Former Managing Director of the famous Daily Times, Dr. Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo has been reported dead during an encounter with armed robbers on his way from Abeokuta, Ogun state where he attended the 80th birthday of his former boss, ex President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Onukaba Ojo,who was 57 at the time of his death, also a governorship aspirant in the last Kogi Primary election under the All Progressives Congress (APC), was reported to have died at about 6 pm on Sunday at a village near Akure , Ondo State capital. The spot is said to be about ten minutes to Akure.
One of his relations, Yusuf Itopa, who broke the news today, Monday said that Onukaba Ojo, the late veteran journalist was knocked down by an oncoming vehicle while running into a nearby bush to escape an armed robbery attack. Itopa said that three of them, including his driver, were travelling when they ran into a blockade mounted by the armed robbers.
He said Onukaba’s corpse was later deposited at a mortuary in Akure from where it would be brought for burial today in his hometown, Ihima , Okehi Local Government area of Kogi State.
The late Onukaba, who was Senior Special Assistant on media to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, had earlier lost his first wife, Rachael about five years ago. He, however, remarried in 2015 to Memunat
Onukaba is survived by three children: two girls and a boy.
The Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Muhammadu Buhari, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, described Onukaba as a brilliant and incorruptible journalist.
“He stood out among his colleagues then as aviation correspondent for The Guardian where he met and struck friendship Obasanjo,” Ojudu wrote on his Facebook page, adding that he would be buried later today.
Ojudu in his tribute, described Onukaba, who was also a playwright, as a man of noble ideas and ideals.
“Onukaba was a good man. He brimmed with great vision for his people which he could not bring to reality,” he added. [myad]
