Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara and his Bauchi and Osun State counterparts, Bala Mohammed and Mr. Adeleke, have paid a condolence visit to their Oyo State colleague, Seyi Makinde, over the death of his elder brother, Engr. Kehinde Makinde.
The Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Gov. Bala Mohammed who led Govs. Fubara, Adeleke and other PDP stalwarts to condole with their Oyo colleague in Ibadan, on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, described the loss as devastating and huge especially considering the closeness of the governor to his late elder brother.
But to Makinde he said: “We know you to be a strong character, strong person. You bear all these losses and as a man of God you know we are all here temporarily, we will all go back to our Creator and that is why we are consoled because we heard his trajectory and pedigree of a good name and retired meritoriously.
He asked Gov. Makinde to be consoled that his brother came and conquered and contributed positively to the cause and development of Nigeria, which he added, has “been testified by your emergence as a governor, that personally worked hard without going through the problem of godfatherism to emerge as the indefatigable governor of Oyo under the PDP and you are doing very well”.
He commended Governor Fubara for prioritising the visit saying he came all the way from Rivers to Bauchi to accompany him for the condolence visit.
Joined later by Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Mohammed urged Makinde to view the event as one of those irreparable losses and to exercise patience and courage to bear it.
In his response, the Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde thanked his colleagues for identifying with him and the entire Makinde’s family in their moment of grief.
He said: “We thought our eldest brother is just about to start life because he is just 65. So after going all over the world settling down , but we cannot question God.
According to him, “It is also painful for us because it was quite sudden. But this visit means a lot to us especially my brother Sir Sim because he has been on different spectrum of politicking.
“Politics taken aside I want to also on behalf of the government and people of Oyo State to say thank you for the visit. Our prayer is that we will not do this kind of visit as a payback in our various families”.
