UPDATE: Businessman Arisekola Alao Dead

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, June 18, (THEWILL) - Businessman Alhaji Arisekola Alao died Wednesday in a London hospital, according to associates.

THEWILL gathered that the businessman died following a long battle from an undisclosed form of cancer.

Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola Alao, 69, a devout Muslim and shrewd businessman, holds the title of Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland. He was based in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi has described his death as tragic, disheartening and a big blow, not only to Oyo State but also to the entire country.

The governor stated this in a statement issued in Ibadan on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo.

He said that he received the news of the death of the business mogul and religious leader with shock and disbelief, saying that the passage of Alhaji Arisekola-Alao marked the end of an era in the history of the state.

'Aare cannot die as those who lived the kind of life he lived, with imprints in the lives of millions of people, never die. He lived a life that was devoted to the lives of others. It is indeed the end of an era for us in Ibadan and Nigeria in general,' the governor said.

Governor Ajimobi described the late Alhaji Arisekola-Alao as a devout Muslim, shrewd businessman and a philanthropist whose commitment to the cause of the downtrodden in the society was unequalled.