Odumakin’s words against oppressive forces lacerating ― Imansuagbon

Encomiums continued to pour in on Tuesday, on the late Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, who passed on on Saturday.

Paying a glowing tribute to the late Odumakin, a former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Edo State, Mr Ken Imansuagbon, described the death of the Afenifere publicist as devastating, saying that he lived and died in the struggle for an egalitarian society.

Imansuagbon, in a statement he emailed from the United State of America to journalists in Benin on Tuesday, shared his personal experience with the late Odumakin as school mates, described the death as the “exit of the Trojan.”

“Writing a fitting tribute in the memory of my friend and brother, Yinka Odumakin, is no doubt a very big challenge especially as I have to overcome emotions of the years we spent together in thick and thin. His demise is a personal loss to me. Yinka was my school mate then in Great Ife(University of Ife). Our paths crossed as student unionists. He was the Public Relations Officer(PRO) at some point and I can remember vividly his fearless campaign during the Speech Night at the Sports Complex.

“His speech, and that of one of our other contemporary, Panaf, was electrifying and robust. Even when Yinka’s presentation was calm, his words were deeply lacerating.

“As the PRO of the Student Union Government (SUG), he was tough and rugged. He was generally loved and respected. His ideology about leadership was that of service. At Fajuyi Hall, he was the shining star and a role model for us. Himself, Biodun Owoniko, now SAN, were role models and they excelled academically too,” Imasuagbon recalled.

According to the PDP chieftain, “Yinka believed in the Nigerian nation where there would be equity, fairness and justice. As one who launched his opposition career from that position to challenge unjust status quo, often forming alliances with progressive movements of dissents with common purposes, he was a target of several suppressive regimes.”

He added that the late Odumakin was against the use of overt power for the structured suppression and subjugation of the common Nigerians, and thus “was feared by Jackboot governments because of his liberating manifestoes and seductive ideals”.

“Yinka was a revolutionary leader and a nationalist. He took more than just a passing interest in Nigerian’s fortunes. He never could watch idly while some individuals plunge the country into the social and economic mire with harrowing effect. In fact, he spoke boldly on every national issue that was worth talking about,” Imasuagbon eulogised.

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The 624 new cases reported between March 28 and April 3 is a reduction from the 849 recorded the previous week…Odumakin’s words against oppressive forces lacerating ― Imansuagbon

Odumakin’s words against oppressive forces lacerating ― Imansuagbon