Governor Seyi Makinde yesterday paid a surprise visit to former governor Omololu Olunloyo at his Molete, Ibadan residence.
It was on the occasion of the mathematician’s 85th birthday.
Makinde, who was obviously busy, spent few minutes with the old man and presented birthday gifts which included a giant greeting card.
Born on 14th April 1935, Olunloyo defeated incumbent Bola Ige in 1983. His tenure was however short lived as he was only in the saddle for three months; between October and December 31, 1983 when General Muhammadu Buhari took over power and dismissed the elected government.
Olunloyo gained a Ph.D. from St. Andrews University at 26, 1961. His thesis was on the Numerical Determination of the Solutions of Eigenvalue Problems of the Sturm-Liouville Type. He published several other papers on number theory and applied mathematics.
Olunloyo was appointed Commissioner for Economic Development for the Western Region at 27 in 1962 in the cabinet of Dr. Moses Majekodunmi. He was re-appointed when Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo was appointed military governor of Western State. Other positions included commissioner for community development, education (twice), special duties, local government and chieftaincy affairs which includes crowning of two of Nigeria’s monarchs namely the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the Soun of Ogbomosho, Oba Jimoh Oyewunmi. He was appointed chairman of the Western Nigerian Development Corporation.
