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Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The former Presidential Adviser on Women Affairs to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dame Titilayo Ajanaku, is dead.
Ajanaku, who passed on at the age of 73 on Thursday morning, was reported have breathed her last having battled with cancer.
The deceased was until her death the Otun Iyalode of Egbaland.
The late politician, trained nurse, administrator and women leader was born on January 25, 1946 at Àgọ́-Òdo Quarters Abeokuta, Ogun State.
She attended Nawair-Ud-Deen Secondary School, Abeokuta, She trained in Nursing at Stobhill General Hospital, Nether-Edge City General Hospital, Sheffield, UK, from 1964 to 1965.
She was Staff/Midwife, General Hospital, Surrey England, 1966. Domiciliary Midwife in London Borough of Croydon, 1967. Staff Midwife at University College Hospital, London, 1968-1969.
She was Midwife Sister at Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, Nigeria, University of Ife Teaching Hospital Complex (now Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital), Wesley Guild Hospital Branch. She was Member of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives of Nigeria.
Late Ajanaku was known as a foremost political activist and first came into national limelight when she emerged against all odds as Chairman (old) Abeokuta Local Government, Ogun State, under the zero-party arrangement, becoming the first woman to be elected as local government chairman in Nigeria.
She was also in the vanguard of G-34 which metamorphosed into the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Ajanaku was also one of the top politicians arrested and arraigned for a coup in 1995.
