Adeleke: dies at 62

The burial of Sen. Isiaka Adeleke, which was earlier scheduled for 4:pm on Sunday,  has been postponed.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adeleke, a former civilian governor of Osun,  died in the earlier hours of Sunday at Biket  Hospital in Osogbo.

Adeleke’s corpse,  which was brought to his residence in Ede at 1:10 pm in preparation for the Islamic burial rites,  was returned back to Ladoke Akintola Hospital in Osogbo for an autopsy.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the younger brother of the late politician,  Deji,  ordered for an autopsy  to be carried out to ascertain the cause of death.

Deji was also said to have directed that the burial ceremony be postponed until Monday.

Friends and sympathisers,  who were waiting for the burial ceremony, were told around 5:30 pm that the event had been postponed.

A  family source said the burial had been fixed for 10: am on Monday,  pending the outcome of the autopsy.

Giving a picture of the developments leading to the demise of the late flamboyant politician, one of the domestic staff told NAN that   Adeleke had attended a meeting till around 2: am on Sunday before he went to bed.

The staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity,  said Adeleke also attended burial and wedding ceremonies in Guta and Iwo on Saturday.

The source further explained that early in the morning on  Sunday, Adeleke complained of leg pain and his private doctor was called in to attend to him.

According to the staff, the doctor gave him an injection and he left, only to be called back after the senator complained of stomach ache.

” He was later rushed to Biket  Hospital where he was finally confirmed dead,’’  the source said.

The news of the death had resulted in violent protests by youths  in Ede, with many of them barricading the ever busy Osogbo-Ibadan road and setting bonfires which disrupted  the free flow of traffic.

It took the combined efforts of both the regular and mobile police force to disperse the irate  youths.

The Police Commissioner in the state, Mr Fimihan Adeoye, who said normalcy had been restored in the area, urged  the youths to refrain from violence

As at the time of filing this report, two armoured personnel carriers were stationed at the road leading to Adeleke’s house in Ede while one was stationed directly opposite his residence.

Meanwhile the Osun Government  said it was in shock  over  Adeleke’s sudden death.

A statement issued on Sunday by Mr Semiu Okanlawon, the Director of Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Governor’s Office, described the death  as a nightmare.

He  said Adeleke’s sudden death was hard to accept.

“The sad news of the death of the first civilian governor of our state, Alhaji Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, has struck us like a thunderbolt.

” Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, who is far away in China on state assignment,  is still speechless and in mourning.

“While the government awaits the reports of the autopsy which is being conducted, we can only calm our people to take this huge and incalculable loss with equanimity.

“Alhaji Adeleke, no doubt, has served our dear state well.

” First as its civilian governor and currently as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where he has provided adequate representation for the people of his senatorial district and the state.

“He was a politician with a towering dossier.

“We find this loss inexplicable but we are restrained by the fact that we cannot query the verdicts of our Creator, the Almighty.

“We commiserate with the good people of Osun over this sad loss.

We are still in shock,” Okanlawon said.

Similarly, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, on Sunday described the death of Adeleke as a rude shock.

A statement issued by  Mr Moses Olafare,  a media aide to the monarch, said Adeleke’s sudden death was a great loss to the state and the country at large.

A former governor of the state, Mr Olagunsoye Oyinlola, in a statement  in Osogbo, also described Adeleke’s death as a monumental loss.

Oyinlola,  who said he was on his way to Osogbo from Lagos when the news was broken to him, said he was still in shock.

He described Adeleke as a brother, friend and confidant whose demise had made him, the state and the political class in Nigeria poorer.

Oyinlola prayed God to grant his soul eternal peace.

The Osun chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party in a statement described Adeleke’s death as shocking and  devastating.

The party,  in a statement by its  Chairman, Mr Soji Adagunodo,  said Adeleke was a grassroots politician whose impact on the life of the people was noticeable and remarkable.

Adagunodo said the party had  declared a three-day mourning for  Adeleke, adding that the PDP’s flag in the state would be flown at half-mast in honour of the late politician. (NAN)