The death has been announced of a past National President of Offa Descendants Union and Chairman, Offa Council of Elders, Chief (Dr.) Jonathan Durojaiye Soleye, who passed on at the age of 97 years.
Dr. Soleye, the Bobagunwa of Offa and founder of Duro Soleye Hospital Lagos, was Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, in the old Northern Region and the pioneer Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Kwara State between 1968-1969.
He held the record as the second medical doctor in the whole of Northern Nigeria, trailing behind Dr. Barau Dikko.
A message from the National Headquarters of Offa Descendants Union described the deceased as “an iconic legend with fountain of knowledge whose record of meritorious service to humanity at large is second to none”
According to the Union’s Public Relations Officer, Engr. Maruf Olalekan Ajenifuja, “Dr. Soleye diligently served Offa community under the platform of O.D.U as the National President from 1976 - 1992 and as the Chairman, Council of Elders, Offa from 2011 - 2020”
O.D.U. describes the exit of the alumnus of Queen’s University Belfast as "a transition of a giant soul and a moral compass whose outstanding legacies can stand the test of time”
While commiserating with the Soleye family, Offa Community, friends and associates of the deceased, the Union prayed for eternal repose of his soul.
Dr. Chief Jonathan Durojaiye SOLEYE (LSM, LRCP, MRCS) was born on October 22, 1923. He attended St Mark’s Anglican Primary School Offa between 1929-1936; Igbobi College Yaba-Lagos 1937-1941; Nigeria School of Medicine Yaba 1943-1948; West London Hospital Medical School !954-1955; Queen’s University Belfast 1961-1962.
He started his career as an Assistant Medical Officer with the Nigeria Medical Department between 1948 and retired from the civil service in January 1969.
He founded Duro Soleye Hospitals Ikeja-Lagos. He has served on the boards of major institutions and organizations such as Medical Council in Public Health, Family Planning Association of Nigeria, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH). He was the national chairman of Nigerian Red Cross Society 1989-1996.
Dr Soleye was honored with the traditional title of Bobagunwa of Offa in 1977 and a national award of Officer of the Order of Niger (OON) in 1965. He is a lover of lawn tennis and hunting.
Chief Soleye assumed the leadership of the Offa Descendants Union as the President in December 1975 and remained in that office for an unprecedented 16 years when he handed over to Professor M.O. Oyawoye in 1991. The National Secretariat of ODU is named after Chief J.D. Soleye.
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