Late Yinka Odumakin
Remember the June 12 Pro-Democracy Movement of Nigeria? Well, the were the group that remained in the trenches when the election of Chief MKO Abiola was annulled. The fought to ensure that MKO reclaimed his mandate. It was never to be.
However, they have remained vocal in the political affairs of the nation. But following the death of one of their own, Mr Yinka Odumakin, the group has announced a seven-day mourning of Comrade Yinka Odumakin, who passed to the great beyond after a brief illness in Lagos on Saturday.
The convener of the group, Veteran Olawale Okunniyi, in a statement issued by his media assistant, Mr Obafemi Olubori, on Saturday in Abuja, said: “Odumakin and others in the National Conscience Party (NCP) led by Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory teamed up with the Campaign for Democracy (CD) led by Dr Beko Ransome Kuti in the 90s to flush military rule out of power.
“As fate would have it, he met his heartrob and greatest supporter, Joe Okei in the cause of that struggle, which led to the restoration of the present Democratic rule in Nigeria.
“Yinka and his wife, Joe Okei Odumakin, were also pioneer founders of the June 12 Stakeholders Group, which later metamorphosed into the June 12 Coalition and later June 12 Pro-Democracy Movement of Nigeria. So, he has paid his dues for Nigeria and deserves to be mourned and immortalized by the Pro-Democracy Movement of Nigeria,” he said.
He noted that Odumakin was one of the fiercest and most prolific Comrades of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Nigeria, who spent most of his adult life fighting the cause of a just and equitable Nigeria and therefore deserved to be immortalised by the Movement.
Okunniyi said the Movement, in the course of the seven-day national mourning shall open condolence registers in its offices in Abuja and Lagos and shall expect Nigerian Pro-Democracy Activists to adorn a spot of black in their outfit during the mourning period, which will commence on Tuesday, April 6 to Monday, April 12, 2021.
The Movement, therefore, commiserated with the Odumakin family, especially his wife, Joe Okei-Odumakin, whom he called the pride of the civil society struggle and Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba Organisation, which Odumakin served till he passed on even as it prayed that God grant them the grace to bear the huge irreparable loss of Yinka Odumakin.
