One of the South-West governors, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has died in Lagos, Wednesday morning and his elatives have revealed that the deceased suffered from leukemia and was being managed by Lagos State House doctors up to his death because they could not fly him abroad.
“Akeredolu is dead; he died in Lagos. We were looking for dialysis machines to be sent to his secret location in Lagos last week,” the relative whose name won’t be mentioned added.
The 67 years old late governor returned to Nigeria in September, 2023 following a three-month medical leave in Germany and only recently proceeded on another one after he was directed by President Bola Tinubu to hand over power to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa who has been standing in as Acting Governor.
Following his return to Nigeria in September, Akeredolu stayed in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital and tried to govern his state from there, leading to public outrage.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood caused by a rise in the number of white blood cells in the body. For sufferers, the white blood cells crowd out the red blood cells and platelets needed by the body to stay healthy.
White blood cells are potent infection fighters which grow and divide in an orderly way, as the body needs them. But in people with leukemia, the bone marrow produces an excessive amount of abnormal white blood cells, which don’t function properly.
It is a cancer of blood-forming tissues that hinders the body’s ability to fight infections. The types that exist include acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.