15 things to know about late ex-Oyo governor, Omololu Olunloyo

Chief Omololu Olunloyo, a former governor of Oyo State, is dead.

Olunloyo passed away just days before his 90th birthday.

The news of his death was confirmed in the early hours of Sunday through a statement signed by Barrister Oladapo Ogunwusi, a former Editor of the Nigerian Tribune.

Here are 15 things to know about the late former governor of Oyo state.

Chief Omololu Olunloyo was born on April 14, 1935, in Nigeria.

He was a Nigerian mathematician, engineer, and politician.

Olunloyo served as the Governor of Oyo State from October 1, 1983, to December 31, 1983.

His term as governor ended when General Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime took power and dismissed the elected government in December 1983.

His father passed away in December 1948, when he was just 13 years old.

The former Oyo governor earned a Ph.D. in 1961 from St. Andrews University, Scotland. His thesis focused on “The Numerical Determination of the Solutions of Eigenvalue Problems of the Sturm–Liouville Type.” He published several significant papers in the fields of number theory and applied mathematics.

In 1962, at the age of 27, he was appointed Commissioner for Economic Development for the Western Region, under the leadership of Dr. Moses Majekodunmi. When Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo became the military governor of Western State, Olunloyo was re-appointed as Commissioner.

He was appointed chairman of the Western Nigerian Development Corporation, further contributing to the region’s development.

Olunloyo ran for governor of the old Oyo State in 1983 on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform and defeated the incumbent, Bola Ige of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). His term as governor was cut short by the military coup of December 31, 1983, led by General Muhammadu Buhari.

In November 2002, Olunloyo expressed interest in running for Oyo State governor again in the April 2003 elections, but he was not selected by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

In 2009, Olunloyo chaired a panel investigating the collapse of part of the Pharmacy section at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. The panel blamed the contractor and the state government, drawing criticism from the Oyo State Governor at the time, Adebayo Alao-Akala.

In the 2011 elections, Olunloyo was elected chairman of the PDP Planning and Strategy Committee for Ibadanland and also served as chairman of the PDP Media and Publicity Committee for Oyo State.

In 2012, Olunloyo left the PDP and joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), marking a shift in his political allegiance.

He was the first Rector of Ibadan Polytechnic and Kwara State Polytechnic, among many other distinguished appointments.

Olunloyo was also the Balogun of Oyo and the Otun Bobasewa of Ife.