I thought Odumakin’s death was April Fool Day’s prank – Mike Ozekhome

 

A constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Dr Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Sunday described Yinka Odumakin as a “courageous wordsmith whose pen is mightier than the sword.”

 

Yinka, a vocal activist, and columnist, died at LASUTH on Saturday from COVID-19 complications.

 

His wife, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, told The PUNCH that he was recovering and had asked for his phones and gadgets before he relapsed and died.

 

Ozekhome in a statement said, “When I saw a posting concerning Comrade Yinka Odumakin’s death, I thought the poster was still carrying out the pranks of ‘April Fool’s Day’… Out of sheer curiosity, I called one of our soul mates in the human rights and pro-democracy world, Dr Joe Okei Odumakin, who has been a life-long Yinka’s wife.”

 

He added that he was devastated when Joe confirmed Yinka’s death, adding that he had “not found my clarity of thought since then.”

 

Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede, described the death of Odumakin as a monumental loss to the country, the human rights community and the OAU.

 

A statement on Sunday by the Public Relations Officer of OAU, Abiodun Olarewaju, said Odumakin who graduated from the Department of English Language of the institution in 1989, “was a vibrant student activist, a mass mobiliser, a great orator and the Public Relations Officer of the Students Union.”

 

The statement said, “As an Alumnus, he assisted the Faculty of Arts in raising funds for a few projects that were of immense benefits to the staff and students.”