FORMER governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, on Thursday said he thought he would not live long to attain old age in life.
Speaking at a grand reception to commemorate his 80th birthday ceremony in his country home of Ila Orangun, Akande said his fear was based on his parents, who said, died young.
He said “when I was 40 years old, I remembered that my parents did not live long. My father died at the age of 50 while my mother was 45 years when she passed on. I was afraid I would not live long.”
Akande, who was also the former interim national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) maintained that his foray into politics in the early 70s was informed by the need to serve humanity and contribute meaningfully to the development of the society.
In his goodwill message, the immediate past governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola described Akande as very tolerant and accommodating, recalling that some people have a futile attempt in the past to cause disaffection between him and Akande.
According to him, “those who don’t want the progress of Osun have made attempts to cause misgivings between me and Baba Akande. He would call me and tell me what they say I have said about him. But, he does not reckon with such mischief.”
“Akande is a pillar of support for me. I never intended to be governor of Osun State. He called me in 2002 that I should come and contest for the governorship seat. I said no told him to leave me where I was.”
“But, eventually when I wanted to go, Baba Akande kept quiet. Osun is the most difficult state to govern. Without the support of Akande, it would have been very difficult for me to govern Osun State”, Aregbesola remarked.
In his remark, Osun State governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola described Akande as a great politician and one of the torch bearers of the progressives in Nigeria.
He averred that the history of Osun would be incomplete without the indelible contributions of Akande to the state’s socio-economic developments. (Nigerian Tribune)
