It’s a season of mourning in the neighbouring states of Lagos and Oyo following the loss, barely 24 hours apart, of two distinguished senior citizens.

National Leader of Accord Party and former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, who three months ago lost one of his sons in an auto crash on the Eko Bridge in Lagos State, lost his 94-year-old mother, Alhaja Alimotu Shadiya Ladoja, at about 7pm on Wednesday.

The Ladoja family matriarch died at her residence in Bodjia, Ibadan, after a brief illness.

Her death came a day after that of Nigeria’s oldest cleric, Pa Samuel Sadela, Founder and President of Gospel Apostolic Church (GAC).

Speaking on the death of Ladoja’s mother, former National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Cordinator, Oyo State Anti-Corruption Group, Prince Lanre Ogundipe, said: “Madam Alimotu died at a very ripe age. She lived a fulfilled life.” He prayed that Allah would repose her gentle soul in Al-jannah.

Pa Sadela, on his part, had passed away on Tuesday in the premises of his church in Lagos. He reportedly died few hours before commencement of a special revival programme that would have culminated in the celebration of his 114th birthday on Sunday, August 31.

•Photo shows late Pa Samuel Sadela.