By Clifford Ndujihe

With his demise, On Wednesday, at 67, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, of Ondo State became the fourth state helmsman to die in office.

Shehu Kangiwa

The first governor to die in office was Shehu Kangiwa of old Sokoto State. The youthful Kangiwa was a sportsman. He died while playing his favourite sport-Polo, in January 1982.

Patrick Yakowa

It took 30 years for Nigeria to witness another death of a serving governor. In 2012, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State, the first and only Christian to rule Kaduna was killed alongside five others in a helicopter crash in Ogbia Creek, Bayelsa State.

Yakowa was deputy to Architect Namadi Sambo. He was sworn-in as governor when Sambo was made vice president to Dr Goodluck Jonathan.

Mamman Ali

Seven years after Yakowa, Governor Mamman Ali of Yobe State died in a Florida hospital, United States in 2019 two weeks after he travelled to the country to treat Leukemia.

Akeredolu’s death came four years after Ali’s death.