WorldStage Newsonline– Former Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, has died at age 70 after battling the coronavirus (COVID-19) for weeks.
He was said to have tested negative for COVID-19 and was hospitalised at First Cardiologist and Cardiovascular Consultants Hospital, Lagos on June 2, 2020.
On the 5th of June, 2020, a report circulated virally on social media that he had died last week of COVID-19, but the news was refuted by his family and close aides.
The Punch, a Nigerian major newspaper quoted a source close to the family who said, “It is true that Ajimobi gave up the ghost some hours ago.”
Abiola Ajimobi was born on 16 December 1949 to the Ajimobi of Ibadan at Oja-Iba, Ibadan. His grandfather was Sobaloju of Ibadan Land (a chief in the royal court of Ibadan). His uncle, Hon. N.A. Ajimobi was minister of works and transport in the Western Region. His father, Pa Ajimobi, was also an Honourable member of the House of Assembly in the Old Western region. 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 education was at Lagelu Grammar School. As a high school student he was active in athletics, table tennis, and football including serving as the school’s games prefect.
Ajimobi university education was in the United States of America, where he studied Business Administration and Finance at the State University of New York, 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, University Park, Illinois.
Abiola Ajimobi was born in 1949 and 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, and was elected in 2003 as a Senator of the Republic of Nigeria 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 of Oyo state under the banner of the All Nigeria People’s Party, a bid which he lost.
He recontested again in the April 2011 elections under the Action Congress of Nigeria and was elected Governor of Oyo State in a closely contested vote.
In 1980, Ajimobi married Florence Ajimobi and they have five children. His first daughter is Abisola Kola-Daisi.
In 2003, 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 but lost. Ajimobi contested again in 2011 under the Action Congress of Nigeria and won.
Ajimobi contested for a second term in an election that took place on April 11, 2015. Ajimobi contested under the All Progressive Congress for re-election against two of his predecessors in office, Christopher Alao Akala and Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja. In the event of his re-election into office as the Governor, Ajimobi is the first person to occupy the seat twice and as well in succession. He was declared the winner of the Oyo State gubernatorial election by the Independent Electoral Commission.
Ajimobi was elected as All Progressive Congress Oyo South senatorial candidate on 28 September 2018.[9] On March 9, 2019, Ajimobi lost the Oyo South senatorial district seat to People’s Democratic Party (Nigeria) Kola Balogun.
