A former transportation Minister and pan Yoruba leader, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has described the late Senator Ayo Fasanmi as a great supporter of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, adding that he was one of those who constantly held high the flying banner of Awoism even when Chief Awolowo was alive.
Chief Babatope while reacting to the death of the late Pa Fasanmi on Thursday stated that he had never left the Awolowo circle even when he contested and lost elections.
“He was a member of the Action Group (AG) and also a member of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) during the second republic. He became a senator of the UPN during the second republic and he did excellently well in the Senate. Senator Fasanmi was one of those who constantly held high the flying banner of Awoism.
“I remember very well that he contested election in1978 against Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin, he was defeated but he never left the Awolowo circle because of that, he remained and later became a Senator of the UPN from the then Ekiti Ologo meje district.
“He was a democratic socialist and a believer in socialist principles of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He was a good friend and classmate of late Dr Tunji Otegbeye at the Government College Ibadan, where they both left to become great socialist idealogues of our time,” he said.
Chief Babatope added further that Pa Fasanmi was loved and those who knew him very well remember him for all his innovative developments.
“Those who knew him very well will remember that it was he who started in the early 70s a movement against corruption in Nigeria. That was well known by everybody and it was no surprise that he was at the right side of Baba Awolowo until he died.
“When I heard the news of his death, tears fell from my eyes, not because he was not old enough to due but because he was a decent and nice person that cannot be forgotten in the history of Nigeria. I was with him as the director of an organisation of UPN in the second republic and I know all about him he was a good man, a pharmacist by profession and he ran his pharmaceutical company in Osogbo for many years. He will never be forgotten,” Chief Babatope said.
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