After weeks of uncertainty regarding his state of health, former Governor of Oyo State, and Deputy National Chairman of the dissolved National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, finally passed on on Thursday.
The former governor, who was the first to break the jinx of ruling Oyo State for two consecutive terms, died after a protracted battle with COVID-19 complications.
The Point gathered that he had been on life support for about a week at the Intensive Care Unit of First Cardiology Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos.
His wife, Florence, had also tested positive for COVID-19 but had since been discharged after testing negative.
A close relative confirmed Ajimobi’s death to our correspondent, saying that it would soon be made public.
“Death is inevitable. We thank God he fought a good battle, and has made his mark in life,” he said.
Oyo State has been thrown into a mourning mood, despite the late senator’s controversial stance, which earned him the nickname: ‘Constituted Authority.’
The APC NWC had named Ajimobi Acting National Chairman of the party, following an Appeal Court judgment upholding the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as National Chairman. But he never got to perform the role before the dissolution of the NWC by the National Executive Committee of the party.
Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi was Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum, Nigeria.
He left the oil sector in 2002 after 26 years, and was elected in 2003 as a Senator of the Republic of Nigeria, representing Oyo South Senatorial District on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy.
He lost the governorship election in Oyo State in 2007, under the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, after one term in the Senate.
He recontested in April 2011 and won under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria. He was reelected in 2015 on the platform of APC.
Ajimobi went to the field again to contest for the Senate seat of Oyo South, but lost to the Peoples Democratic Party’s Kola Balogun.
May his soul rest in peace.
