Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, is dead.
The governor, aged 67, died on Wednesday morning in Lagos after a prolonged health battle.
A commissioner in the governor’s cabinet, confirmed the unfortunate development to Channels Television.
Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), was a second-term governor before his death.
He won his re-election as the state governor in October 2020 and was sworn in for a second term in office in February 2021.
However, the governor’s second term, since January 2023, has not been a smooth sail as he had to be flown abroad for treatment over a medical condition in June. The 67-year-old politician returned to Nigeria in September after months overseas but stayed in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
As his health worsened, Akeredolu was under intense pressure from opposition parties and activists to resign or hand over power to his deputy in line with the 1999 constitution.
Also, the governor’s loyalists in the state House of Assembly have been at loggerheads with Aiyedatiwa attracting President Bola Tinubu’s intervention.
In a statement in early December, Akeredolu’s spokesman, Richard Olatunde, said the governor will embark on medical leave, the second in 2023.