Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala (3 June 1950 – 12 January 2022) 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 ...

and police officer. He served as governor of Oyo State in 2006, and again from 2007 to 2011. He was the candidate of the ADP in the 2019 Governorship election in

Oyo State Oyo State is an inland States of Nigeria, state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the List of Nigerian cities by population, third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is b ...

. He served as deputy governor of Oyo State from May 2003 to January 2006 succeeding Rashidi Ladoja when he was impeached, but later reverting to the office when Ladoja was reinstated in December 2006. He was elected

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in 2007, and lost reelection in 2011 to

Abiola Ajimobi Senator Isiaka Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi (16 December 1949 – 25 June 2020) was a Nigerian politician from Oyo State, south-western Nigeria. He was formerly the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil and Chemical Marketing ...

of 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 ...

. He died on the 12th of January, 2022.

Early years

Born on 3 June 1950 at Ogbomoso, in the Ogbomoso North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Alao-Akala had his elementary school at Osupa Baptist Day School, Ogbomoso. Alao-Akala proceeded to the Kamina Barracks Middle School, 5th Battalion of Infantry in

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tam ...

, Ghana. He passed Staff College (Psc) 1990, Diploma in Business Administration (1998),

Doctor of Civil Law Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees. At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...

(DCL) Honoris Causa, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso (2006),

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(Political Science) Honoris Causa,

Lead City University Lead City University is a private university in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. History The university submitted its application to the National Universities Commission the year 2002. The Standing Committee on Private Universities (SCOPU) conducted ...

, Ibadan (2008). Alao-Akala was enlisted as Cadet Inspector of Police in June 1974, at the Nigeria Police College, Ikeja. He was recommended for overseas training at the

Hendon Police College Hendon Police College is the principal training centre for London's Metropolitan Police. Founded with the official name of the Metropolitan Police College, the college has officially been known as the Peel Centre since 1974, although its origi ...

, in London. He has also attended the

Administrative Staff College Henley Business School is a business school which now forms part of the University of Reading. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College (formerly the Administrative Staff College) with the existing business ...

, Topo, Badagry; the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos; Police Staff College, Jos;

Command and Staff College, Jaji Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards * ...

. Otunba Alao-Akala has participated as a Nigerian delegate at two

INTERPOL The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

conferences in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

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and in Málaga,

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Police career

From the position of Station Officer in the Nigeria Police, he became the Administrative Officer, Federal Operations at the Force Headquarters, Lagos. He later rose to the position of Operations Officer, FEDOPS, Lagos. He became the Personal Assistant to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police and subsequently the ADC to the Inspector-General of Police. Alao-Akala held several command positions in the Police Force. He was O/C Advanced Training Wing, Police College,

Ikeja Ikeja is the capital city of Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria. Its population, as of the 2006 census, is 313,196. Prior to the emergence of military rule in the early 1980s, Ikeja was a well planned, clean and quiet residential and commercia ...

; Divisional Police Officer, Bode Thomas, Lagos; Divisional Police Officer, Iponri Police Station, Lagos; Railway Divisional Police Officer, Nigeria Railways, Ebutte Meta, Lagos; Area Commander, Western District, Nigeria Railway Police, Ibadan; CSP Admin. Gongola State Command, Yola; CSP Admin. Kwara State Command, Ilorin; Assistant Commissioner of Police, Agodi Area Command, Ibadan, Oyo State Police Command, Ibadan. In September 1995, Otunba (Dr) Adebayo retired from the Nigeria Police as the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Logistics and Supply, Oyo State Police Command, Eleyele,

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 ...

. Besides public service, Dr. Alao-Akala was a businessman. He was the founder and chairman of TDB Global Ventures and Parrot FM radio station, both in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

Political life

Otunba (Dr) Adebayo Alao-Akala started his political career as a member of New Dimension. He participated in the zero-party local government election of 1996 and later co-founded the UNP before its fusion with UNC to form UNCP. He participated in the Ogbomoso Federal Constituency (One) primary election of the UNCP in 1997. He contested and won the chairmanship seat of the Ogbomoso North Local Government along with seven councilors under the platform of APP in 1998. He was elected the vice-chairman of ALGON, Oyo State Chapter between 1999 and 2002. Alao-Akala founded the Ogbomoso Unity Forum, a political association which later joined the PDP. He was the Chairman of Ogbomoso North Local Government from 1999 to 2002. Alao-Akala served as the Deputy Governor of Oyo State from May 2003 to January 2006. Following the impeachment of then incumbent Governor Rashidi Ladoja, Alao-Akala was sworn into office in January 2006 and served for 11 months. In December 2006, the impeachment was overturned by the Supreme Court and Rashidi Ladoja was reinstated. Alao-Akala contested and won the gubernatorial election in 2007 under the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and became the Executive Governor of Oyo state, serving a full term till May 2011. On 8 December 2014, Otunba (Dr) Adebayo Alao-Akala defected to the Labour Party in Oyo State from the People's Democratic Party (PDP). On 10 December 2014, he formally declared his intention to re-contest the gubernatorial election of Oyo State on the platform of the Labour Party in the February 2015 general elections in Nigeria. During his declaration of intent, all other party gubernatorial aspirants stepped down for him, thereby making him emerge as the Labour party's gubernatorial flag bearer in Oyo State. On 16 December 2017, he defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in a huge ceremony in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State. In October 2018, Alao-Akala defected to the Action Democratic Party (ADP) where he won the gubernatorial ticket to contest the office of Governor of Oyo state in the 2019 general elections (alongside Prof. Abideen Olaiya as Deputy Governor candidate). After 23 February 2019 Presidential and National Assemblies Elections, Akala defected back to the All Progressive Congress, thereby stepping down in the race to become Governor of Oyo state under the Platform of the Action Democratic Party.

Personal life and death

Alao-Akala was a polyglot who spoke English, Yoruba, Hausa and Ghanaian languages (Tiv, Fanti and Dagbani) fluently. He had seven children, and died on 12 January 2022, at the age of 71.

References

*https://www.today.ng/news/politics/oyo-elections-adebayo-alao-akala-steps-endorses-bayo-adelabu-199501/amp&ved=2ahUKEwjX9dzzgp_iAhVTtXEKHUSGCQMQFjABegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw0vlnidUU45g7biUggQk81Y&cf=1 *https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/317089-oyo-governorship-akala-steps-down-supports-apc-candidate-adelabu.html%3Famp_markup%3D1&ved=2ahUKEwiSnIORhJ_iAhWLSBUIHdqKArcQFjAAegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw3YasP8dRnLU3sm2K-juTE_&cf=1 *https://insideoyo.com/video-if-akala-stepped-down-for-me-i-will-take-care-of-him-and-his-family-adeduntan/&ved=2ahUKEwiSnIORhJ_iAhWLSBUIHdqKArcQFjAJegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw0i_Oj_XPXmXTeU3tfvRKIV

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20140808052451/http://candidates.nigeriaelections.org/candidate/profile/candidate/594/me/alao-otunba-(dr.)-c.-adebayo-a./ * https://searchnews.in/ * http://allafrica.com/stories/200612111060.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Alao-Akala, Adebayo 1950 births 2022 deaths Governors of Oyo State Yoruba politicians Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians People from Ogbomosho Action Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians