Ado-Ekiti-Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayo Fayose, has cautioned politicians against playing politics with the death of Nationalists and great Nigerian leaders to score cheap political points.
Speaking in Ikenne on Friday while paying a condolence visit to the family of the late Mama Hannah Dideolu Idowu Awolowo, Fayose said it is better that such great leaders are recognised and given their dues respect while alive.
This, he said informed his decision to honour some prominent Ekiti indigenes such as Prof Sam Aluko and Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye before they died.
In a statement in Ado-Ekiti by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor said the deceased, wife of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, lived a life worthy of celebrating even though she departed to the great beyond last Saturday.
“At some point we all have to leave this world. But we cannot forget a life well lived and the assurances of eternity. Our Mama held fort for 29 years after Baba left. She kept the flag flying and nobody can fault that.
“Her death is a celebration of life and ideology. An ideology she stood for. We will continue to celebrate Baba Awo and represent all that he lived for.
Politicians celebrate people for political reasons but that must stop. We should sustain the legacies left behind by Baba and Mama.
“We need to celebrate our heros before they die. It is better that way rather than making politics of such occasion. I congratulate the Awolowos for a life well lived by their parents. The family should not be abandoned. We can never forget them. They have left legacies that are enduring. Also, visit to this place should not be one off thing.
Mama Awolowo fought a good fight and finished her race very well,” he said.
In her remarks, a daughter of the deceased, Mrs Tola Oyediran, thanked the governor for the visit.
“I say a big thank you for coming despite your tight schedule. Your coming is an expression of deep love for us as a family. We thank you for the beautiful things you said about our parents.
“We also thank God that her children survived her in spite of all the storms of life she experienced in recent years. I pray that you too will live long in Jesus name,” she said.
Governor Fayose was later conducted round Baba Awo’s mausoleum and where his car used to campaign for the 1979 and 1983 presidential elections was kept.
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