Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Reverend Tola Oyediran, the eldest daughter of the late Premier of the Western Region of Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who would have turned 80 years on December 1, 2020, is dead.
She was the wife of Prof Kayode Oyediran, a former vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan, and until her death on Friday October 16, 2020, she was the Chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc (ANN), the publishers of Tribune titles, founded by Awolowo in 1949.
Her death came 33 years after her father’s death and barely five years after the demise of her mother Chief (Mrs.) H.I.D. Awolowo, also passed on in 2015. She was fondly called ‘Mama Ibadan.’
A visit to the residence of the Oyedirans at Mobil, Oluyole Estate, Off Moshood Abiola Way (Ring Road), Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Friday evening confirmed that she breathed her last on Thursday, though the family had not issued any official statement on the death at the time of filing this report.
The Managing Director of Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Edward Dickson, on Friday led the management team of the newspaper company to her residence and a condolence register has been opened in the house.
First daughter of a former Minister of Justice, the late Chief Bola Ige, Mrs. Funsho Adegbola, was also at the residence of the Oyedirans on Friday evening and she had signed the condolence register.
The younger sister of the deceased, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, former Nigerian Ambassador to the Netherlands to also came to the residence of the Oyedirans on Friday evening.