A sad news reaching Freelanews has it that Comrade Yinka Odumakin is dead.
According to a source close to the family, the former National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, who has been on The Ventilator for about 2 weeks, died after a brief illness.
Odumakin, who was also notable for his activism during the repressive government of the late General Sani Abacha, was married to Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, a women’s rights activist.
He died at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital isolation centre.
“A part of me is gone. A part of me is gone. He fought hard at the intensive care unit. Pray for me to survive this. My love is gone.
“He was okay before. Even on March 10, he was still attending meetings. He was recovering yesterday but died this morning. I am at the intensive care unit. A part of me is gone,” the wife wailed.
She also wrote:
With gratitude to the Supreme Being for a life well spent, Iannounce the passing on of my beloved husband, Comrade Yinka Odumakin to the great beyond after a brief illness.
The sad event happened this morning (Saturday, 3/4/2021) at the intensive care unit of LASUTH where he was being managed for respiratory issues due to complications from COVID-19 which he had recovered from about a week ago.
I appreciate the outpouring of grief and sympathy from home and abroad as I mourn my irreplaceable soulmate. I urge us all to remain steadfast in the cause of the masses to which he dedicated his life.
Yinka Odumakin was appointed as the spokesman for the then presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) back in 2011.
Odumakin, a 1989 graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where he served as the public relations officer of the university’s students union, started his journalism career at The Punch newspapers before he moved to The Guardian newspapers.
He had for years been a critical voice in the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria and, a well-known defender of justice, fairness and equity in the polity. His critical interventions have been brought to bear on national discourse through his roles as the National Publicity Secretary of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, and later the Save Nigeria Group (SNG).
His passion for a new Nigeria built on the foundation of justice, equity and good governance was expected to find expression in the campaign of General Buhari who was at the head of the movement for change in Nigeria in 2011 through the ballot box.
Freelanews was reliably informed that a delegation of Yoruba leaders were on their way to the residence of Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, to break the news to him.
Odunmakin is survived by his wife and lovely kids.
May his soul rest in peace.
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