Ex-Kwara Gov, Cornelius Adebayo, is dead

Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo, a distinguished former governor of Kwara State and one-time senator, has passed away at the age of 84.

Family sources confirmed that Adebayo died in the early hours of Wednesday in Abuja. Born on February 24, 1941, in the Igbaja community of Kwara State, Adebayo was a prominent figure in Nigeria’s political and public service landscape.

He served as governor of Kwara in 1983 and was earlier elected senator on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in 1979.

He later became Nigeria’s Minister of Communications between 2003 and 2006. A known advocate for democracy, Adebayo was an active member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the pro-democracy movement that fought for the restoration of MKO Abiola’s annulled 1993 presidential election victory.

In 1993, Adebayo turned down a ministerial appointment under the regime of late General Sani Abacha. Following the bombing incident in Ilorin on May 31, 1995, he was arrested and interrogated alongside other NADECO members.

With pressure mounting, Adebayo fled into exile in Canada in 1996 to avoid persecution.

Noted for his impact on education in Kwara State, Adebayo had earlier served as commissioner for education from 1975 to 1978, implementing several reforms that shaped the sector.