The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described the first civilian governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, as the ‘last of the political titans’.
AS Tinubu, who was governor of Lagos between 1999 and 2007, made the remark in a condolence statement on Thursday in Lagos.
Alhaji Jakande died in the early hours of Thursday at 91.
Asiwaju Tinubu’s statement, titled “We Celebrate, Not Mourn Jakande,” said: “Today, we lost a great soul. Pa Lateef Kayode Jakande exemplified the best of Lagos and Nigeria.
“Showing his extraordinary natural ability, Pa Jakande was largely self-educated, yet he rose to become a man of great knowledge and a prominent figure in Nigerian journalism.
“The deceased stood as one of the most incisive and brilliant editorialists of his generation who practiced journalism with the most audacious courage in defence of freedom, liberty and equity even in the thick of vicious military dictatorship.
“As an accomplished journalist, Pa Jakande shone even more brightly as a governor and true leader of Lagos State.
“Whatever we have been able to accomplish in Lagos State is because of the groundwork Pa Jakande set out before us.
“He is the inspirational father of modern Lagos State,” he said.
The deceased was a journalist, an administrator and politician who served as the first civilian governor of Lagos State between 1979 and 1983.
According to Mr Tinubu, “Papa Jakande could appropriately be described as the ‘last of the titans’ ranking with the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Pa Abraham Adesanya.”
Others, according to Tinubu, include Bola Ige, Olabiyi Onabanjo, Balarabe Musa and Aminu Kano, among others.
The APC national leader said the late Mr Jakande was also a “mature statesman never given to histrionics or fanning the embers of disunity”.
