The untimely demise of Rt. Hon. Kehinde Olatunji Ayoola, erstwhile Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, is a tragic and very painful occurrence. Kehinde, it is to be recalled, breathed his last on Thursday, 14 May, 2020, aged 55.
He was a unique and precious “wet tree, in the forest of Oyo State, indeed Nigerian politics”.
Rt. Hon. Ayoola, Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly in 1999, during the administration of Alh. Lam Adesina, represented Oyo East/Oyo West State Constituency, under the banner of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), and was a man of unimpeachable integrity, matchless character, profound depth and great wisdom, whose eloquence and mastery of the written words, gave him off as an intellectual, whose foray into politics, underscored the need for the incursion of more professionals, and pragmatic thinkers into Nigerian politics.
Kehinde was a decent man, a man of sincerity and of his word. He was a quintessential Yoruba Omoluabi.
One attribute of the deceased whom l had the privilege of interacting with, was his ability to relate across age-groups and party divides, as well as his broadmindedness, a tendency which advertised his humanism.
My heartfelt condolences go to Kehinde’s family, especially his wife, Prof. Olukemi, and the children, the Oyo State Government, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, all friends, associates and loyalists of Rt. Hon. Kehinde Olatunji Ayoola. I pray God to grant a repose to his great soul, as well as grant us all, the fortitude to bear this extremely irreparable loss. We can only take solace in the fact that he left behind an excellent legacy.
