By Abiola Olawale
The people of Kwara State, the pro-democracy community in Nigeria and Nigeria as a whole have been thrown into a state of mourning as eminent elderstatesman, second Republic governor of Kwara State, Second Republic Senator as well as former Minister of Transportation and later Communications Chief Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo, passes on.
It was gathered that Adebayo, a former Minister of Communications and Transportation, passed on in the early hours of Wednesday at the age of 84 years.
Born on February 24, 1941, in Igbaja, Kwara State, Chief Adebayo, popularly known as C.O. has had a career spanning several decades.
Adebayo’s political journey began as Kwara State’s Commissioner for Education from 1975 to 1978, where he was credited for spearheading reforms that uplifted the state’s educational landscape.
In 1979, Adebayo moved on to become a senator under the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He was a staunch Awoist and later ardent leader of the pro-democracy movement during the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections won by Late Chief M.K. O. Abiola.
He later served as governor of Kwara State in 1983.
From 2003 to 2006, he served as Minister of Communications under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Adebayo was a key figure in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which fought for the validation of the mandate of MKO Abiola after the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election.
His resolve was tested in 1993 when he declined a ministerial position in General Sani Abacha’s military regime.
In 1995, he faced arrest and interrogation following a bomb explosion in Ilorin, Kwara’s capital, linked to his NADECO activities.
Undeterred, Adebayo went into exile in Canada in 1996, returning to continue his advocacy.
Upon his return from exile, he was appointed minister of Transportation, later Communications and Works under Obasanjo’s administration. He represented the middle Belt zone in the government.
