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Senator Isiaka Adeleke

By Ifeanyi Nwoko

A senator in the current 8th Assembly, and a three term senator representing Osun West senatorial district, Isiaka Adeleke has been confirmed dead.

Sen. Adeleke died at the age of 62 at Bikets Hospital in Osogbo, the Osun state capital after suffering a heart attack according to family sources.

His death has been confirmed by the All Progressives Congress (APC through its twitter handle: @APCNigeria

The three-term Senator, was a former governor of the state under the short-lived democratic dispensation under the Babangida administration.

His emergence as the governor then, fresh from the United States, was still the stuff of  political thrillers as he earned the nickname, SERUBAWON, after he beat  older political gladiators in the primaries of the Social Democratic Party to clinch the ticket.

He was then just 37 years old.

Until his death, he was planning to run for the governorship election in the state in 2018.

He was born as Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke  in Enugu on 15 January 1955 to the family of Senator Ayoola Adeleke and Esther Adeleke.

He started his primary education at Christ Church School, Enugu before moving to Ibadan. He had his secondary  education at Ogbomoso Grammar School and later went to the United States for his university education.

He was Chairman, Governing Council, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Pro-Chancellor And Chairman, Governing Council, University of Calabar, Nigeria.

Meanwhile, there are indications that the late Senator  will be buried today at about 4pm in Ede, his hometown.

The 62 year-old three time Senator  died  at a private hospital in Osogbo after succumbing to a protracted ailment.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the residence of the former governor in Ede reports that the atmosphere was emotional as his corpse was brought in at about  1:10 p.m, preparatory to the Islamic burial rites at 4:p.m.

A huge crowd of sympathisers and family members were seen weeping uncontrollably on sighting the corpse of the flamboyant politician and socialite.

Adeleke had won  the Osun West senatorial seat  on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)   in  2003 and  2007. He lost in 2011.

He, however, defected from the PDP  in the build up to the 2015 general elections  and won again on the platform of the All Progressives Congress(APC).