Adebayo Alao-Akala – ex-police officer and former Oyo governor, dies a month after Soun of Ogbomoso
Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, the former police chief who governed Oyo State in Southwest Nigeria between 2007 and 2011, is dead. He died at 71 in his home in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
Alao-Akala’s death is coming exactly a month after the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Oladunni Oyewumi, died at 95 on December 12, 2021.
Ogbomoso has lost three prominent natives in the last 30 days – the Soun, his eldest daughter, Prof Taibat Tanmole and Alao-Akala.
Alao-Akala retired from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in 1995 as an Assistant Commissioner of Police, and three years later, he was elected Chairman of Ogbomoso North LGA.
In 2003, he was tapped as the running mate of Senator Rasheed Ladoja, who was running for Oyo governor as PDP’s candidate. Their relationship turned sour shortly after they were sworn in in 2003.
Alao-Akala became a willing tool in the hands of late Lamidi Adedibu, the godfather of Oyo politics, to scuttle Ladoja’s administration over allegations that the governor was not giving him his dues as godfather.
The disagreement turned into fierce political violence in Oyo State between 2005 and 2006, leading to Ladoja’s impeachment by 18 rather than 22 legislators stipulated by the constitution. The Supreme Court declared the impeachment null and void in December 2006, but Alao-Akala insisted he would not vacate the office.
When the Supreme Court ruled over the case, Alao-Akala had won the PDP governorship ticket to contest in 2007. He was elected in 2007 and spent four years in office, losing his re-election bid to Abiola Ajimobi in 2011. He made another attempt in 2015 under Labour Party but lost to Ajimobi again. In 2019, he was ADP’s governorship candidate but stepped down for the APC’s candidate a few weeks to the election.
Alao-Akala is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.
