Former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr Olu Agunloye, has recounted the last-minute battle for life by the late member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Femi Odekunle.
With an oxygen mask on, the last minutes saw Odekunle make loud heavy rumblings as he struggled to breathe with great difficulties and bear excruciating pains.
Odekunle’s final submission to death on Tuesday, at the Gwagwalada Isolation Centre, Abuja, was the end to a battle against COVID-19 that lasted 12 days.
Agunloye in a statement, on Tuesday, said it was one of Odekunle’s friends, Chief Joju Fadairo who discovered, on Sunday, that Odekunle was in grave danger.
According to Agunloye, this discovery by Fadairo was followed by the most frantic efforts of friends to save Odekunle’s life which turned out futile.
By that Sunday, the damages to Odekunle’s health had gone far beyond remedy.
In the statement titled, “Professor Femi Odekunle: Where is he?”, Agunloye wrote, “Femi passed at about 6.30pm, Tuesday, December 29, 2020, of COVID-19 complications at the Gwagwalada Isolation Centre, FCT after a 12-day battle for life.
“When I spoke with his wife twice between 1 pm and 3 pm on Tuesday, I could hear in the background loud heavy rumblings of the man struggling to breathe with great difficulties and excruciating pains even though he wore oxygen mask.
“As a matter of fact, Femi’s friends rose stoutly to his support over the last 48 hours but it was just too late. Top Government functionaries amongst them led by Hon Minister Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola along with President’s Spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, SGF Boss Mustapha and two sitting Governors tore through bureaucracies and red tapes and pulled stunts but the damages to Femi’s health appeared to have gone too far for remedy.
“Really, we all tried very hard but didn’t make it.
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“I enjoin all of us to exercise great care and caution. God bless.”
In a condolence message, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan expressed shock over the news of the death of Prof Femi Odekunle.
Lawan, in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media, Ola Awoniyi, described the death of Odekunle as a great loss to the academic community and to Nigeria in general.
The senate president said the deceased was a reputable scholar and an academic giant, who imparted knowledge to his numerous students.
He said the late professor served his country with his expertise in a discipline in which he was an authority.
Lawan recalled Odekunle’s immense contributions as member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).
Also, the Nigerian Society of Criminology (NSC) has described the death of Nigeria’s first Professor of Criminology and Member as a major loss to the academic community.
The Secretary, Board of Trustees of NSC, Professor Hauwau Yusuf, in a statement described the foremost criminologist as a fearless, upright and exemplary scholar whose influence in the field traversed various continents of the world.
Also, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Adeyinka Aderinto, described Odekunle’s death as a very sad development for Nigeria, the criminology family and the global intellectual community.
Another foremost Criminologist, Professor Omololu Soyombo, described Odekunle’s death as a colossal loss.
How Femi Odekunle battled for life in his last minutes
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