6th June, 2017
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has expressed shock over the death of the Executive Director of United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin.
A condolence message issued on Tuesday in Ile-Ife by Mr Moses Olafare, the Director of Media and Public Affairs in the Ooni’s palace, described Osotimehin as one of the greatest assets of Africa.
It recalled that the deceased played host to the Ooni and his delegation on June 13, 2016, at his United Nation Population office in New York.
Osotimehin had expressly accepted the king’s request of his support and that of the United Nations to put an end to infant mortality.
“His death is also painful because the palace and his office were already packaging some women empowerment programmes.
”This is in addition to what he had started with the Ooni to put an end to childbirth mortality cases not only in Yorubaland but the entire Africa.
“He had served the world, he had served our continent, he had served our country and he had served our race too remarkably and indelibly to be forgotten.
“May his gentle soul rest in the perfect peace of the almighty Olodumare,’’ it quoted the Ooni as saying.
Osotimehin, a former Minister of Health, died on Sunday in New York at 68.