Confab: PRONACO boss slumps, dies

•Tinubu, Oodua groups mourn

CO-FOUNDER of the Pro National Conference
Organisation (PRONACO), Baba Oluwide
Omojola, yesterday slumped and died in his
hotel room in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
It was learnt that Omojola slumped while
preparing to leave for his base in Lagos after
making a presentation on behalf of PRONACO
in Akure before the Presidential Advisory
Committee on National Conference.
According to PRONACO, Baba Omojola, who
lodged at De Johson Hotel, Akure where he
suddenly collapsed, was immediately rushed to
First Mercy Specialist Hospital, Gbogi Road in
the town where he was later certified dead by
one Dr. Akinluwa.
Baba Omojola was at the forefront of the
advocacy for the convocation of SNC and was
one of the signatories to the communiqué of
the National Political Summit held in Uyo
between 2nd and 5th September 2013.
The resolution of the summit specifically
demanded for a Peoples National Conference
for the country, among others.
In his presentation before the Presidential
Committee, Baba Omojola had insisted that the
PRONACO's draft Peoples Constitution adopted
in 2007 under the leadership of the late Chief
Anthony Enahoro should be the working
document of the proposed National
Conference.
The National Leader of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, described
the death of Baba Omojola as sad and a
depletion of the ranks of the relentless fighters
for a just and free society.
In a statement by his media team, he said:
"Baba Omojola offered selfless service to our
country. For nearly 50 years, he put in his best
in the struggle to make Nigeria a better
country that is well governed and one that
meets the aspirations of all."
Tinubu recalled that he had during Baba
Omojola's 75th birthday called for the
establishment of a foundation that would
inculcate in youths the retention of good
values and selfless service to the country and
humanity.
"We must celebrate him and hold him up as a
model of selfless service and commitment. We
must collectively rise up to immortalise this
great and cerebral man, who invested his life
in the service of humanity.
"Nothing better illustrates his selflessness and
patriotic spirit that the fact that he died while
on the assignment of making a presentation to
the National Dialogue Advisory Panel in Akure.
He died at his duty post a faithful servant."
The O'odua Liberation Movement (OLM) and
the O'odua Nationalist Congress (ONAC)
bemoaned the sudden death of Baba Omojola
fondly referred to as the father of Yoruba self
determination struggle.
The groups, in a statement, said Omojola's last
assignment was in Akure where he took part in
the Yoruba self determination groups' demand
for autonomy and the right of secession to be
included in the Nigerian constitution.
The groups said Omojola gave all he had to
Yorubaland without asking for anything in
return and died right on the field of his
struggle for his own nationality.