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| President Goodluck Jonathan |
President Goodluck Jonathan has also expressed his grief with the death of Alhaji Adeshina.
A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, stated that, the president is “deeply saddened by the passing away of elder statesman and former governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lam Adesina.”
The President, on behalf of himself, the Federal Government and all Nigerians, extended his heartfelt condolences to Alhaji Adesina’s family, the government and people of Oyo State.
According to President Jonathan “Alhaji Adesina’s indefatigability in political struggles as well as his honesty, integrity, sincere commitment and dedication to the service of his people before and during his tenure as governor have ensured that he will be honoured and remembered by present and future generations as an exemplary leader who did his utmost best to improve the lives of his people.”
The President prayed that “God Almighty will receive Alhaji Adesina’s soul and grant him eternal rest.”
“His death is more than shocking. Chief Niyi Adebayo and I were with him in the hospital, eight hours before he died. We watched the Aston Villa- Man U match together, the three of us in his hospital room.
“We joked. We spoke. We laughed. We discussed politics. He was in good spirit and alert, only for us to be called at about 7:00 a.m. this morning (Sunday) that he had died,” Osoba said in an interview with newsmen.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, Chief Adebayo said: “He has been ill for some time and we were together with him last night, myself and Chief Osoba and I. He was very jovial. We discussed all manner of subjects: politics, social issues.
“It came as a shock this morning when I got a call that he had passed on. May his soul rest in peace. He really will be missed, As you are well aware, we used to be six Alliance for Democracy governors. There are only four of us left now.
After his visitors were gone, Alhaji Adesina was said to have called for his dinner of yam and stew which had already been prepared. He was said to have taken just a slice of yam from without it with stew.
With dinner over, the Great Lam telephoned a member of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Kehinde Subair and asked that he extend greetings to the speaker and other members of the House.
He also called one of his lieutenants and commissioner for works when he was governor, Mr Caleb Oyaniyi and his wife, assuring them he was well and would return home to meet them soon, after which he was said to have gone to bed.
At about 5.10 a.m. on Sunday, the former governor was said to have told his caregivers he was pressed and headed for the loo.
Unable to pass any stool, he was returned to his bed, where he started gasping for breath and could not gather the strength to talk to anyone, including the medical team treating him before he succumbed to death.
He had suffered diabetes, following which he had been rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. He was moved to Saint Nicholas, Lagos.
Meanwhile, the remains of Alhaji Adesina were committed to earth in Ibadan on Sunday, witnessed by a crowd of admirers, associates, friends and family members from far and wide.
Adesina’s remains were brought to his Lam Adesina Close residence, Felele Straight, Ibadan, Oyo State in Lagos State ambulance, a Mercedez benz numbered LA 156 A08 Lagos State at precisely 2: 26 p.m, wrapped in a clean blue cloth. The remains were interred at exactly 4.26 p.m in his compound, in accordance with Islamic rites.
Delivering his short sermon during the prayer session, the Chief Chief Imam of Ibadan land, Sheik Busari Suara Haruna, leading a league of Imams, described the late Adesina as a person who was endowed with all the things that were good in life, including riches, fame, and a unique ability to fight for the common people, which endeared political followers and other people alike to him.
The Islamic scholar averred that the late politician was not like many other people who came into this world without touching the lives of others, as many who came across him benefitted greatly from his humanitarian gestures.
Sheikh Haruna, therefore, charged all those present at the ceremony, to take a cue from the life and times of Adesina and make a great impact to touch humanity with their lifestyle.
He, however, said that both at birth and in death, the late politician’s life was marked with triumph and jubilation.
Indeed, the climate at the Lam Adesina Close residence of the departed leader of the ACN in Oyo State was, in the Yoruba tradition, more of a carnival.
Although there were a handful of sympathisers who could not control their emotions and many who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune said that they were at the venue to honour a hero and committed leader who lived to a ripe old age.
They said that the former governor died a fulfilled man and had contributed his best to the development of the state and the country.
Even before the arrival of the body at the residence, the entire neighbourhood was already full, with security agencies, comprising men of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, Man O’War Nigeria, men of the Department of State Security Service and YES-O cadets, had a hectic crowd controlling the crowd, who came to pay their last respects to the late politician.
Visitors to the residence who could not secure a space in any of the available seating spaces hung on railing in the neighbouring houses to have a better view of proceedings at the funeral service.
The close was so jampacked that a number of dignitaries, including Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former governors Olusegun Osoba and Niyi Adebayo, who graced the occasion , had to pack their vehicles at a considerable distance from the Lam Adesina Close and trek to the residence, acknowledging cheers from the people.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, while speaking with newsmen, described Alhaji Adesina’s death as one that had left a big vacuum in the nation.
“In Islam, we say from God we come and unto Him we shall return. His death has created a very big vacuum. Lam has been a very committed Nigerian, a nationalist. A man who lived an exemplary life in many ways. Right from his days when he was a columnist,” he said.
A former governor of Lagos State and ACN national leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, said it was Adesina who won back Oyo State to the camp of the progressives and would be greatly missed.
“He was a great man. He was a warrior. He fought for democracy. He was imprisoned but did not yield. He was not a man who would trade his conscience for a pot of porridge or gold. He was committed to the democratic ideals. He had great character. He fought a battle and he won. He was loyal and honest to his friends.
“He was a battle man; a great general. He got this state back in the fold of the progressives. And he exited well. His death can never be more glorious than this,” Tinubu said.
For Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, carrying on “the battle to free the people” would continue to be fought with great vigour by his political disciples.
“And the greatest legacy that we all owe him is to continue along those paths of being the defenders of the defenceless, voice of the voiceless. Look at where we are. This is where he lived all through, not away from the people. He was always very discerning in listening to what the people wanted. And for us, we see ourselves as disciples for that long struggle to reorganise and make a better society out of Nigeria. That was what he fought for; he was a prisoner of war in that great struggle that ordinary Nigerians waged against military dictatorship and he never relented,” he said.
According to the Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, “the Great Lam was an inspiration to me personally.
“I started reading him when he was a columnist for the Tribune newspaper and since then and up to this morning when he translated, he was an inspiration.
“He was an advocate of genuine democracy, true federalism, rule of law and sanctity of human desire for total control of his life and environment.
“He stands for that which Nigeria requires to move on and progress among the comity of nations and it is to that ideal of his that I have subscribed and I believe my party stands for.
“His death signifies a major loss to the family of progressives in Nigeria. We will miss him.”
To Senator Biyi Durojaiye, “he was a wonderful gentleman, a man of peace. And see the way he has left. He left on the world’s peaceful day — 11/11. We pray that God will be with his wife and children, the progressive class that he belonged to and the entire Yoruba race and the nation.”
Former presidential aspirant and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Chief Reuben Famuyibo, said Lam would be missed by all, irrespective of political divide.
“Lam was a great leader and lover of the masses who lived a humble life.
“A man of peace is gone. He was a great and committed Awoist who suffered untold hardship in the hands of the military,” he said.
Acting chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in Oyo State, Mr Tunde Suara, described the departed ACN leader as a great politician who consistently stood faithful to his convictions and was committed to the development of Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole.
Member representing Ibadan South-West/North-West at the House of Representatives, Honourable Saheed Fijabi, said “I will describe him as not only a father, but also a mentor.
“He made me what I am today politically. I was shocked when I got the news today that he had passed on. The gap he left is going to be difficult to fill in Oyo State. He was a man that bridged the gap between the old and new generation of politicians.”
Also, the member representing Ibarapa East/Ido federal constituency, Honourable Sunday Adepoju, said “his death is a great loss to the people of Oyo State and Nigeria. We have lost one of the best progressives.”
The League of Veteran Journalists in Oyo State also commiserated with the family of Adesina over the death of the former governor.
In a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune and signed by its publicity secretary, Sola Osotoye, the body said “the late Lam Adesina was an objective columnist, a critical writer and a dynamic politician, who played his role to transform our society, particularly Oyo State. May his soul rest in perfect peace.”
Lam’s death hit me like my father’s —Muyiwa Ige. Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, the Commissioner for Lands and Physical Planning in Osun State, Mr Muyiwa Ige, described the death of Alhaji Lam Adesina as a shock, comparable to news of the death of his father, Chief Bola Ige, in December 2001.
Ige, who was one of the early callers at the Lam Adesina Close, Felele, on Sunday afternoon, expressed hope that Lam would be well received by the late former Attorney-General and other great ones in the world beyond.
“He was indeed a great man, the way people would always refer to him as Great Lam. It is unfortunate that Nigeria continues to lose the great ones.
“It is indeed a lesson for the rest of us, mere mortals, that we must live well; leave a good legacy. You can see the crowd that already gathered in just a few hours.
“I trust that his arrival into the other realm would also be heralded by the great ones, including my late father. I’m sure we have every opportunity to thank God,” he said.
Ige added that “the vacuum left by the former governor is huge in the politics of Ibadan and Oyo State.
President of the Senate, David Mark, also described Adesina as a progressive who stood on the side of the people at all times.
According to a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, Mark, in a condolence message to the government and people of Oyo, said the former governor would be remembered for his passion, selfless service and love for the ordinary man.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on its part described Lam Adesina’s death as a devastating blow to the party in particular and a big loss to the nation in general.
In a statement issued in Ibadan yesterday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said with the demise of the former governor, Nigeria has lost an irrepressible voice of conscience.
“Though deceptively meek, he was a political lion who was ferociously effective,” the party said.
The ACN, Lagos and Oyo State chapters also extolled Adesina’s qualities, describing his death as a huge loss to the nation.
Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko described the death Alhaji of Adesina as a sad loss to the nation and the clan of progressive politic in particular.
Commiserating with the family, Mimiko said the death of the former governor has left a vacuum among the progressives in the country, which may not be easily filled.
One of the late Adesina’s colleagues in the Second Republic’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Chief Ebenezer Babatope, described the death of the former governor as a great loss to the country, but more so to the Awolowo political family.
Babatope, a former Minister of Transport, said the country has lost an educationist, a visionary and a fearless politician.
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