The family of the late former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, has announced the death of his wife and former First Lady of the state, Chief (Mrs) Lucia Onabowale Onabanjo. She died at the age of 100.
In a brief statement released on Tuesday and made available to journalists, the family said it announced, “with deep regret but with gratitude to Almighty God, the passing of our beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Chief (Mrs) Lucia Onabowale Onabanjo (1925–2026), who was called to glory on Monday, 11 January.”
The family thanked God for what it described as her “fulfilled life and legacy of love, strength and faith,” while praying for the repose of her soul.
Mrs Onabanjo was the wife of the late Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, the first civilian governor of Ogun State, who served during Nigeria’s Second Republic between October 1979 and December 1983.
Details of her funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.
Her late husband, Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo (12 February 1927 – 14 April 1990), was a renowned Nigerian journalist and politician of Ijebu extraction.
Before venturing into politics, he built a notable career in journalism and was widely known for his forthright newspaper column, Aiyekooto, a Yoruba word meaning “parrot,” symbolising blunt truth-telling.
Born in Lagos in 1927, Onabanjo was educated at the Baptist Academy, Lagos, and later at Regent Street Polytechnic in the United Kingdom, where he studied journalism between 1950 and 1951.
He worked with several newspapers, including the Daily Service and Daily Express, where his Aiyekooto column ran between 1954 and 1962.
He entered politics under the influence of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and was elected chairman of the Ijebu Ode Local Government Area in 1977. In October 1979, he emerged as Ogun State governor on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
Widely regarded as unpretentious and plain-speaking, Onabanjo’s administration was considered a model of governance at the time.
His government established key institutions, including Ogun Television, which was commissioned on 13 May 1982, and Ogun State University, founded on 7 July 1982 and later renamed Olabisi Onabanjo University in his honour in 2001.
He also established the Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, which was shut down following the 1983 military takeover but later reopened after the return to democratic rule in 1999.
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