Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo, a former senator and ex-governor of Kwara State, has passed away at age 84.
TheNewsGuru learnt that family sources disclosed that the late senator and ex governor died early on Wednesday morning in Abuja.
The deceased was born on February 24, 1941, in Igbaja community of Kwara and became the governor of the state in 1983. He served as Minister of Communications from 2003 to 2006 and was elected a senator on the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) platform in 1979.
Adebayo was a member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a group of pro-democracy activists who sought to reclaim the mandate given to MKO Abiola in the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
In 1993, Adebayo was offered a ministerial position in the junta led by Sani Abacha, but he declined the offer. On May 31, 1995, the police arrested Adebayo and other NADECO members for questioning regarding a bomb explosion in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State.
In 1996, he fled the country for a brief exile in Canada as the junta reportedly intensified its pursuit of him. Adebayo is recognized for implementing numerous education reforms in Kwara State during his tenure as the education commissioner from 1975 to 1978.