Leaders and stakeholders in the Southwest and Middle Belt, have been urged to emulate the selfless service that defined the life and times of late Chief Cornelius Adebayo.
The National Coordinator of President Bola Tinubu’s foremost support group, SWAGA ’23, and Chairman, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, made the call on Friday in Abuja.
Chief Adebayo, who died on Wednesday at the age of 84, was once the governor of Kwara State. He was Minister of Communication and later Minister of Transport at various points from 2003 to 2007.
Senator Adeyeye described the late elder statesman as a bridge builder and a unifying force who stood for the common good, even at great risks to his personal safety.
He recalled Adebayo’s pivotal role in efforts at uniting the Youruba in the Southwest and their kith and kin in the two middle belt states of Kwara and Kogi.
“Chief Adebayo was one of the key players in the pro democracy struggle for which he suffered and made unparalleled sacrifices.
“He was one of the leading lights and bona fide members of NADECO, under the leadership of the late Pa Abraham Adesanya.
“He was arrested and held in the Calabar prison for 18 days without any member of his family knowing his whereabouts, for rejecting a ministerial appointment from Abacha.
“After his release from prison, Chief Adebayo was forced into exile, first in Togo, then Ivory Coast and later in Canada, when members of Abacha’s strike force got on his trail,” Adeyeye stated.
Following Abacha’s death in 1998, he returned to Nigeria and joined other compatriots in shaping the outlines of the new democratic dispensation.
“He was a member of the executive of Afenifere and chairman of its highly influential political committee, which also had as members iconic personalities like Gen Alani Akinrinade, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, Chief Ayo Opadokun, Chief Kola Awodein, SAN, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, Yinka Odumakin, Mr Jimi Agbaje, and my humble self,” Adeyeye added.
The late Chief Adebayo had his early career in the academics as a lecturer and later in politics, culminating in his appointment as a commissioner in the old Kwara State.
He was elected senator during the Second Republic in 1979 and got elected as governor of Kwara State in 1983, before the December 31,1983 military coup terminated that era. He also served as Minister of Communications and later of Transport between 2003 and 2007.
“Chief Adebayo was a committed Awoist and a great mentor to many of us who drank from his cup of wisdom. His death is a major loss to the Yoruba race, the people of Kwara/Kogi and Nigeria as a whole,” Adeyeye said.
Senator Adeyeye said Chief Adebayo will be sorely missed for his sound intellectual capacity, organisational skill and exemplary leadership qualities.