Odumakin died on Friday, but doctors hid the news from me till Saturday, says widow

Joe Okei-Odumakin, widow of Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary of Afenifere, says her husband died on Friday, not Saturday as she was earlier told.

Odumakin died of COVID-19 complications at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

News of his death broke on Saturday.

In a tribute titled, “Yinka: Basking in the Shadow that you Cast”, Okei-Odumakin said it was when she saw the date on her husband’s death certificate that she realised he died on Friday night, not Saturday morning.

According to her, the doctors said they couldn’t bring themselves to break the news immediately her husband died.

“Since no one is permitted in the Critical Care Unit, we had committed you to the care of the best-qualified medics at LASUTH and the hand of God hoping to see you next morning,” the tribute reads.

“The medics said they could not fathom how to immediately relay the message of your passage to me directly.

“Now that I am in possession of your death certificate, I can see you passed on at exactly 10:40 pm on Good Friday (April 2, 2021) and not in the morning of Saturday, (April 3, 2021) as initially communicated.

“Due to the principles of the truth and saying it as it is, which Yinka and I hold dear – and which Yinka lived all his adult life for – it is important to immediately put this very important record straight.

“You came! you saw!! and you conquered!!! We will carry forward the baton in the eternal word of our leader, Nigeria will be saved, Nigeria will be changed and Nigeria will become a great nation. Nigeria will work in my lifetime and even in yours as you live on in me, our children and generation yet unborn.”