Bayo Ojo, Tinubu, others mourn Akande’s death

01.05.2008

Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo, has expressed shock at the demise of Professor Jadesola Akande.

Ojo, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from Geneva, described Akande as a distinguished academic, human rights activist and courageous woman.

“I was with her on Wednesday last week at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators conference in Lagos.

“I feel so sad. It is a shock,” said Ojo, who is at the International Law Commission of the UN in Geneva.

In another development, the third Civilian Governor of Lagos State, Chief Bola Tinubu on Wednesday mourned the death of Professor Jadesola Akande.

A statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, reads that “at a time when we were mourning the passing away of our father and mentor, Pa Abraham Adesanya, death stole the queen of the democratic movement, an activist and academic of global repute, Professor Jadesola Akande. Cowardly, death took her away in her sleep, at a time she had let down her guard. She was defenceless, unable to rouse the militancy in her to give even death a final rebuff.

“The peaceful circumstances in which she left gives us the consolation that God, who gave her to us determined the time when her services to mankind should end.”

NAN also reported that from Ibadan, colleagues of the late Akande described her death as shocking.

The chairman of Ibadan branch of the NBA, Mr Funso Ogunkeye, said he received news of Akande’s death with shock.

“It is the more shocking because she did not appear to have any particular illness before her death.

“However, I thank God for her life,” he said. “The legacy she left behind in the legal profession will bear testimony to the good life she lived.”