THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Comrade Issa Aremu, has commiserated with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq of Kwara State on the death of Chief Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo.
Chief Adebayo, a former senator and the second democratically elected governor in the Second Republic, passed away early Wednesday morning at the age of 84.
In a statement in Ilorin, the Director-General of MINILS said Nigeria’s “progressive political community had lost a rare statesman, nationalist and a principled Progressive democrat in Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo.”
Aremu recalled that the late statesman commendably struggled against military rule and, together with other compatriots, entrenched democratic rule.
Born on 24 February 1941, the late governor was at various times a lecturer at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), a Second Republic Senator and later Governor of Kwara State and Minister of Communications and Transportation between 2003 and 2007.
Aremu observed that very few are as successful in politics as Chief Adebayo, who was a Governor, Senator and Minister (GSM). He said Chief Adebayo would be remembered for his steadfastness in progressive politics and his bold imprint on public education as a teacher and administrator.
The Director General prays for Chief Adebayo’s family for God to grant them the grace to fill the vacuum left by the departed statesman.
