“Remember me and smile, for it’s better to forget than to remember me and cry.”
—Dr Seuss
By Cosmas Omegoh
On Wednesday, December 27, news broke that former governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, had passed on, bringing his life to a screeching end at 67.
Following the unfortunate incident, Akeredolu became the third governor of a state to die while in office since Nigeria’s return to constitutional democracy in 1999.
According to reports, Akeredolu (SAN), a gentleman politician and legal luminary passed on at a Lagos hospital, after succumbing to the onslaught of leukemia.
With all the energy and resources he had, Akeredolu fought a grueling battle to remain alive, spending his three-month medical leave in a hospital in Germany, returning last September, hoping to be healed. He spent long days at his Ibadan, Oyo State, residence recuperating and unable to return to his desk as governor in Ondo State.
Akeredolu’s many supporters at that time maintained that it was constitutionally right for him to govern Ondo State from his Ibadan bedroom, brooking no dissenting opinions.
But even while Akeredolu was away in Germany, there were strident calls for him to transmit power to his deputy, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa. That did not happen. Upon the late governor’s return, discontent over that perceived anomaly rose to high decibel. Yet nothing happened.
So many people could not understand Akeredolu’s seeming continued or rather the refusal of those around him to hand over the reins of the state to the deputy governor, Mr Aiyedatiwa.
The constitutionality or otherwise of what Akeredolu did and or did not do, triggered a big debate among those who considered the subject of concern.
There were knocks on the late governor for remaining silent over the salient demand for Aiyedatiwa to be made acting governor. Akeredolu’s traducers maintained that as a lawyer, he knew full well what the law of the land says on a matter like that. So, they kept reminding him how in his heyday, he mounted a big push for the then Vice President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan to be made acting president in the dying days of the late President Musa Yar’Adua.
By the time the vibes from Ondo State began to waft out, it reached as far as Aso Rock in Abuja, prompting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s intervention.
Sources recalled how Tinubu directed everyone deep in the trenches at that time, and firing from all cylinders to ceasefire.
Today, the table has turned. Fate has changed the face of things, thrusting Aiyedatiwa into the swing of things. He was sworn in as governor of Ondo State last Wednesday.
But the debate over what the constitution said in the Ondo State debacle has refused to go away.
The question every process-driven Nigerian has been asking is: “Must a President Tinubu intervene in a matter like what went down in Ondo State before the right things are done?” Those who are agitated by this question insisted that if the answer is in the affirmative, then Nigeria’s constitutional democracy might as well be a ruse, meaning that over the past two and a half decades, what Nigeria has only succeeded in doing is building only strong men rather than a strong process that endures.
But while the nation and its people bickered over simple things that ought to have been handled plainly if there was a will, not many persons knew how much Akeredolu’s health had deteriorated. Not many knew that Akeredolu, also called Arakunrin, was at the departure lounge until he finally exited.
While accusations were being levelled against him, he was probably progressively growing unable to exercise his once sharp will and reflexes. For sure, he must have remained upbeat, hopeful for the best, not knowing that the untoward lied ahead.
Now, Akeredolu is gone, gone the way all mortals go, gone never to be seen again, gone never to worry about the things of this life anymore.
In a more instructive manner, Akeredolu’s shock exit more forcefully points all and sundry to something fresh, something telling about death. It should be a reminder, especially to the political class, still trudging on with unbridled impunity that a date with death beckons, thus the growing need to make every Nigerian life matter. Akeredolu has merely gone ahead!
For what Akeredolu stood for, tributes have been streaming in, for him.
President Tinubu, for instance, penned some moving lines in remembrance of the former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, describing him as “my beloved brother, confidant, political soul mate….”
Some of other persons, groups and governments have continued with their own rendition of tributes, mirroring the life and legacies of the man who once trotted across this clime with gait and grace.
Indeed, Akeredolu will be missed by his wife, Betty and children, who might still be wondering whether he was not still enjoying his medical leave overseas, whereas he has passed on.
He was a sure loving husband, father, mentor and dependable pillar to his family.
Akeredolu will be missed by the good people of Ondo State whom he served as governor with the best of his time, talent and abilities for six years from February 24, 2017, till he breathed his last, last week, after also serving them diligently as Attorney General between 1997 and 1999.
Akeredolu was such a humane fellow. Aside the dividends of democracy he provided in Ondo State, he particularly expressed deep pain and empathy which crystallised following the brutal mowing of 40 worshipers at the Owo Catholic Church on June 5, 2022. His stand on true federalism was legendary, exemplified by his belief in local policing, an idea that helped to birth the regional security outfit now named Amotekun in the Southwest states of the country.
Akeredolu will be missed by his colleagues at the bar to whom he once served as president in 2008.
He fared so well as a lawyer, rising to the enviable position of Senior Advocatenot Nigeria.
His towering pleasing personality will be missed in and outside the court rooms, the same for his enriching contributions to the nation’s jurisprudence. He will also be remembered for his contributions to the defence of justice, equity and democracy.
In the political circle, Akeredolu will no longer be there for his colleague governors who saw him as an amiable and astute politician. Particularly in the rank of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), he will be sorely missed as a true progressive and a fertile mind.
Yes, he had his obvious faults, but he strove to act his part well. And when time came last Wednesday, he bowed out in a blaze of glory, leaving behind everything that previously mattered to him, including the allures of this life which most men are currently dying to have.
To Akeredolu, they no more mattered!