Arisekola Alao Dies In London

Alhaji Arisekola Alao, Aare Musulumi of Yoruba land is dead.

The Oyo State business man, who was also the Deputy President-General of the NSCIA passed on today in London.

His eldest daughter, Khadija, disclosed that Arisekola Alao, died on Wednesday at the age of 69.

While commiserating with the deceased’s family and the people of Oyo State and Nigeria in general, Governor Abiola Ajimobi described the death of the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland as tragic, disheartening and a big blow, not only to Oyo State but also to the entire country.

Ajimobi said this in a statement issued in Ibadan on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo.

According to him, he received the news of the death of the business mogul and religious leader with shock and disbelief, saying that the passage of Alhaji Arisekola-Alao marked the end of an era in the history of the state.

“Aare cannot die as those who lived the kind of life he lived, with imprints in the lives of millions of people, never die. He lived a life that was devoted to the lives of others. It is indeed the end of an era for us in Ibadan and Nigeria in general,” the governor said.

Ajimobi described the late Alhaji Arisekola-Alao as a devout Muslim, shrewd businessman and a philanthropist whose commitment to the cause of the downtrodden in the society was unequalled.

“Uncle Arisekola-Alao was an upright, consistent and principled man. He called a spade by its name without minding whose ox was gored.

“Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland was also a pillar of support to our administration whose wise counsel had helped tremendously in the success story so far recorded by our government,’’ he remarked.

Although he said that the death of the late religious leader was painful and that the vacuum that would be created by his passage would be hard to fill, the governor, however, said everyone could take solace in the fact that Alhaji Arisekola-Alao lived a fulfilled life.