By Damola Emmanuel
The immediate past Governor of Oyo State, and Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (South), APC, who succumbed to COVID-19, Thursday, will be buried in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital tomorrow, starting from 10 a.m.
A source close to the dead ex-governor revealed this to The Crest in Abuja.
The source said though the Family would have loved a private burial for the former governor in line with protocols guiding burial of COVID-19 and keeping with social distancing protocol against the spread of the disease, it is doubtful if they would be able to constrain then hundreds of people, especially, the political family of the deceased, who may troop the Oyo State capital for the burial.
Senator Ajimobi died of coronavirus on Thursday at the First Cardiology Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos, the same hospice where the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari, was treated and died of the same COVID-19 on April 17, 2020, at the age of 67.
Rumours of Ajimobi’s demise set the social media on fire last week when a popular blogger ‘broke’ the story. But it all turned to be a hoarse as the Special Media Adviser to Ajimobi, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, issued a denial, saying his boss was alive. The ex-governor’s daughter also issued a rebuttal.
But the blogger posted a story insisting that the man was dead.
A source close to the APC national headquarters also confirmed to The Crest that Ajimobi was alive but in critical condition.
Another source told The Crest early in the week that Ajimobi was under life support, and was critically ill.
The Family had been in intense prayers for the survival of their patriarch since he slipped into coma after being admitted into the First Cardiology and put in Intensive Care Unit, ICU.
Sadly, Senator Ajimobi succumbed to the icy hands of death on Tuesday at the age of 70.
Born in Ibadan on 16 December 1949, the late Ajimobi graduated at from the University of Buffalo in the United States, and rose to become the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum, Nigeria.
Ajimobi was elected governor of Oyo State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress and ran two full terms, ending on May 29, 2019.