Abuja, 20 October 2026
Ademola Rabiu, CEng
The Transformative Governance Forum (TGF) received with deep sorrow the news of the passing of Pa Reuben Famuyide Fasoranti, elder statesman, educationist, patriot and National Leader of Afenifere, who departed this world at the glorious age of 100. The news was announced today, Tuesday, 20 Oct 2026, by the Governor of Ondo State, HE Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
We join the Fasoranti family, the people of Akure Kingdom, the Government and people of Ondo State, the entire Yoruba nation, and the welfare democrats family, in mourning a man who gave a full century to God, to his people and to Nigeria.
But let no tear fall for a life that was lived in the service of the people. Let no sob escape for a patriarch who finished his race with his boots on, his principles intact, and his voice never once trembling before the foes of equity and justice.
A Teacher Who Built Minds
Pa Fasoranti was a teacher and school principal before he was a politician. He later established schools of his own. For him, education was never a slogan. It was the surest road out of poverty, and he believed a society that fails its children has already failed its future. This is the heart of welfare democracy, and he lived it long before it became fashionable.
A Disciple of Awolowo, a Servant of the People
Baba was not a mere politician. He was an ideologue of the finest tradition. He was a disciple of that legendary leader, Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Awolowo, and he carried the banner of that progressive legacy from the Action Group to the Unity Party of Nigeria and into the very soul of Afenifere.
Pa Fasoranti believed in the welfarist creed that government must be the instrument of empowerment, not oppression. He believed that free education was not a privilege but a right, that free healthcare was the duty of the state, and that the commonwealth of the Yoruba people and indeed all Nigerians must be harnessed for the upliftment of the masses.
He was a man of great principle, whose public career was without blemish or scandal. Baba served as Commissioner for Finance in Ondo State under Chief Adekunle Ajasin in the Second Republic, and he earned a name for discipline, honesty and prudence with public funds.
In that school of thought, the government exists to serve the people, and the people come first. Baba carried these ideals into old age. He never dropped them for convenience.
A Rock When the Ground Shook
Politics is easy when the crowd agrees. But the true measure of a man is not found in the calm of consensus. It is found in the storm of division. When the political firmament darkened, and the camp of the progressive family was rent asunder over the direction of power in 2023, Pa Fasoranti stood like a rock.
While others in his camp chose the path of convenience, he chose the path of conscience. He did not waver. He did not flinch.
He declared with the clarity of a prophet that after eight years of President Buhari, power must shift to the South. It was a matter of fairness. It was a matter of equity. It was a matter of justice. And in that defining moment, he did not just speak. He acted. He opened the doors of his Akure home, he summoned the leaders of the South West, and he endorsed the candidacy of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress
That endorsement was not a mere political calculation. It was the crowning act of his lifelong commitment to the progressive cause.
His critics called it a risk. History will call it vision. He understood that in a federation, equity is not a favour to be begged for. It is the glue that holds the house together.
He did this as an elder who respected disagreement and sought reconciliation, but he would not be moved from what he believed was right. That is what it means to be affable yet firm, gentle yet courageous.
A Pillar of the Renewed Hope Agenda
Pa Fasoranti prayed for victory, lived to witness the ascension, and to see the vision he supported begin to take shape. He became and remained, to his last breath, a solid pillar of the Renewed Hope administration, a father to the president, and a conscience to the government.
Under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Renewed Hope administration has taken hard but necessary decisions to stabilise the economy. It has opened the doors of higher education to thousands of young Nigerians through the student loan scheme. It has widened the base of public investment and continues to improve infrastructure across the regions.
These are the foundations of a fairer Nigeria, and we commend the President for them. We believe Baba was proud of this season in the life of the nation. At his centenary in May this year, the President himself joined other Nigerians to honour him.
A Life That Calls Us to Duty
The best tribute we can pay to Pa Fasoranti is to finish the work he began. Nigeria still has millions who need food, schools, clinics, jobs and justice.
The Renewed Hope journey must go deeper, reach the last household, and leave no citizen behind.
TGF will continue to stand for a Nigeria governed by fairness, equity and compassion, and to support the administration in making that Nigeria real.
Pa Fasoranti’s life was a sermon in selfless leadership.
He buried a daughter in 2019 in the most painful circumstances, and still he kept faith with Nigeria. Few leaders give such a lesson in resilience.
He shunned primitive accumulation. He decried indiscipline in high places. He advocated a pure federal principle as the basis for peaceful co-existence in an indivisible Nigeria. He was the Omoluabi par excellence, the honour of the Yoruba race, the bridge between the glory of the First Republic and the promise of the Fourth.
Baba, you have fought the good fight. You have kept the faith. The progressive family has lost a patriarch, but the heavens have gained a general. The Renewed Hope train rolls on, and your handiwork is evident in the equity you championed and the legacy-seeking Southern presidency you helped to birth. Sleep well, Baba.
Sleep well, you rock of ages. Your legacy is not in marble or in bronze. It is in the lives you touched, the minds you liberated, and the political firmament you shaped for generations yet unborn.
Rest on, Baba. The torch will not fall.
- Ademola Rabiu, CEng
Strategic Communications Directorate
Transformative Governance Forum
www.tgf.org.ng
Abuja, 20 Oct 2026
