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FACT CHECK: Did five former Oyo State governors die at age 71?

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FACT CHECK: Did five former Oyo State governors die at age 71?

CLAIM
A viral post on facebook claims that five former governors of Oyo state, who are late, all died at 71 years old.

The post reads:

“Please how old is the current governor of Oyo state?

Someone just shared this with me but I don’t know how true it is, that:

Chief Bola Ige died at 71

Kolapo Ishola died at 71

Lamidi Adesina died at 71

Ajimobi Isiaka died at 71

Alao Akala died at 71″

VERDICT
False

FULL TEXT
The post which has been reposted and shared multiple times on facebook, claims that each of the listed former governors of Oyo state died at the age of 71.

Ripples Nigeria observed that while some commenters under the post questioned the veracity of the claim, others took it as fact.

Read also: FACT CHECK: Was Buhari elected via direct primary in 2015?

This claim was circulated following the death of Chief Christopher Alao/Akala, a former governor of the state, who died at the age of 71.

The disseminators of this claim are giving the impression that it may be an ongoing trend of Oyo governors dying at 71 years old, hence the question: “how old is the current governor of Oyo state?”

VERIFICATION
Ripples Nigeria found this claim to be false, as only two of the past governors of Oyo State died at the age of 71. They are Chief Bola Ige and Chief Alao-Akala.

Chief Ige who governed the state in the second republic, was born in 1930, and was assassinated in 2001 in the city of Ibadan.

Chief Alao-Akala was born on June 3, 1950 and he died after an ailment on 12 January 2022.

The other former governors did not die at 71 but at varying ages. Chief Kolapo Isola died at the age of 77. He lived between June, 1934 and August 2011.

Lamidi Adesina who governed the state from 1999 to 2003, died at 73. He lived between January 20, 1939 and November 11, 2012.

Finally, Abiola Ajimobi died at the age of 70 in June 2020, reportedly due to complications from COVID-19 infection. He was born in December 1949.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka…

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