Condolence messages have been pouring in following the departure of one of the paramount rulers in the South-west, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and  the Oyo State candidate for the 2015 gubernatorial election under the flagship of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Teslim Folarin has joined several dignitaried to express his condolence, describing the late monarch as a rare gem.

He stated this while speaking with CEOAfrica on the strides and impact of the monarch towards national development. Folarin described the death of the monarch as the departure of a rare gem, which would leave a great vacuum in the country

“Posterity will forever remember Oba Sijuwade as a noble patriarch, whose milestones etched significant changes within the cocoons of Ife and beyond.

“Oba Sijuade is a man with an extremely large heart, a man from whose heart flourishes noble sentiments.

His landmark achievements as the king of Yoruba’s ancestral kingdom helped in fostering cooperation and togetherness among the vassal states of the

Yorubaland, I sincerely mourn with the people of Osun State and I pray that

God will grant us the fortitude to bear the loss,” he said.

The monarch died at the elite London Clinic at 20 Devonshire Place, London, on July 28, 2015.