By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Former Governor of Kwara State and one-time Minister of Communications, Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo, is dead.

He died at the age of 84.

He passed away early Wednesday morning in Abuja, according to information from his family.

Adebayo, who was born on February 24, 1941, in Igbaja, Kwara State, served as Governor of the State in 1983.

Before then, he was elected as a Senator in 1979 under the Unity Party of Nigeria.

Between 1975 and 1978, he was Commissioner for Education in Kwara State and was known for pushing reforms in the sector.

In the 1990s, he joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a group of activists who opposed military rule and fought to reclaim the mandate believed to have been given to MKO Abiola in the annulled 1993 presidential election.

That same year, Adebayo rejected an offer to serve as a minister under General Sani Abacha.

In 1995, a bomb blast in Ilorin led to his arrest alongside other NADECO members.

The following year, he fled to Canada for a short exile when reports said the military was once again targeting him.