A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Hon. Dare Aliu, has described the death of the governorship aspirant of the party, Dr Paul Akintelure, as a rude shock, especially to APC loyalists in the state.
Aliu, who is the Director of Diaspora Affairs, of the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers (LACO-FS), in a statement, said the death of the politician has created a big vacuum in the ranks of his loyalists, especially the ordinary man in the street.
He said “We in the APC have lost a political leader of no mean repute, a leader who spent all his life in aspiration of improving on the living standard of the less-privileged.
” I can still recollect his glowing statements when he was governorship running mate to Mr Rotimi Akeredolu of blessed memory, in 2012, how he enunciated the plans of that team to transform lives in Ondo State.
“We in Akure and environs will particularly miss him for his fatherly role in ensuring that through positive interventions and political engagement, more people were encouraged to leave topposition parties and become members of the APC,”
The Akure-born politician also described the late Akintelure as one of the brave political activists who teamed up with now President Bola Tinubu and others, to pressure the military to return Nigeria to democracy, in the pre-1999 era.
“My heart goes out to his family, the people of Igbotako in Okitipupa Local Government area, the entire political class, and the medical profession, on the exit of this great man,” Aliu commiserated.