Ondo State Governor, South West Nigeria, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said that his late mother, Evangelist Bosede Akeredolu chose the right time to die.
Gatekeepers News reports that Akeredolu said this while receiving members of the Ondo State Executive Council, led by the deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa; the Director-General of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Mr Seye Oyeleye and the Onijuodo of Iju-Odo, Oba Festus Olumoyegun.
Sympathisers have continued to throng the Orogun, Ibadan residence of the deceased to condole the children.
Akeredolu said his late mother chose to transit to internal life at a good time, because she just celebrated her 90th birthday.
Extolling the virtues of his mother, Akeredolu said: “Mama died well at the age of 90 years. We just celebrated her 90th birthday. We thank God for the kind of life she lived. We are seven children, and all of us survived her. Among us are a judges, professors and people doing well in other careers. We thank God for that.
”As of that time I was the only graduate in the family. Others were about to climb the ladder of education but today we have a judge and professors among us. So we thank God.
“She was always praying for us whenever we came here. God has answered her prayers. We thank God. We are going to celebrate her as God spares our lives.
Recalling the death of his father at exactly forty years ago, Akeredolu stressed that his mother had to labour hard to continue from where her husband stopped to see all her children succeed.
“She was most supportive of our achievements. I can’t have it better as a mother. We had a wonderful mother. And she never had any problem with my wife when we lived together in this same compound early in our marriage. My wife treated her like her own mother.
“She was most understanding. She was a prayerful woman. And she has taken a good time to go, when people can come around and celebrate her,” Akeredolu said.
In his remark, the deputy governor, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who spoke on behalf of the cabinet members, said Madam Akeredolu’s prayers were also extended to those working with the governor, describing her as a good, kind and praying mother.
He said, “We celebrate the fact that our governor survived his mother. Mama was a great mother to all of us.
“We are here, first of all, to commiserate with you on the loss of Mama, Lady Evangelist Grace Bosede Akeredolu at 90. The second is to also thank God for you, members of your family, your siblings, and the entire Akeredolu family, for surviving your aged mother. We therefore commiserate with you on the loss of Mama, a nonagenarian.
“The death of an aged mother comes with a mixed feeling; the feeling of loss, grief, pain, that one would not have the opportunity of daily interaction anymore. It can be so painful. And we identify with you. We pray that the vacuum that she has left can only be filled by God himself, who has taken her home himself because the death of a saint is precious in the sight of God. As human, we would be grieved, but God has taken her home. We pray that God will console you and your siblings and your entire family, and grant you the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
“The other feeling is some levels of thanksgiving and joy that you and your siblings were able to survive your aged mother; not too many people have that opportunity; a nonagenarian that was able to live a fulfilled life, seeing all her children doing very well when she was alive, enjoyed what parents should enjoy from the children. It is a thing of joy and it is a fulfilled life, not only that the children are alive, and doing very well, not too many mothers can rival what Mama had achieved in her lifetime, to have produced seven wonderful children, who are doing so very well in their areas of core competence, and to even have produced a two-term governor of a state; not to many mothers have achieved that alive, not after their deaths.
“Mama produced a two-term governor of Ondo State, Chairman of South West Governors’ Forum, Chairman of Southern Nigeria Governors’ Forum and one time President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and not just a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), also a senior advocate of the masses. It is a rare feat that any mother can rival. So, Mama has lived a fulfilled life, and that is that aspect of the joy. It is a mixed feeling. So, we commiserate with you, all of us from the cabinet members, the permanent secretaries and the entire people of Ondo State that we are representing here. We also thank God for your life…”
Also speaking, the Onijuodo of Iju-Odo, Oba Festus Olumoyegun, expressed satisfaction with the kind of life the deceased lived, pointing out that she has a great son in the governor, who he said has done a lot for his community.
Madam Grace Akeredolu died on Thursday at the age of 90 years.
