Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has expressed shock at the demise of Chief Alexander Opeyemi Akinyele, Nigeria Customs Service’s pioneer spokesman and a former Minister of Information and Chairman, National Sports Commission.
The Waziri of Adamawa, in a statement by his media office in Abuja on Friday extolled his former boss at the Nigeria Customs, as an astute public servant and iconic public relations guru who left indelible footprints in the Customs, Ministry of Information and National Sports Commission.
Describing Chief Akinyele, the Loboshin of Ondo Kingdom and a Knight of the Anglican Church, as affable and amiable, the former Vice President said he manifested eloquence and panache.
Akinyele was a great image maker, indeed the iroko of public relations, respectable mentor, sports enthusiast and a statesman of note. He was a lover of tradition and culture, a man of the people and a generous philanthropist.
The country would greatly miss this extraordinary individual who raised the import of Public Relations into national front burner.
Atiku, while praying for the repose of the soul of the deceased, admonished Nigerians to live a life that is worthy of emulation, by bequeathing legacies of good deeds and fond memories to generations coming behind them.
He expressed his condolences to the Chief Akinyele family and the Government and people of Ondo State, even as he admonished them to take solace in the stellar score card of their distinguished departed illustrious son.
