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Chief James Onanefe Ibori has condoled Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the loss of his first son, Babajide, on Wednesday, November 1, 2017.

In a statement signed by Ibori’s Media Assistant, Tony Eluemunor, the former Governor of Delta State from 1999 t0 2007 described the late Babjide as “truly remarkable”, pointing out that Babajide embodied the hopes of a future Nigeria as he grew up in the true spirit and blood of the Tinubus: “hard working, energetic, well-educated and had in his short life excelled in the high-flying positions he occupied in rather outstanding blue-chip companies within and outside Nigeria”.

He said Babajide was full of promise; a promise of a life’s journey that was bound to see him rise to the very top, not because of his family name or rich connections but by dint of his personal hard work and success.

Ibori has advised Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to please take heart, because this great blow is not his alone, but a national tragedy as his friends and colleagues all across Nigeria are united with him at this moment of grief. He reminded Tinubu of a passage from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster /and treat those two impostors just the same”…”Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it / And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!”

Ibori said that he remained confident that “Tinubu’s heart would heal and he would continue to render his invaluable service to Nigeria and Africa, because Tinubu is not only a remarkable specimen of a man, he is called by friends and foes alike, a veritable lion”. He prayed God to grant Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, his wife Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Babajide’s siblings the grace to bear this great loss.