Olusola Saraki is Dead

Former Senate leader Dr. Olusola Saraki is dead. He died Wednesday morning in Lagos. He was aged 79.

Reports say the body of the strongman of Kwara politics will  today be flown to Ilorin for burial, in accordance with Islamic rites.

Dr Saraki was a consummate politician and Senator of the Nigerian Second Republic from 1979-1983. He was also the Waziri of the Ilorin Emirate.

Born 17 May, 1933 in Ilorin, Kwara State, he was educated at Eko Boys High School. He attended the University of London, and St George’s Hospital Medical School, London. He worked as a medical officer at the General Hospital, Lagos and the Creek Hospital, Lagos.

He first entered politics when he ran in the 1964 parliamentary election for Ilorin as an independent, but failed to win. After the election, he returned to his medical practice in Lagos, only returning to party-politics in 1978/79.