Jakande
I stood rooted to the ground watching the convoy accompanying the hearse conveying the remains of Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, the unmatched reference point in modern governance in Nigeria, and the poster face of fearless journalism, to Vaults and Gardens, Ikoyi. Everywhere, upon learning about the passing of the convoy and identifying it as Jakande’s, people abandoned whatever they were doing and rushed to learn his route to bid him farewell. Waving their hands, they hailed him “Jakande, Baba dada; (Jakande, the good old man); “Irin re o!”(Safe journey).
It was an outpouring of love at every bend, at every corner as the convoy departed from his Ilupeju home. Jakande left in a blaze of glory. But for the restraint, indeed, restriction imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lagos would have been shut down with vehicles and crowds jostling to say good bye to an icon, a byword in governance and in journalism. I did state in July 2019 on the occasion of his 90th birthday,
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By Pat Utomi
It’s easy to celebrate extraordinary personage. But what is more important is to flatter them by imitating them appropriately. I am tempted therefore to ask of the politicians pouring encomiums on the late Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef K. Jaakande, who among them can make the effort to be like him. That is where the rubber meets the road.
I knew Alhaji Jakande. He knew also that I genuinely regarded him highly. When I looked at Nigeria’s broken National Honor system with the many crooks on the Honor roll I thought we should create something young people could model themselves on. The result was the Leader Without Title (LWT) Honor Colloquium Series.
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Senators representing the three senatorial districts in Lagos State have asked the federal government to immortalise former Lagos State governor, Lateef Jakande by naming the Gwarimpa district after the deceased.
The late Jakande was equally former Minister of Works under the late General Sani Abacha regime.
Coming under Order 43, ( Personal Explanation), Senator representing Lagos West, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, who presented the motion on behalf of his two other colleagues, described the former first executive governor of Lagos State as a modest man in every sense, who shunned all kind of ostentatious life in and out of the office and could be accused of any corruption.
Jakande: War hero in peacetime punchng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from punchng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.