Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Former Majority Leader of the Ogun State House of Assembly Yinka Mafe is reported to have slumped and died on Tuesday night.
Mafe, who was the House of Representatives candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) for Remo Federal Constituency in the 2019 general elections, reportedly celebrated his 46th birthday on Tuesday.
According to a close source to the family of the late lawmaker, he was hale and hearty throughout Tuesday afternoon, but later complained of acute chest pain around 10 pm and consequently slumped.
He was said to have died one hour later at the hospital to which he was admitted.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State has described Mafe’s death as shocking.
The party, in a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Tunde Oladunjoye, on Wednesday, said Ogun APC had lost a vibrant lawmaker, legal practitioner and consummate entrepreneur, known for his outspokenness no matter where he found himself.
The statement recalled how the late lawmaker took a very bold and courageous step to return to the APC shortly after his sojourn in the APM.
“While commiserating with the wife, children and the entire members of the family of the deceased, and indeed the people of Sagamu 1 State Constituency, the APC prays that God will give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss,” the statement stated.
Also, the Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Taiwo Oluomo, described the death of former Majority Leader as “shocking and painful”.
Oluomo, in a statement issued in Abeokuta on Wednesday by his media aide, Bukola Adeyinka, described Mafe, who served in the 7th and 8th legislature, as a vibrant and courageous lawmaker.
The Speaker, who commiserated with the families he left behind and prayed God to grant him eternal rest, declared that “the state has lost a rare gem and a politician par excellence”, adding that “he would forever be remembered for his service to his people and humanity.”