Chief Rafiu Bakare Jafojo, a former Lagos state deputy
governor is dead.
He died on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at the age of 80 after a
brief illness. He has since been buried according to Islamic rites.
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| Late Chief Rafiu Jafojo |
Jafojo served as a deputy governor to Alhaji Lateef Jakande
on the return of the country to civil rule in 1979 to 1983. His former boss was
one of the first callers at the deceased’s home. He described Jafojo as “a
loyal deputy” and praised for the repose of his soul. The late Jafojo was born
on December 6, 1935. His parents were the late Pa Bakare Adeyefa Jafojo in
Ebute Meta and the late Madam Taiwo of Ebute Meta, Lagos, but he grew up in
Isale Awori, Ikeja.
He began his working career in 1959 as a building inspector
with the Ikeja Town Planning Authority. However, in 1961 he left Nigeria for England
where he studied building engineering at Hackney Technical College. In 1966, he
obtained a National Certificate and moved to Brixon School of Engineering,
where he graduated with a Higher National Certificate in Building. In 1969,
Jafojo entered the Northern Polytechnic (now University of North) in London,
where he bagged an Advanced Certificate in Building Technology.
Shortly after his return to Nigeria, he pitched tent with the
Egbe Afenifere. He mobilized and encouraged the Awori to be politically
conscious. Between 1975 and 1977, he was elected a councillor in Ikeja local
government and later became the chairman of the General Purpose Committee. In
1978, Jafojo joined the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria, whose national leader,
the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Awolowo encouraged him to join the then
governorship candidate Alhaji Lateef Jakande as his running mate. The joint
ticket worked; they won the election. On October I, 1979, Chief Jafojo
was sworn in as the first democratically elected deputy governor to
Alhaji Jakande.
Chief Jafojo was a great philanthropist, who extended
helping hands to numerous persons in many ways, assisting them out of their many
diverse challenges. A great politician, Jafojo was among those who helped to
make Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as a politician in Lagos State,
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