Ibadan – Former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, His Excellency (Barr.) Hazeem Gbolarumi was in Ogbomoso today Wednesday 19th January 2022, where he paid a condolence visit to the family of the former State Governor, Chief Christopher Alao Akala who died on 12th January in his Country home, Ogbomoso at the age of 71.
His Excellency (Barr.) Hazeem Gbolarumi served as Otunba Akala’s deputy during his first term in office.
Speaking during the condolence visit at the former governor’s residence in Ogbomoso, Gbolarumi said that the quality of leadership that Akala exhibited could not be quantified.
”So, we are here to commiserate again with the family, encourage them, to pray with them, and to say to them that indeed at this trying time, we will be with them,” Gbolarumi said.
He described the deceased as a disciplined and forthright father as well as a family pillar who lived an exemplary life and remained a source of inspiration for his children until his death.
He said Alao’s death is a great loss, not only to his immediate family but to the state as well, consoling Ogbomoso and other members of the family of the deceased to take solace in the fact that their late father lived a life of service to Almighty Allah and community.
According to him, his tenacity, kindness, love for the poor, genuine empathy, resolve to ensure that the people he governed got the very best, are the testimonials that people still remember.
”Late Akala scored several firsts that even subsequent governors have not been able to match in the history of Oyo State.
”I say here with all sense of humility that indeed, he had been a builder of our time, one of the men that laid the foundation of Oyo State that all of us are attempting and trying to develop and put layers on and his exist cannot be easily quantifiable.
”We can only take solace in the fact that he had lived a good life, he had been a very decent man, a very humble man and he had reflected what true humanity is all about.
”May his soul continue to rest in peace and the memories he had left for all of us will continue to linger for a long time and the experience, the learning that we have taken, we will not throw away.
”We will continue to remember him for good. We will continue to say that late Chief Christopher Alao Akala was a good man that lived in our time,” he said.
