NATIONAL: Buhari mourns as PACAC member, Odekunle reportedly dies of Covid-19

A  MEMBER of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Femi Odekunle, is dead.

Odekunle who was a retired academic in his lifetime graduated from the University of Ibadan, 1968. He  got his PhD in sociology and social psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in the United States, in 1974.

He had lectured in Ahmadu Bello University among others before joining the Presidential Advisory Committee On Corruption headed by Prof. Itself Sagay.

His death was confirmed in a statement by Senior Special Assistant to President  Buhari on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu.

Although Shehu did not state the cause of death, the professor of criminology reportedly died at the COVID-19 isolation centre in Gwagalada, Abuja, on Tuesday evening.

 He was said to have contracted the dreaded virus days before his demise.

Confirming Odekunle’s death, President Buhari described him as a “valued friend and a towering intellectual giant” with an impeccable knowledge of his chosen academic field, criminology and in such others as governance and administration.

He added that “His lasting contributions as well as his charisma, wit and sense of humor will be sorely missed by all us, his friends and associates. May the Almighty repose his soul.”