Prof. Femi Odekunle dies of COVID-19

Professor Femi Odekunle, a member of
of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), is dead.

He died of COVID-19 at the COVID-19 isolation center in Gwagalada, Abuja, on Tuesday night.

Earlier, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGG), Mr. Boss Mustapha at the daily press briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19, had earlier remarked that “A good friend of this government just passed on at 6:30 pm”, without disclosing the details.

Mustapha had earlier raised the alarm on the rising cases of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that, “within one week since Nigeria entered the second wave of infections, 16 out of every 100 tests returned positive.”

“Within the past two weeks, the daily count of COVID-19 cases recorded a significant rise — increasing to more than 1,000 cases within a 24-hour period.

Prof. Odekunle in July courageously kicked against the arrest of the suspended EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu.

Prof. Odekunle had alleged that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is the architect behind the travails of Ibrahim Magu and had alleged that Malami is not really interested in Buhari’s anti-corruption fight.

Prof. Odekunle graduated from University of Ibadan in 1968, and got his PhD in Sociology and Social Psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in the United States, in 1974.

He has been acknowledged as the first professor of criminology in Nigeria and who had lectured in several universities.

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed shock at the news of the demise of Professor Femi Odekunle, a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).

President Buhari’s condolence message was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday night by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.

The President described Professor Odekunle as valued friend and a towering intellectual giant with an impeccable knowledge of his chosen academic field, criminology and in such others as governance and administration.

“His death is very saddening,” said the President. “His lasting contributions as well as his charisma, wit and sense of humor will be sorely missed by all us, his friends and associates. May the Almighty repose his soul.”