Buhari, Obasanjo, Jonathan, governors, others mourn Odumakin

04 Apr Buhari, Obasanjo, Jonathan, governors, others mourn Odumakin

Tributes have continued to pour since the death of the spokesman of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, became public. President Muhammadu Buhari and former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, serving and former state governors and the human rights community have paid tributes.

Odumakin’s wife, Joe, said he passed on Saturday morning “at the intensive care unit of LASUTH where he was being managed for respiratory issues due to complications from COVID-19 which he had recovered from about a week ago.”

She expressed appreciation for “the outpouring of grief and sympathy from home and abroad as I mourn my irreplaceable soul mate.”

She said that burial arrangements would be made public in due course.

“A part of me is gone. A part of me is gone. He fought hard at the intensive care unit. Pray for me to survive this. My love is gone,” she said.

In a condolence message, signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari described Odumakin as dutiful and a person of conviction.

Odumakin was President Buhari’s spokesperson when he ran for the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

The President recalled Odumakin as “dutiful, and a person of conviction.”

He expressed sorrow at his demise “when he had a lot more to contribute to society and the nation at large.”

Buhari prayed God to “grant repose to the soul of the departed activist, and comfort all those who mourn him.”

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo commiserated with the wife of the deceased, family and associates and prayed that the Lord will “comfort the family, and bless his memory always.”

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar called Odumakin “my younger brother and friend.”