Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has condoled with the family of Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, the 20-year old Nigerian, who lost his life while trying to save the life of a woman who fell from London Bridge, describing him as “our hero and a great martyr.”
In a statement by the Commission’s Head of Media, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the NIDCOM boss, though deeply pained by the death of the young Nigerian trying to save someone else’s life, described him as a hero, never to be forgotten.
She passionately appealed to the family of Jimi to take heart and be consoled with the fact that Jimi died as a fearless hero and will be forever remembered as a martyr.
Dabiri-Erewa prayed unto God to allow Jimi’s soul rest in perfect peace and comfort his aged parents, family and friends in the best manner.
“This is a very painful and sad incident for a young promising Jimi to die this way sacrificing his life.
“Undoubtedly, Jimi with this courageous and selfless act, has earned himself the sobriquet of an hero and attained the highest form of death, martyrdom”, she said.
The late Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, a.k.a Jimi, was on his way home from work when he saw a woman fall off London Bridge on Saturday.
He and another man entered the water at around midnight on Saturday in a bid to rescue her.
The woman and the other man were rescued by the Coastguard and the Metropolitan Police’s marine unit – but Jimi wasn’t found after an extensive search.
Jimi’s parents Michael Adewole, 63, and his mother Olasunkanmi Adewole, 54, have been left heartbroken.
Commenting on reports of Olubunmi-Adewole’s death, the mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted that he “was the best of us”.
