RIP: He Won Amotekun Battle but Lost to Leukaemia. The Short Life of Rotimi Akeredolu
Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, who succumbed to leukaemia at 67 on Wednesday, strived at all times to be at the forefront of national leadership.
He will be remembered as the Ondo State Governor who died just a few weeks after a power tussle with his deputy. Still, he played a more important role as a progenitor of the state-backed Amotekun vigilante group.
Akeredolu was born in the Owo Local Government Area (LGA) of Ondo State on July 21, 1956. His parents were pastors who hailed from Ese Odo LGA.
Reverend Ola and Lady Evangelist Grace Akeredolu sent Akeredolu to a government-run primary school and three secondary schools, including Loyola College in Ibadan, Oyo State.
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Akeredolu graduated with a law degree from the University of Ife in 1977. The University of Ife is Obafemi Awolowo University today.
After being called to the Nigerian bar in 1978, Akeredolu went into private practice. He was the Managing Partner at Olujinmi & Akeredolu, a law firm he co-founded with former Minister of Justice Akin Olujinmi.
He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the highest title granted to legal practitioners in Nigeria, in 1998. Akeredolu was the Attorney General of Ondo State at the time (1997–1999).
Akeredolu was the chairman of the Legal Aid Council between 2005 and 2006.
In 2008, he succeeded Olisa Agbakoba as the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Akeredolu completed his time as NBA President in August 2010. His fellow executive members had accused him of corruption in a statement titled ‘Complaints Against Your Fraudulent Manifestations, Violation of the NBA’.
According to Akeredolu’s third vice president Barth Okoye-Aniche, welfare secretary Ganny Ajape and assistant financial secretary Steve Ononye, he awarded a contract to AKT Ventures Ltd., a company in which the late governor, his wife, son and brother were directors.
The officers demanded Akeredolu step down pending investigations. However, the NBA later reviewed the accusation and exonerated Akeredolu.
When Akeredolu first decided to run for governor in 2011, he said that the other candidates knew that he was the best of the bunch.
“I am not afraid of contest because I stand out. I have a fresh name that is without political baggage. Other contestants know that I am the candidate to beat,” he said in a November 2011 Tribune interview.
“I am joining what you call the murky water of politics because my people in Ondo State are worried that a lot is expected from the people at the helm of affairs in terms of service and governance that they are not getting.
“To put an end to this, they believe that someone who could make the desired changes must be a technocrat who is ready to serve sincerely. The clamour is very strong, and it cuts across party lines. After weighing the options, I am convinced that this is the right time; therefore, I have decided to obediently answer the call of my people.”
Akeredolu ran under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) banner and lost the 2012 election to incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
The ACN developed into the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Akeredolu was its Ondo governorship candidate in 2016. Akeredolu won the 2016 election. He was re-elected in 2020.
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Akeredolu’s governance did not go according to plan.When asked what he planned to focus on back in 2011, he said all sectors required urgent attention. He said that he wanted to improve his state’s economy.
“All the sectors are important and require urgent attention, but there must be agricultural revolution in Ondo State as we had before through mechanised farming. I will establish well-equipped farm settlements in addition to others on the ground.
I will equally develop fish farming to the level of exportation,” he pitched.
“There is need to improve on the education sector of the state in order to build a strong and virile manpower to run the industries that will spring up. I will build a very strong economy base that will make the citizens self-sustaining and ensure that money gets to the hands of the people. There will also be a programme that will provide jobs for youths and good road networks that will link the rural areas with the cities in order to give the rural people opportunity to transport farm produces to the cities for sale.
“However, we are not saying the cities must not grow and develop, but the rural areas, where the majority of the agrarian citizens reside, must not be neglected. Also, free education will be fundamental, and basic health care will be given priority, especially primary health care, among others.”
According to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Ondo State is Nigeria’s sixth-largest economy. The state relies on crude oil, bitumen deposits and agricultural outputs.
AMOTEKUN
As of November, Akeredolu’s government was still pitching agricultural engagement to improve Ondo’s economy to residents of the state. Ondo is responsible for some of the largest cocoyam and cocoa harvests in Nigeria. Akeredolu’s greatest challenge, however, was insecurity.
He became a darling of the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria when the six governors in the region united under him to launch the Western Nigeria Security Network (WSCN), also known as Amotekun, in 2020, following the killing of Olufunke Olakunri, the daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, a leader of the Afenifere group.
In the face of obvious opposition from the APC-led federal government, Akeredolu maintained his position on the necessity of the outfit to protect lives and property from killer herdsmen in the region, a move many thought could deny him reelection. Two years after the outfit’s establishment, however, Akeredolu’s hometown suffered one of the most heinous terror attacks.
A horde of terrorists entered Owo and killed at least 40 Catholics who were worshipping inside Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church on June 5, 2022.
As the leader of the six governors of the southwest, Akeredolu had envisioned WNSN alongside his colleagues as the first line of citizen defence against terrorism, banditry, armed robbery and kidnapping. He called the attack on the church in Owo “satanic” and vowed to deal with the criminals responsible as long as he was alive.
Akeredolu’s battle with insecurity came in multiple forms, and he fought those battles till the very end.
DISAGREEMENTS WITH DEPUTIES
His chosen deputies defied him during his tenure. First, Agboola Ajayi, Akeredolu’s first deputy governor, had a fall-out with him.
Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Ajayi’s replacement for the second tenure, was in a political duel with Akeredolu after he asked the governor to hand executive powers to him. Aiyedatiwa confronted Akeredolu who had been absent from office since he fell very ill in early 2023.
Akeredolu briefly returned to office in September.
“I came back yesterday, and as you know, it was a long journey. I decided that I must meet with you today. God has answered our prayers, and we give Him all the glory,” Akeredolu said as he handed over his resumption letter to Olamide Oladiji, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, on September 8.
“So, because we had to land here in Ibadan first, I said I had to meet with House of Assembly members here. We are here, and we are back. I am back, and by the grace of God, I will be alive to complete my full tenure in office.”
Akeredolu officially handed executive powers to Aiyedatiwa in November. He proceeded on a second medical leave in 2023 after requesting a 21-day leave in June.
Akeredolu received the Nigerian national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) from President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2022. He also received heavy criticism as he was dying.
Many commentators, after hearing about Akeredolu’s sickness, asked why his state could not boast of a single hospital capable of caring for him. Akeredolu died fighting for his life in Lagos.
[FIJ]
