President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has described the death of the Publisher of the Tribune Newspapers, Chief Oluwole Awolowo, as sad and painful, noting that he was a distinguished evangelist, humanist and community leader.
The President described the late Awolowo as a worthy and honoured member of the Awolowo dynasty, who diligently served God and humanity to the best of his abilities.
President Jonathan commended Chief Awolowo’s steadfast, life-long commitment to upholding, maintaining and continually improving the Tribune newspapers, which ensured that the Nigerian Tribune and its sister publications have remained an objective voice of reason in Nigeria’s media space and continue to offer invaluable services to the nation.
“It is not a mean feat to have sustained the Tribune newspapers over the years,” the President said in praise of the late scion of the Awolowo family.
On behalf of himself, his family and the Federal Government, President Jonathan extended heartfelt condolences to Chief Awolowo’s immediate family, the matriarch of the Awolowo family, Mrs. Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, other family members, the Ikenne community, the management and staff of Tribune newspapers, as well as the people and government of Ogun State.
The President prayed that God will console the bereaved and grant the soul of Chief Oluwole Awolowo peaceful rest.
The Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed has described the death of Awolowo as sad, unfortunate and shocking.
Ahmed noted in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Alhaji Abdulwahab Oba, that the death of Chief Awolowo at the age of 70 was painful as it was at an age that Nigeria could still tap from his fountain of wisdom in its quest for solutions to national problems.
“The postulations of late Chief Oluwole Awolowo in the last couple of years in his column, Oba Lectern, though a Christian Column, are didactic, inspiring and forthright in a manner that it instils in the reader the quest for up rightness,” the governor recalled.
The Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has described the passage of Awolowo as shocking and a great loss to Yorubaland.
Ajimobi made this known in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo.
He said: “Chief Oluwole Awolowo’s passage, shortly after the demise of his sister, Mrs. Ayo Soyode, is a great blow to a Yorubaland which will not forget in a hurry the footsteps of development and leadership offered the South-West and indeed Yorubaland by their father and the father of us all. He was a jolly good fellow who desired the good of the Yoruba nation and who worked for a return to a path of peaceful nationhood.
“Though shocking and irreparable, his death should not be turned into mourning but a celebration of the great time he spent here on earth. He was one son of a famous leader who demystified wealth and status by associating with the lowly. He drove himself all through, no matter how long the journey was and enjoyed lifting the children of the poor.”
The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, on Thursday commiserated with the Awolowo family over the death of Chief Awolowo.
The minister also expressed her heartfelt condolences to the Board, Management and Staff of the African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, publishers of the Tribune titles, over the death of Chief Awolowo.
She said: “I commiserate with the Awolowo family and the Board, Management and Staff of the African Newspapers of Nigeria over this irreparable loss.
“I pray that the Almighty God grant him eternal rest and give the members of the family and ANN the fortitude to bear this great loss.
The gubernatorial candidate of the National conscience Party in Ogun State in the last general election, Ogbeni Lanre Banjo, said in a statement on Thursday: “It is with deep sense of loss and emptiness that I received the shocking news of Evangelist Oluwole Awolowo’s demise.
“His loss is a painful and irreparable one, and has definitely further created an irreplaceable vacuum in Papa Awolowo’s dynasty.
“Given the struggle of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo for the masses of our country, those of us from Ogun State are uniquely and deeply aggrieved by this loss.
“While I wish him a deserved rest and pray God grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss, I advise state governments to invest heavily in the health sector.
“Prevention is better than cure.
“In a country where all rulers run away to foreign countries for medical care, the led will have no choice but to be experiencing untimely death.”
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