Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo, a former governor of Kwara State and senator, has died at the age of 84. Family sources confirmed that Adebayo passed away in the early hours of Wednesday in Abuja.
Born on 24 February 1941 in Igbaja, Kwara State, Adebayo had a distinguished career in politics and public service. He served as governor of Kwara State in 1983 and was elected senator in 1979 on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
Between 2003 and 2006, he held the position of Minister of Communications under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
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A staunch pro-democracy advocate, Adebayo was a member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the group that fought to restore the annulled mandate of MKO Abiola following the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
In 1993, he turned down an offer to serve in the military regime of General Sani Abacha. Two years later, following a bomb explosion in Ilorin, Adebayo and several NADECO members were arrested and questioned by the police. He later fled into exile in Canada in 1996 as the Abacha regime intensified its crackdown on opposition figures.
Adebayo was also known for his contributions to education in Kwara State, having served as the state’s commissioner for education from 1975 to 1978, during which he initiated a series of reforms in the sector.
He is remembered as a principled leader, reformer, and steadfast advocate for democracy in Nigeria.
