It took persuasive efforts to calm Odumakin’s father, mother, says Afenifere

• Hamzat, Lanlehin describe activist’s death as shocking
• My husband died on Friday but doctors couldn’t tell me, says wife

The Deputy Leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, has said life should be measured more by the impact a person made rather than the number of years the person lived.

Olaitan stated this when he led a delegation of the group to Moro in Ife North Local Council of Osun State to commiserate with the parents of the late Yinka Odumakin.

According to the spokesman of the Afenifere team, Jare Ajayi, the father of the late activist, 115-year-old Pa Ezekiel Abioye Odumakin, and the mother, 95-year-old Madam Alice Ojuolape Odumakin, broke down in tears when the news of Yinka’s death was broken to them.

Ajayi said: ‘’It took the persuasive efforts of Oba Olaitan, with the support of Yinka’s elder brother, Pastor Jacob Odumakin; his uncle, Mr. Kola Akinrinade; his sister and other members of Afenifere present to calm the grieving family members.”

Olaitan said that the Odumakin family should take consolation in the fact that “Yinka brought the name of the family to the limelight in a positive way.”

RELATEDLY, a former senator, Femi Lanlehin, yesterday, said the death of Odumakin could only be likened to that of a blossoming flower, plucked in its prime.

In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Lanlehin said: “Odumakin was one man whose desire and pursuit for a just and egalitarian society was top-notch, and who in the defence of this cause, had suffered great harm, criticisms and even derision without batting an eyelid. To him, the greater good was the welfare and emancipation of the people.”

ALSO, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, has described the death of Odumakin as very shocking and a great loss to the nation.

Hamzat stated this, yesterday when he led other officials of the Lagos State government on a condolence visit to the residence of Odumakin on behalf of the state government.

The delegation was received by the widow, Dr. Okei-Odumakin.

MEANWHILE, the widow has said that her husband died on Friday but doctors could not fathom how to communicate the bad news to her.

She said this in a tribute titled, “Yinka: Basking in the shadow that you cast,” made available to newsmen yesterday.

According to her, Yinka Odumakin’s death certificate showed that he died at 10:40 p.m. on Friday as against Saturday earlier announced.

Okei-Odumakin vowed to continue to fight for the ideals of her husband.

She said: “Yinka, it cannot be goodbye, it is goodnight, and see you later on the other side with God. I will bask with reckless abandonment in the shadow of your cast…”

“Since no one is permitted in the Critical Care Unit, we had committed you to the care of the best-qualified medics at LASUTH and the hands of God hoping to see you the next morning. The medics said they could not fathom how to immediately relay the message of your passage to me directly.

“Now that I am in possession of your death certificate, I can see that you passed on at exactly 10:40 p.m. on Good Friday (April 2, 2021) and not in the morning of Saturday, April 3, 2021, as initially communicated.

“Due to the principles of the truth and saying it as it is, which Yinka and I hold dear – and which Yinka lived all his adult life for – it is important to immediately put this very important record straight.

“You came! You saw!! And you conquered!!! We will carry forward the baton in the eternal word of our leader, Nigeria will be saved, Nigeria will be changed and Nigeria will become a great nation. Nigeria will work in my lifetime and even in yours as you live on in me, our children and generation were yet unborn.