Omololu Olunloyo: Remembering the mathematician and former governor of Oyo State, by Adejayan Gbenga
Tributes have continued to pour in for the former governor of Oyo State, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, who passed away on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at the age of 89.
Although his tenure as governor was brief, Olunloyo’s administration is remembered for spearheading monumental developmental strides in Oyo State. His legacies and contributions to the state will live on and cannot be easily forgotten.
Dr. Olunloyo was a political giant, a skilled administrator, and an accomplished politician. His leadership style set a lasting example, making him a name that will continue to be remembered for generations in Oyo State and across Nigeria.
A talented mathematician and politician, Olunloyo served as the governor of Oyo State from October 1, 1983, to December 31, 1983, when General Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime took power. After his tenure, he became a significant political figure in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State.
Born in Ibadan on April 14, 1935, Olunloyo was the son of Horatio Olunloyo, a Christian, and Alhaja Bintu Tejumola Abebi Olunloyo, a Muslim who passed away in October 2013 at the age of 102. His father died in December 1948 when Olunloyo was just 13 years old.
Olunloyo earned a Ph.D. from St. Andrews University in 1961, with his thesis focused on the numerical determination of the solutions to eigenvalue problems of the Sturm–Liouville type. He published several papers on number theory and applied mathematics.
At the age of 27, Olunloyo was appointed Commissioner for Economic Development in the Western Region in 1962. He was reappointed when Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo became the military governor of the region. Olunloyo also held several other political appointments in successive governments.
In 1983, he ran for governor of the old Oyo State under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and defeated the incumbent, Bola Ige of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He assumed office in October 1983, but his term was cut short in December of the same year when General Muhammadu Buhari’s regime ousted the elected government.
Dr. Olunloyo remained active in politics after his term as governor, joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and later the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). He held various positions within the PDP, including Chairman of the Party’s Planning and Strategy Committee for Ibadanland and Chairman of the PDP Media and Publicity Committee for Oyo State.
