By SIMON EBEGBULEM

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has described the late human rights lawyer, Mr Bamidele Aturu, as one of the most dependable allies of the masses.

In a condolence message, the Governor said “I received with shock the sudden death of Mr. Bamidele Aturu at his prime. Mr. Aturu was undoubtedly a consummate barrister-at-law, and without question one of the most dependable social activists of his generation.

“I had a close relationship with Mr. Aturu right from my days in the labour movement and later when he served as a key member of my legal team during my struggle to reclaim my mandate as Governor of Edo State in 2007.

“A man with a good heart, always impatient with the dehumanizing status quo, his was a constant striving for the attainment of a just and humane social order for Nigeria.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has described the late Bamidele Francis Aturu as a patriot per excellence, a lodestar and a hero of the Nigerian masses.

Mimiko in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Eni Akinsola, said the late human rights lawyer showed, from his student days in Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo and all through his short but meaningful carrier in law that he looked beyond the ordinary in all things, strove harder and thought better about Nigeria and her citizens.

He was equally a dogged and selfless defender of the oppressed, in the true tradition of the late Alao Aka-Bashorun and Chief Gani Fawehinmi and other freedom fighters. He deployed his legal training not for selfish enrichment, but for curtailing the excesses of power, fighting injustice, and expanding the democratic space.

He will surely be missed not only by the Nigerian legal community to whom he contributed immensely, notably by his jurisprudential interventions, but by all those committed to social justice and the liberation of our great country from political oppression, economic underdevelopment and cultural degradation.

“Mr. Aturu paid his dues, fought the good fight, and left an indelible legacy that will stand the test of time.”