Akeem Lasisi
A former Governor of Ondo State, Evangelist Bamidele Olimilua, has passed away.
Among other sources, the Director General of the Ekiti State Council of Arts and Culture, Mr Wale Ojo-Lanre, has confirmed the development, describing Olumilua as a good man.
“Ambassador Bamidele Olumilua! A decent, neat and urbane Ekiti man, RIP,” Ojo-Lanre noted in a tribute on Thursday.
Ekiti was created out of Ondo State, after Olumilua’s tenure.
He was said to have died at his country home, Ikere Ekiti, the town from which the literary giant, Prof. Niyi Osundare; and popular lawyer, Chief Role Olanipekun, hail.
His remains has been transported to the morgue at Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital in Ado Ekiti.
Olumilua was the elected Governor of Ondo State, Nigeria from January 1992 to November 1993 during the Nigerian Third Republic.
He was elected on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform but was forced to leave office when the military regime of General Sani Abacha took power.
His deputy governor was Olusegun Agagu, who later became Governor of Ondo State from 29 May 2003 until February 2009. He was, until his death, the Chancellor, Ekiti State University.
According to an online profile, Olumilua joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998. He was appointed as the Chairman of the Christian Pilgrims Board.
In August 2005, the PDP stated that he was no longer a member of the party and he eventually became one of the founding members of the Action Congress (AC) party, formed in 2006.
His experience gave many political observers hope that a man of God could bring a change in governance.
But the hope got truncated when Abacha seized power.
