Lagos Assembly Eulogises Benjamin Adekunle, Adadevoh, Igwe

Eromosele Ebhomele

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday resumed from a six-week recess to honour three late Nigerians while calling for the immortalisation of two of them.

The House said it would be in order to call on the state governor, Babatunde Fashola, to honour the late Dr. Adadevoh while it further said it would not be out of place to give a national honour to the late civil war hero, Benjamin Adekunle.

Adadevoh was the medical consultant, who headed the team that handled index case of the Liberian-American importer of the Ebola Virus Disease, Patrick Sawyer.

Civil war hero, Benjamin Adekunle who died aged 78 was living in a three-bedroom apartment in the Surulere area of Lagos, western part of Nigeria.

The third to be honoured by the House is the late Vice Chairman of The Sun Newspapers, Dimgba Igwe, who was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver weeks ago.

Raising the death of Adekunle as a Matter of Urgent Public Importance on the floor of the House, Muyiwa Jimoh, said he not only led Nigeria to a major victory during the civil war, he was also a major force in the Congo crisis many years ago.

Jimoh recalled that at the end of the war, late Adekunle handed over to his junior, Olusegun Obasanjo, who people later thought was the one that brought the war to an end.

He also told his colleagues that the nickname, Black Scorpion, was actually given to Adekunle by the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, due to his effectiveness during the war.

The lawmaker, who likened him to other war heroes, argued that the late Adekunle truly had the unity of the country at heart particularly because he owned only a three-bedroom apartment.

Another lawmaker, Rotimi Olowo, while commiserating with the family of the deceased, however berated two members of the House of Representatives, who, he said refused to stand for a minute silence when the House of Representatives honoured him based on the argument that he frustrated the Biafran soldiers.

He said Nigerians must stop fanning the embers of discord.

Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, who said she had the opportunity to meet the late Adekunle, described him as “petit in size but big in character and passion for a united Nigeria”.

She said the soldier put his life on the line as a result. “He was very neat and stylish,” she said urging the Nigeria’s security agencies to emulate him.

Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who called Adekunle a hero, added that the late Adekunle was “without doubt a Nigerian that was committed to the unity of the country.

For Adadevoh, the Speaker said the late doctor deserved “all that we can give to immortalise her name.”

He argued that none of the countries that have the problem of Ebola virus now is as populated as Lagos and that it was the effort of the late Adadevoh that saved the state and the country.

“For Sawyer to have brought it to our home and a woman who knows the repercussion of what she was doing, stopped Sawyer from escaping or spreading the thing beyond control, deserves, not just commendation, but everything to immortalise her name.

“If our nation is one that honours people who have done well, then her name should have been in the list of those to be honoured,” the Speaker said adding that she paid the supreme sacrifice.