Akin Omoboriowo: Former Ondo Deputy Governor Dies at 81

The former deputy governor of the old Ondo State, Chief Akin Omoboriowo is dead. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Omoboriowo, aged 81 died in Lagos on Tuesday. Omoboriowo, a lawyer and politician was the late Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin’s deputy in the old Ondo State during the second republic. He was a prominent member of the proscribed Unity Party of Nigeria led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The deceased later moved to the defunct National Party of Nigeria, under whose umbrella he was elected governor of Ondo State. His election as governor was disputed and later reversed by a court of appeal before he could take office. After the December 31, 1983 coup that brought General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to power, he was jailed for four months, as were almost all the former governors and their deputies, but was then released without charge. He would later state that Buhari was right to have jailed him and others at the time. He later became the Pro-chancellor and Chairman of the governing council of the University of Ado Ekiti. He was also Chairman of an Electrical Company based in Abuja where he was based for a stretch of time before he died on Tuesday evening.