Mark, Tambuwal, others mourn late Ondo Speaker

Both the Senate President, David Mark; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday mourned the late Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Adesina Ajayi, who died early Tuesday after a protracted battle with cancer of the urinary bladder.

Mark and Tambuwal eulogised the late Ajayi and condoled with the Government and people of the state even as the Ondo State House of Assembly declared a seven-day period to mourn its late Speaker.

Mark described Ajayi’s death as a painful loss, not only to the people of Ondo State but to the nation as a whole, particularly the legislature.

He noted the robust contributions made by the late Ondo Speaker to the development of the legislature in Nigeria and lamented that the deceased had created a vacuum that would be hard to fill.

“The only way to immortalise him is to uphold his legacies of hard work, forthrightness and unshakable belief in the indivisibility of Nigeria,” the Senate President said in a statement.

Tambuwal, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, described the deceased as a complete gentleman who combined family life and public service with distinction.

He said Ajayi was a proactive lawmaker, who loved his country dearly and prayed to God to give his family, constituents and the entire people of Ondo State the fortitude to bear the loss.

Chairman of the Ondo State House of Assembly’s Committee on Information, Oye Aladetan, said legislative activities and other administrative businesses of the House would cease during the seven-day mourning period declared by the House.

He also noted that a burial committee had been appointed by the House to organise activities leading to the late Speaker’s interment, in conjunction with his immediate family.

He said the death of the Speaker was shocking given the extensive medical efforts to keep him alive.

According to Aladetan, the Speaker’s death remained a great loss to the House and the people of Ondo State.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Ondo State Government, led by the Secretary to the Government, Dr. Aderotimi Adelola, paid a condolence visit to the House as well as the family of the deceased on Wednesday.