Emotion ran high on Thursday during the commendation/funeral service for three more medical doctors from Ekiti State and their driver at the Nigerian Medical Association’s secretariat on Ado-Iyin road.
The four were among six doctors and a driver that died on Sunday along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway on their way to the Annual Delegates Meeting of the NMA in Sokoto.
Those given the last honour were the late Dr. Atolani Adeniyi, Senior Health Officer with the Ekiti Hospitals Management Board; the late Dr. J.B. Ogunseye, who served as Senior Dental Officer at the General Hospital, Ifaki; the late Dr. Olayiwola Olajide who until his death was the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, and a driver of the NMA, Mr. Olowookere Ajibola.
Ogunseye and Olajide were buried at the premises of the NMA secretariat while the remains of Adeniyi and Olowookere were conveyed to their communities for interment.
The remains of two other victims, the late Dr. Alexander Akinyele, who was a Resident Doctor, Community Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, and the late Dr. O.J. Taiwo, a consultant, Anatomic Pathologist at EKSUTH, will be buried at a later date.
A consultant General Surgeon at FETHI, the late Dr. Tunde Aladesanmi, had been buried on Wednesday after a funeral service held in his honour at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Life Fountain Cathedral, Ado Ekiti.
It was learnt that Taiwo’s burial was delayed because he died barely 24hrs after the death of his mother.
The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Kolapo Olusola, represented Governor Ayodele Fayose at the event which was also attended by the House of Assembly Speaker, Kola Oluwawole; the Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka; Chief of Staff, Dipo Anisulowo, and other top government officials.
The House Committee Chairman, Dr. Samuel Omotosho, said the governor had given approval for automatic employment of the wives of Akinyele and Olajide.
Emotion heightened during the dust to dust rite when Ogunseye’s wife, Omolara, who had been crying all day started shouting “don’t go, don’t go.”
Olajide’s wife also insisted that the casket be opened for him to see the face of her late husband. “That’s him, that’s him,” she shouted breaking down in tears again.
Pastor Olurotimi Sanya, in a sermon entitled, “Teach us to number our days,” described human life as very short and ephemeral.
Urging the audience to always prepare for the day of death, he added that everything had its time.
The Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, the Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye, offered prayers for the families of the deceased and also urged the people to fulfil all the promises made to them.
“To lose one’s husband, brother, friend and confidant is enough trauma. Please, don’t let the widows suffer. The properties left behind, they worked together as husband and wife. I will appeal to you, don’t let them suffer.”
Olusola urged the families of the deceased to take heart during the period of grief, pledging the support of the state government to them.
He said, “When God says it is time, it is time. When your own day comes, what will people say about you. And when my own time comes what will the people say about me?
“We all have our own today and tomorrow but the greatest tomorrow is the one that will meet us at the feet of Christ. Let us learn from our departed brothers. They died in active service, they were hardworking and diligent.”