Former governor of Oyo State, Alao-Akala, is dead, aged 71.
His death was confirmed to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, by the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Caretaker Committee in Oyo State, Chief Akin Oke.
He said the former governor died in the early hours of Wednesday.
Said Oke in a telephone interview by NAN: “It’s a rude shock because this is a personal loss to me.
“I am down in all ramifications. I’m highly devastated and can’t really talk much for now. Please, let’s talk later.”
Also confirming his death, a former Military Governor of Oyo State, Retired Maj.-Gen. Oladayo Popoola, described the demise of Alao-Akala as shocking.
Popoola, who is also a prominent indigene of Ogbomoso, the birthplace of Alao-Akala, said that news of his demise was communicated to him over the phone.
“Yes, I have received the news. It’s shocking, but I won’t say anything until I get full details,” he said.
A family source, who pleaded anonymity, said the late Alao-Akala returned to Ogbomoso on Tuesday from Abuja, where he had gone to felicitate a former Majority Leader of House of Representatives, Rep. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, on her birthday.
“He returned from Abuja yesterday (Tuesday) and still held meeting with some people in the evening.
“He was found dead in his room this morning,” the source said.
The source said that he died in his Ogbomoso home and his remains had been deposited at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso morgue.
Alao-Akala, a retired police officer, was also a former chairman of Ogbomoso North local government.
He was deputy governor of Oyo State from 2003 to 2007, and later governor from 2007 to 2011 on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
