As year 2020 comes an end, OYOINSIGHT.COM’s Adebayo AbdulRahman takes a look at 10 prominent indigenes of the state who passed on in the last 12 months.
Abiola Ajimobi
The Immediate past Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi died on the 25th of June.
He was 70.
He died in Lagos after a ‘multiple internal organ failure’ caused by caused by COVID-19 complications.
He Governed Oyo State between 2011 and 2019 but before then he represented Oyo South senatorial district at the National Assembly between 2003 and 2007.
Until his death, he was the Acting National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress.
He was survived by a wife, Florence Ajimobi and five children.
Olu Akinkugbe
Foremost Nigerian professor of Medicine at the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, Oyo State, Olu Akinkugbe died on 15th of June.
He died in the ancient city of Ibadan at the age of 86.
He was, before his death, the Chairman of the Board of Management of University College Hospital, Ibadan, and one-time Chairman of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
He served as Pro-Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt; former Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; former Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin; and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
Before hanging the stethoscope, Akinkugbe practised medicine for 60 years during which he pioneered the establishment of two critical clinics, one in hypertension and the other in renal disorders at the UCH, Ibadan. Both clinics were firsts in Africa.
Bode Akindele
Foremost Industrialist, Philantropist, Chief Bode Akindele died at his Apapa home in Lagos on the 29th of June.
He was 88.
From Europe to America; Asia to Africa and Ibadan where he was born, Bode Akindele’s business interests cut across the maritime, properties, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
With an estimated wealth of $1.19 billion, according to The Daily Telegraph, Chief Akindele controls one-third of the world match market.
Chief Akindele’s business empire operates under the name Modandola Group Of Companies, named after his mother, which translates to ‘God, if you give me the wealth, give me a child that can take care of it.’
Until his death, he was the Parokoyi of Ibadan land.
Kehinde Ayoola
Kehinde Ayoola was until his death Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resource. He died on May, 14 at 55.
Born on January 14 in Oyo town, Kehinde Ayoola attended Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He studied Animal Science and Environmental Management and Control.
He represented Oyo East state constituency between 1999 and 2003 at the Oyo State House of Assembly and was the Speaker of the assembly in 1999.
He was married to Olukemi, an associate professor of agronomy and has two sons.
Harry Akande
2023 Presidential hopeful, business mogul, and Agba Oyo of Ibadan land, Chief Harry Akande died on December 5 at 77.
Akande was reputed to be one of the richest men in Nigeria. He was the chairman of Akande International Corporation (AIC) — with interest in healthcare, engineering, building construction and power.
He was a one-time presidential aspirant on the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform.
Theopelius Akinyele

Ibadan elder, Chief Theophilus Adeleke, Akinyele died in Lagos on October 26 at 88.
Born on February 29, 1932 in Ibadan, Akinyele was Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Agriculture and Finance of the old Western State of Nigeria, Registrar and Secretary to the Council of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife Nigeria and Secretary to the Military Government, Oyo.
He rose to the position of Head of the Civil Service of Oyo State and also served as Director of Budget and Special Adviser on Budget Affairs to President Shehu Shagari from 1979-1983.
After retiring from public service, Akinyele worked as a consultant.
He holds the chieftaincy title of Bobajiro of Ibadanland and is an Officer of the Order of the Niger.
Ogun Majek
Ibadan-based Nollywood actor, Gbolagade Akinpelu died on the 25th of June.
He died from an heart disease he battled for almost eight months at his Imalefalafia, Oke-Ado, Ibadan home.
Popularly known as Ogun Majek, he started acting in 1963.
He participated in various movies foremost among which is Afonja and Ogbori Elemoso.
Samuel Farinu
Chief Samuel Farinu, a former Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State, died on the 3rd of June.
He was 93.
He was, until his death, a leader of the Progressive family in the APC.
Reacting to the death of the Oyo-born politician, the Senator representing Oyo Central at the National Assembly, Teslim Folarin described him as an “extremely loyal, committed, dedicated and thoroughbred progressive.”
S.M. Akindele
A Progressive Politician, Grassroot Mobilizer, and Awoist, Chief Solomon Mojereola Akindele died on the 14th of June.
He was until his death, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo central senatorial district.
His death threw the APC in Oyo State into mourning because it came some days after they lost another elder, Chief Farinu.
Reacting to his death, the Deputy National Chairman of the APC, Abiola Ajimobi (who later died in June) described Akindele as a “progressive to the core who remained active and never wavered in his progressives ideology.”
Richard Akinjide
Former justice minister and Ibadan chief, Richard Akinjide died on April 21.
Born in 1930 in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Mr Akinjide attended St. Peter’s Primary School, Aremo in Ibadan, before proceeding to Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife from where he passed out in Grade One (Distinction, Aggregate 6).
Mr Akinjide in 1951 travelled to the United Kingdom for his higher education, where he studied for his LLB degree in Law at the University of London and also obtained a certificate in Journalism. He was called to the English Bar in 1955.
The deceased was subsequently called to the Nigerian and the Gambian Bar and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1978. When he returned to Nigeria after his studies, he practiced briefly under S.L Durosaro before setting up his practice of Akinjide & Co.
Mr Akinjide was a contributor to West African Pilot and Daily Times. He also taught International Commercial Arbitration at post-graduate level at the University of Ibadan.
He was a member of the Judicial Systems Sub-Committee of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1975-1977 and later joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1978. He became the Legal Adviser for the party before hwas later appointed the justice minister when President Shehu Shagari assumed office.
Chief Lere Adigun: Popularly called Baba Sahara, he was a father figure to Governor Seyi Makinde. He died on August 7, 2020. He was a German-trained engineer, a foremost muslim and prominent Ibadan indigene.
Chief ‘Lekan Are: The founder of popular Kakanfo Inn and the longest-serving director of PUNCH Newspaper, and chairman of University Press, Dr. Lekan Are, died on the 18th of January 2020, at the age of 86.
