Senator Isiaka Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi (16 December 1949 – 25 June 2020) was a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

Oyo State Oyo State is an inland state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the east by Osun ...

, south-western Nigeria. He was formerly the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum, Nigeria. He left the oil sector in 2002 after 26 years of meritorious service and was elected in 2003 as a Senator of the Republic of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

representing Oyo South Senatorial District on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). After one term in the senate, he contested in 2007 for the governorship seat of Oyo state under the banner of the

All Nigeria People's Party The All Nigeria Peoples Party ( abbr. ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Late Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke who was its vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2007 presidential elections. The party ...

, a bid which he lost. He contested again in the April 2011 gubernatorial elections under the

Action Congress of Nigeria The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), formerly known as Action Congress (AC), was a Nigerian political party formed via the merger of a faction of Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of Democrats, and several othe ...

and was elected Governor of Oyo State in a closely contested vote. In 2019, he was succeeded by

Oluwaseyi Makinde Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde (born 25 December 1967) is a Nigerian businessman, politician and philanthropist who has served as Governor of Oyo State since 29 May 2019. He is an engineer and a subject matter expert on fluid and gas metering. He is th ...

. He contested for Senator for his senatorial district but lost. In June 2020, he was confirmed to have

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and was announced dead on the 25th of June.

Early life

Isiaka Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi was born on 16 December 1949 to the Ajimobi family of

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

at Oja-Iba, Ibadan. Oyo State. He started his education at Saint Patricks Primary School, Oke-Padre in Ibadan. He completed his primary education at Ibadan City Council Primary School, Aperin. His secondary school education was at Lagelu Grammar School. Ajimobi's university education was at the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, where he studied Business Administration and Finance at the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

, in Buffalo, New York graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree. His MBA was in Operations Research and Marketing with a concentration in Finance at

Governors State University Governors State University (Governors State or GOVST) is a public university in University Park, Illinois. The campus is located south of Chicago, Illinois. GSU was founded in 1969. It is a public university offering degree programs at the und ...

University Park, Illinois University Park is a village, a south suburb of Chicago mostly in Will County with a small portion in Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The village is one of the region's few planned communities, was developed in the 1960s as Wood Hill, ...

.Funlola Adesina osundefender.org

Political career

In 2003, Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi became a Senator of the Republic of Nigeria. Ajimobi was a principal officer in the Senate, serving as the Deputy Minority leader of the Senate. In 2007, Ajimobi contested the gubernatorial election under the umbrella of the

All Nigeria Peoples Party The All Nigeria Peoples Party (abbr. ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Late Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke who was its vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2007 presidential elections. The party ...

but lost. Ajimobi contested again in 2011 under the

and won. Known as the Architect of the Modern

, Ajimobi contested for second term in an election that took place on 11 April 2015 under the

All Progressive Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, the ...

for re-election and won. In the event of his re-election into office as the Governor, Ajimobi became the first person to occupy the seat twice and in succession. He was declared the winner of the Oyo State gubernatorial election by the

Independent National Electoral Commission The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was established in 1998 and is the electoral body which oversees elections in Nigeria. History Regulation and administration of elections The administration of democratic elections in Nige ...

. Ajimobi was elected as the All Progressivse Congress Oyo South senatorial candidate on 28 September 2018. He lost in the 2019 senatorial elections to Kola Balogun of Peoples Democratic Party. On June 16, 2020, he was appointed as the acting national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

Personal life and death

In 1980, Ajimobi married Florence Ajimobi; they had five children. On 19 June 2020, Ajimobi was admitted to First Cardiologist and Cardiovascular Consultants Hospital in Lagos after slipping into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

following

complications during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria The COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Nigeria was announced on 27 February 2020, when a ...

. He was declared dead on 25 June 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajimobi, Abiola 1949 births 2020 deaths Governors of Oyo State University at Buffalo alumni Politicians from Ibadan Governors State University alumni Nigerian expatriates in the United States Yoruba politicians 21st-century Nigerian politicians Nigerian corporate directors Yoruba businesspeople Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria Lagelu Grammar School alumni