Akeredolu: Nigerian Governors who died while in office

A sitting Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, died on Wednesday, 27th of December, 2027.

The State Government revealed that Akeredolu died of protracted prostate cancer while receiving medical care in Germany.

Akeredolu is the third Nigerian governor to die while in office.

He joined a list that includes former Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa and ex-Governor Mamman Ali of Yobe State.

Akeredolu was the Governor of Ondo State from 2017-2023.

He has been out of office since June 2023 when he officially transferred power to Aiyedatiwa and proceeded on a 21-day medical leave in Germany.

The leave, which was supposed to end on July 6, 2023, was later extended indefinitely as the governor continued to receive treatment in Germany.

He later returned to Nigeria on September 6 and resumed at his private residence in Ibadan, Oyo State.

On December 11, Akeredolu wrote to the state Assembly that he was proceeding on another medical leave.

Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa was the Governor of Kaduna State for only two years. He ruled from 2010 to 2012.

He died in a helicopter crash in 2012.

He was sworn in as governor on 20 May 2010, succeeding former Governor Namadi Sambo who had been sworn in as vice president of Nigeria the previous day.

Yakowa, 64, successfully ran for election as Kaduna Governor in the April 2011 poll and won.

On December 15, 2012, Yakowa died in a helicopter crash along with the former National Security Adviser, General Owoye Andrew Azazi (rtd), while flying from Bayelsa State to Port Harcourt.

They were returning from the funeral of Oronto Douglas' father in Bayelsa when the incident occurred.

Others in the ill-fated helicopter crash were Dauda Tsoho and Mohammed Kamal, both aides, as well as the two pilots, Muritala Mohammed Daba and Adeyemi Sowole.

Yakowa's deputy, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, was consequently sworn-in the following day as the state's new governor by the state Chief Judge, Justice Rahila Cudjoe.

Mamman Bello Ali, also managed just two years as Yobe State Governor.

Ali was the Senator representing Yobe South Senatorial District between 1999 and 2007 and became the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts.

In 2007, he ran for and won the gubernatorial poll under the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and was in office until his death in 2009.

While in office, Ali died of leukemia while receiving treatment at a hospital in Florida, United States.