By Kolawole Ojebisi
A former governor of Oyo State, Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo, today, Sunday 6th with the family giving insights into how their patriarch passed on.
According to a statement by his family on Sunday, he died a few days before his 90th birthday.
The statement titled ‘Victor Olunloyo goes home’ was signed Oladapo Ogunwusi on behalf of the family.
It read, “With a heavy heart but gratitude to the Almighty, we announce the passing into glory of Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo, former governor of Oyo State, mathematician and engineer and renowned technocrat, a few days before his 90th birthday.
“The Balogun of Oyo and Otun Bobasewa of Ife, Dr. Olunloyo was first Rector, Ibadan polytechnic and first Rector, Kwara State Polytechnic among other notable appointments.
“His long record of service to the nation and humanity is a source of pride to his family and associates even as we come to grip with this devastating event.
“The Olunloyo family will appreciate the understanding of the press and the public as they commence efforts to give him a befitting burial.
“Even from everlasting to everlasting, He is God.”
For many years, Olunloyo was like a phoenix as he kept rising from the ashes supposedly defying death.
Recall that many years before his eventual and real death the ex-governor was rumored to have died on three different occasions.
The most recent was about a year ago in April 2024, while the elder stateman was widely reported to have died on many news platforms.
Reacting to the rumour in his Molete residence in Ibadan, the state capital, Olunloyo said he was hale and hearty.
“I’m still here, not yet gone,” he declared then.
He also expressed worry over the rumour and asked who would live forever, stressing, “Those breaking death news and the person presumed dead will all die one day.
“I’ve been lucky. My father died at 42, while my mother died at 102. I’m 89. I’ve crossed the expected life age.”
The elder statesman also illustrated how the rumour of his death hit several news platforms on June 7, 2022.
He noted that the rumour mongers claimed that he died at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
A few days later, the family issued a statement, declaring that he was not dead but suffering from old age ailment and asked Nigerians to pray for him to survive the health complications
The former Oyo governor earned a Ph.D. in 1961 from St. Andrews University, Scotland. His thesis focused on “The Numerical Determination of the Solutions of Eigenvalue Problems of the Sturm–Liouville Type.” He published several significant papers in the fields of number theory and applied mathematics.
In 1962, at the age of 27, he was appointed Commissioner for Economic Development for the Western Region, under the leadership of Dr. Moses Majekodunmi. When Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo became the military governor of Western State, Olunloyo was re-appointed as Commissioner.
He was appointed chairman of the Western Nigerian Development Corporation, further contributing to the region’s development.
Olunloyo became the governor of Oyo State in 1983 having defeated the late Ajibola Ige, the first executive governor of the state.
The mathematician contested on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) while Ige was of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
With the development, Olunloyo thwarted Ige’s second term ambition.
Olunloyo’s reign, however, was short as his tenure was truncated by the coup that ushered in the military regime of Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 1983.
Buhari’s coming to power ended Nigeria’s Second Republic and marked the beginning of another sixteen years of military Interregnum.
The soft-spoken Olunloyo appeared on the political space again in November 2002, three years after Nigeria returned to civilian rule.
He expressed interest in running for Oyo State governor again in the April 2003 elections, but he was not selected by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In 2009, Olunloyo chaired a panel investigating the collapse of part of the Pharmacy section at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. The panel blamed the contractor and the state government, drawing criticism from the Oyo State Governor at the time, Adebayo Alao-Akala.
In the 2011 elections, Olunloyo was elected chairman of the PDP Planning and Strategy Committee for Ibadanland and also served as chairman of the PDP Media and Publicity Committee for Oyo State.
In 2012, Olunloyo left the PDP and joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), marking a shift in his political allegiance.
