
death, he was the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, a body with
governors of the 17 states in Southern Nigeria as members. Akeredolu also led
his other five colleagues in the South-West as chairman, championing many
reforms, especially in the area of security, prominent among which was the
establishment of the South-West Security Network codenamed Amotekun.
Aketi was unpretentious,
unpatronising and vocal against injustice, oppression and subjugation of all
kinds. He was a voice against herdsmen attacks on farmers, and one of the
unswerving critics of the administration of then President Muhammadu Buhari,
despite that they belonged to the same ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Fearless, Aketi stood for his
deepest convictions and didn’t mind walking alone, far away from the bandwagon.
He went for the jugular of the Federal Government, always siding with the
people and holding the Federal Government to account for its core
responsibility of protecting the people, especially during an attack on a
Catholic church in Owo, his hometown.
Aketi, an ally of President
Bola Tinubu, was an advocate of state police and restructuring, two convictions
he trumpeted till he breathed his last.
Health
battle, controversy
Aketi won his re-election as
Ondo State governor in October 2020 and was sworn in for a second term in
office in February 2021. However, his second term was marred with controversy
and a health battle.
The governor had to be flown
abroad for treatment for his medical condition in June. He had returned to
Nigeria in September after months overseas but stayed in Ibadan, the Oyo State
capital.
As his health worsened,
Akeredolu was under intense pressure from opposition parties and activists to
resign or hand over power to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, in line with the
1999 constitution.
Also, the governor’s loyalists
in the state House of Assembly were at loggerheads with Aiyedatiwa attracting
President Bola Tinubu’s intervention
Eventually, the governor
transmitted power to Aiyedatiwa early December when he embarked on another
medical leave to Germany, the second in 2023.
Making
of an outspoken lawyer, politician
Akeredolu was born on 21st
July 1956 in Owo, Ondo State to the Late Rev. J. O Ola Akeredolu of Owo and
Lady Evang. Grace Akeredolu of Igbotu Ese Odo Government Area of Ondo State.
The precocious Aketi started
his primary school education at Government School, Owo, before proceeding to
the famous Aquainas College Akure in 1968.
He later proceeded to the
prestigious Loyola College, Ibadan in 1969 to complete his secondary school
education. He also attended Comprehensive High School Ayetoro for his higher
Secondary School Certificate.
Akerdolu was admitted into the
University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University in 1974 popularly known as Oba
Awon University. He obtained his LLB degree in 1977 and proceeded to the
Nigerian Law School for his B.L in 1978.
Apart from his illustrious
ancestry and cosmopolitan upbringing, a peep into his tenure as elected Vice
President 1975/76, of the student University days at the famous and prestigious
University Of Ife now (Obafemi Awolowo University) shows the architecture of
service, fame and greatness in the making.
As a leader of the Students
Union at Ife, Aketi helped to engineer a leadership focused on issues, robust
debates and constructive engagements. He encouraged a genuine mobilisation of
mass consciousness against inequality, injustice, corruption, arbitrariness and
recklessness.
Life,
family
A devoted Christian with a
warm and accommodating heart for people of other faiths, Akeredolu, in addition
to a distinguished and Spartan career of legal practice, also donated his
lifetime to a career of mentorship and social service.
He was a member, Oyo State
Football association, 1992-1994, an associate Member, Nigerian Red Cross
Society, Oyo State Branch. He also accepted and became the Patron, The Nigerian
Law Society, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Patron, Breast Cancer
Association of Nigeria (BRECAN), Patron The law society, Faculty of Law,
Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko. He was also the Patron, Sports
Writers association of Nigeria, Oyo State branch.
Aketi was married to Betty
Anyanwu-Akeredolu and blessed with four children and many grandchildren.
With additional reports from Channels Tv
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