Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), the governor of Ondo State, died on Wednesday after battling leukemia for months.
The former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president died at the age of 67, according to family and top government sources.
Akeredolu’s death made him the third Nigerian governor to die in office, following former Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa and ex-Yobe State Governor Mamman Ali.
ROTIMI AKEREDOLU
On November 27, 2016, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Akeredolu the winner of the Ondo State governorship election, with 244,842 votes, beating his closest rivals, Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 150,380 votes, and Olusola Oke of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), who received 126,889 votes. On February 24, 2017, he was sworn in as governor.
He won the battle to re-run for governor of Ondo State in 2020, defeating Olusola Oke, D.I. Kekemeke, Jimi Odimayo, Segun Abraham, and others in the APC primary.
Akeredolu was re-elected on Saturday, October 10, 2020, with 292,830 votes against his major opponents from the PDP and the Zenith Labour Party, Eyitayo Jegede and Agboola Ajayi, respectively. On February 24, 2021, he was sworn in for a second term alongside his new deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Akeredolu has not been in office since June 2023, when he officially handed over control to Aiyedatiwa and went on a 21-day medical leave in Germany.
The governor’s leave, which was set to expire on July 6, 2023, was later extended indefinitely as he continued to undergo treatment in Germany.
On September 6, he returned to Nigeria and resumed at his own residence in Ibadan, Oyo State, to recuperate amid a persisting governance problem in Ondo.
From Aiyedatiwa’s ongoing battle with state Assembly members who tried to impeach him to the governor’s firing of his media advisers, the Sunshine State’s political crisis has made frequent front-page news. It took President Bola Tinubu’s intervention to persuade the lawmakers.
There were constant requests from many sources for Akeredolu to resign or return to office, but his handlers maintained the idea that everything was under control.
When Kayode Ajulo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, raised the alarm in November that certain commissioners had forged Akeredolu’s signature to authorize documents, it was evident that something was wrong. Rasaq Obe, the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, corroborated the claim a few days later.
On December 11, Akeredolu informed the state Assembly that he would be taking another medical break. Although he delegated authority to his deputy, many have claimed that he should have resigned rather than delegating power to Aiyedatiwa in an acting capacity.
YAKOWA, PATRICK
Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa was the governor of Kaduna State from 2010 until his death in a helicopter mishap in 2012. In July 2005, he was appointed deputy governor, and in the April 2007 election, he was re-elected as Kaduna’s number two citizen. On 20 May 2010, he was sworn in as governor, succeeding outgoing Governor Namadi Sambo, who had been sworn in as vice president the day before.
Yakowa, 64, contested for and won the governorship of Kaduna in the April 2011 election. Yakowa and former National Security Adviser General Owoye Andrew Azazi (rtd) died in a helicopter crash on December 15, 2012, while flying from Bayelsa State to Port Harcourt. When the tragedy occurred, they were returning from the funeral of Oronto Douglas’ father in Beyelsa.
Dauda Tsoho and Mohammed Kamal, both aides, were also killed in the helicopter crash, as were the two pilots, Muritala Mohammed Daba and Adeyemi Sowole.
Yakowa’s deputy, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, was sworn in as the state’s new governor the next day by the state Chief Judge, Justice Rahila Cudjoe.
ALI MAMMAN BELLO
Mamman Bello Ali was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts and represented Yobe South Senatorial District from 1999 to 2007.
He ran for and won the governorship election in Yobe in 2007 as a member of the now-defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and he served until his death in 2009.
He died of leukemia while being treated in a hospital in Florida, USA.