President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over the death of Senator Isiaka Adeleke who he described as one of the strong supporters of his government’s whistle blower policy. Adeleke died today, Sunday, at the age of 62 at Bikets Hospital in Osogbo, the Osun state capital after suffering a heart attack according to family sources.
In a condolence message, President Buhari said: “Adeleke had always epitomized unbridled patriotism, maturity and experience, especially with his recent interest in the protection of whistle blowers.”
Buhari, who condoled with Osun State Government and members of the National Assembly over the death of Adeleke, said that the deceased had passionately and relentlessly championed the cause of the less privileged and most vulnerable in Nigeria.
He said that Adeleke’s contribution to his state, as first elected governor, and the country will always be remembered by posterity even as he prayed to God to grant the soul of the departed eternal rest, and to comfort the family.
Also, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, described the death of Senator Adeleke as a numbing shock which he said came barely a day after that of Dipo Famakinwa.
Tinubu acknowledged that Senator Adeleke was a grassroots politician with a rich political background and that he was hugely popular in his Osun State, particularly in the three local governments in Ede, his hometown.
“He was a major leader of our party, the APC. His leadership and good counsel were still very much required when death came.
“The late senator and I shared mutual respect and affection. My path and his first crossed during the aborted Third Repubic, in the 1992/93 era, when we both belonged in the defunct Social Democratic Party. He was in the Peoples Democratic Party at the rebirth of democratic dispensation in 1999 but he later joined us in the APC in the build-up to the 2015 election.”
The APC chieftain said that he would remember Adeleke as that charismatic first civilian governor of Osun State who left behind a legacy in the area of education by establishing Ire Polytechnic and College of Education, Esa-Oke, among other laudable things he did during his time.
“Adeleke was with us in Lagos during the colloquium marking my 65th birthday. He also joined us for the inauguration of Aboru-Abesan Link Bridge and adjoining roads constructed by Governor Ambode and opened as part of my 65th birthday anniversary.” [myad]
