Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has said the state
government will set up a panel to probe the cause of the sudden death of the
former governor of the state, Senator Isiaka Adeleke.
This was contained in a statement made available to our
correspondent in Osogbo on Sunday by the media aide to the governor, Mr. Semiu
Okanlawon.
The governor described Adeleke, a member of the Senate until
his death, as a man of peace, who he said defected from the Peoples Democratic
Party ahead of the August 2014 governorship poll in the state because he could
not stand violence.
The governor said the administration had planned a befitting
state burial for the late politician, lamenting that this was scuttled by some
persons “crying more than the bereaved”, who unleashed terror on dignitaries,
who came to honour the soul of the departed.
The statement added, “Senator Adeleke was a man of peace. He
preached peace and lived it through his life. He left the Peoples Democratic Party
because he could not stand violence. This was after he was beaten up by some
leaders of the PDP during a meeting in a hotel in Osogbo.
“It is a profound irony and most unfortunate therefore that
a few disgruntled elements, purporting to protest his death, desecrated his
funeral with violence and attacks on innocent persons. They dishonoured him and
did his memory a great disservice by keeping his friends, political associates
and well-wishers away from his burial.
“The best we could do in the circumstance was to declare
three days of mourning throughout the state and fly national, state and our
party’s flags at half-mast in his honour.
“The Osun State Government, using the instrumentality of the
law, is setting up an inquest to unravel the circumstances of this unfortunate
and sad incident in order to put the record straight on his death.”
By Femi Makinde, Osogbo
