Sunday Abiodun Olukoya, retired Rear Admiral and former Military Governor of Ondo State is dead.
Olukoya gave up the ghost on Tuesday after battling with an illness.
Before Ondo and Ekiti were split, Olukoya was the Governor of the combined States between 1989 and 1992.
He was Ondo helmsman from September 1990 to January 1992 during the General Ibrahim Babangida regime.
Olukoya succeeded Retired Commodore Olabode George and handed over to Chief Bamidele Olomilua.
The family will announce funeral arrangements.
Olukoya died hours after Olabiyi Durojaiye, former Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) died.
Durojaiye was the Senator for Ogun East from 1999 to 2003 on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) platform.
Olukoya Marked A Phenomenal Moment In Old Ondo- Akeredolu
The Ondo State Government has described the late former military governor of the Old Ondo State, Rear Admiral Sunday Abiodun Olukoya (rtd) as a man who marked a phenomenal moment in many ways.
This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, shortly after the news of the retired Naval officer’s demise was broken.
The statement reads in part:”The Ondo State Government this evening, received with grief, the passage of Rear Admiral Sunday Abiodun Olukoya (rtd).
“Olukoya, as a Navy Captain, served as Military Governor of the old Ondo State from September 1990 to January 1992 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida(rtd).
“Born in 1949, Admiral Olukoya in 1992, handed over the reins of governance to Chief Bamidele Ishola Olumilua, also of blessed memory, as Governor of old Ondo State during the botched Third Republic.
“As the State Government awaits further briefings from the family of the departed Elder Statesman as regards burial arrangements, Governor Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, has expressed condolences to the family of the deceased on behalf of the Government and good people of Ondo State.
“No doubt, the period of our departed former governor of the Old Ondo State, now Ondo and Ekiti states, was a remarkably phenomenal moment in many ways.
“His untainted humility, self discipline, candour and incurable desire for a better society stood him out as a dependable ally in the journey towards Nigeria’s quest for an egalitarian society.
“If at all, his displayed patriotism, altruistic disposition as well as personal commitment to the democratic process of his era were very alluring. He gave his all, unarguably, for the benefit of the our people.
“Our consolation as Admiral Olukoya departs, remains his footprints on the democratic path where he served as a veritable and supportive pillar.”
