Neighbours and residents of the Jericho area of Ibadan, where the house of Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu is situated, are still in doubt about the news of the passing away of the Ondo State helmsman.
Akeredolu died in the early hours of Wednesday in Germany after a prolonged battle with Leukemia at the age of 67.
Reporters who visited the governor’s house at exactly 10:15 a.m. reported that only security personnel manning the house were sighted.
An aged petty trader in front of the governor’s house said she wasn’t aware of his demise. However, she later expressed the possibility of the news after receiving a phone call from a member of Akeredolu’s family.
The woman, who, upon hearing the news, broke down in tears, described Akeredolu as a generous and kind-hearted person.
Speaking glowingly about the late governor, the woman said it was Akeredolu who encouraged her to manage the kiosk she was operating, adding that he recently gave her N50,000 as a Christmas gift.
Some of Akeredolu’s neighbours, who spoke with NAN, also expressed utter disbelief that Akeredolu had passed away.
One of them pleaded anonymity and said “Aketi is alive; you journalists should stop spreading bad news.
“You can see that nobody is in the house except security men and there is no sign to show that Baba is dead,” he said.
Another neighbour, a female, said that she just heard it as a rumour, adding, however, that she prayed it was not true.
She described the late governor as a kind-hearted and generous man, adding that he took life so simple, notwithstanding the fact that he was a governor.
(NAN)
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