Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal has condoled with Nigerians over the death of Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, a former governor of Oyo State.
Tambuwal, in a statement he issued in Sokoto on Saturday, said the death of Ajimobi was a great loss to the state and country at large given Ajimobi’s contribution to national development.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the 70-year-old and two-time former governor died on Thursday in Lagos during a brief illness.
Tambuwal said: ” The news of our senior brother (egbon), friend and brethren, late Governor Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi’s (1949-2020) death began as a rumour but it happened after doomsayers had failed in their evil plot. God’s time, it is said, is the best.
” When the news finally broke that he was no more, it left me in shock and devastation. It is so worrisome that he is no longer with us. But Allah knows best why he took him at the time he did.
” From our brief time together in the National Assembly up until the time he went off to be the governor of his state and later when I was serving my first term in the same capacity as governor while he was serving his second term, the deceased displayed rare doggedness and political sagacity that is the stuff of thoroughbred men of his ilk.”
The governor described Ajimobi as self-made man long before he ventured into politics, adding that he broke the jinx of one term only in Oyo as governor.
”My late egbon’s reign as governor will be remembered for a long time because of the way it mellowed garrison politics and the attendant god-fatherism syndrome that had stagnated the progressive inclination of leadership in his state until he mounted the saddle.
” There is no gainsaying the fact that the government and good people of Oyo and indeed, his esteemed family will grief over this great loss for a long time.
” Personally, I shall miss his companionship, comradeship and camaraderie. His wise counsel as a political associate, even after we had ceased to belong to the same camp, shall leave a vacuous vacuum in my mind.
” On behalf of the good people of Sokoto state and myself, I hereby join millions of Nigerians in praying for the repose of his gentle soul.
” May Allah, the Most Beneficient, the Most Merciful, accept him in Jannatul Firdaus,” Tambuwal added.
He further prayed for the family to have the patience and forbearance to bear the loss.
Alhaji Adebisi Olopoenia, a PDP chieftain in Oyo State, on his part, said that the achievements of Ajimobi as governor would be difficult to equal or surpass.
Olopoenia said this in a statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen on Saturday in Ibadan.
He described the deceased as an eminent indigene of Ibadan and Oyo State whose absence would be sorely missed.
“I see Ajimobi’s death as a personal loss because during his lifetime, he always made me proud due to his peculiar way of doing things and his exploits both on the political scene as well as the business world.
“I recall in 2012, one year into his administration as governor of Oyo State, he invited me to his house through Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle despite knowing that I did not support his gubernatorial ambition.
“When I got to his house, I asked him why the invitation? I did not support you during the election. It was at that point that he said because I had the guts to say it to his face, he said we have become brothers henceforth.
“Ever since that meeting in 2012, he has been a very good man to me and giving me support, financial assistance inclusive not minding the fact that I do not belong to his political party.
“I started praying for him when I heard about his admission into the hospital, but God knows why he chose to take him at this point in time. I wept profusely when I received the news of his demise,” he said.
Olopoenia commiserated with the family , business associates, political allies as well as the entire people of Oyo State on the passage.
“There is no doubt about the fact that Ajimobi’s antecedents in governance of Oyo State remain unprecedented which successive administrations in the state would have to strive hard to equal or surpass.
“If anyone says Ajimobi was not a good man, my reaction to that is that Ajimobi is like a talking drum which faces one person and backs the other.
“I therefore, join other mourners to sympathise with his immediate family, business associates, political allies as well as the entire people of Oyo State on this irreparable loss.
“I pray to Almighty Allah, the gracious, merciful and the most beneficent to grant them the fortitude to bear the loss,” he said.
