Frontline businessman and philanthropist, Chief Bode Akindele, is dead.
Thelagostimes gathered that Akindele, who was chairman, Madandola Groups, died in Lagos on Monday at 87 years.
He was also the Parakoyi of Ibadan, as well as the founder of the Bode Akindele Foundation.
Akindele was renowned for his philanthropy which spanned several decades.
While commiserating with the deceased’s family, the President, Muhammadu Buhari described Akindele’s death as an irreparable loss to the country.
“Chief Akindele was a man of many parts. He was a creator of jobs who demonstrated untiring love for the downtrodden.
“His philanthropic gestures knew no bounds, intervening especially in critical sectors of the economy,” Buhari said in a statement made available to journalists on Monday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
Also, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, said the late Akindele “contributed in no small measure to the growth of the state and his community.”
The statement read in parts, “Baba Akindele was one of the worthy elder statesmen in the state and he lived a life worthy of emulation. As an elder, he was always after the progress and wellbeing of the state and its people.”
The Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, also expressed shock over his passage which came barely four days after the death of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
Oba Adetunji urged spiritual leaders in the city to intercede on behalf of the land.
The Olubadan, who described Akindele as an astute business- man and entrepreneur of note, said, “Even though a man who lives up to 82 can be said to be advanced in age, when people mourn their looses, it is because the vacuum left behind by them is always difficult if not impossible to fill.”