Former governor of Kwara State, Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo has passed away at the age of 84.
Adebayo, a prominent pro-democracy crusader died in the early hours of Wednesday in Abuja, family sources said.
The late politician was born on February 24, 1941, in the Igbaja community of Kwara State and grew up to become a prominent figure in Nigeria’s political and democratic evolutionary trajectory.
He served as Kwara State governor in 1983 and was elected senator on the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) platform in 1979.
The late Cornelius Adebayo also served as Nigeria’s Minister of Communications from 2003 to 2006, during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was also Kwara State Commissioner for Education from 1975 to 1978.
During the repressive era of General Sani Abacha’s military regime, Adebayo was a member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a pro-democracy group that resisted military rule and fought to revalidate the June 12, 1993, presidential mandate won by late Chief Moshood Abiola.
In 1993, Adebayo turned down a ministerial appointment from Sani Abacha’s military government, risked police arrest over opposition activities after a 1995 bomb explosion, and subsequently ran into self – exile in Canada in 1996.
