Ondo Gov, Rotimi Akeredolu, dies at 67 after long health battle
Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has died at age 67after 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 on Wednesday.
“Mr. Governor peacefully departed from this world in the early hours of today, Wednesday, December 27, 2023,” she wrote.
“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.”
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.
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).
Meanwhile ,the Acting Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has arrived at the Governor’s office for the swearing-in ceremony as the state governor.
Aiyedatiwa will be sworn in as Governor of Ondo State following the death of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu earlier on Wednesday.
Aiyedatiwa’s walk to becoming the governor of Ondo State was a long one that lasted one year since Akeredolu suffered health challenges before he eventually succumbed to the claws of death on Wednesday in faraway Germany where he was being treated for prostate cancer.
Aiyedatiwa survived an impeachment plot by Akeredolu’s allies in the Ondo State House of Assembly and stark opposition by his late principal’s foot soldiers.
Controversy enveloped the politics of the state in the last few months with activists and constitutional lawyers calling on Akeredolu to transmit power to Aiyedatiwa in line with the 1999 Constitution.
