Nigeria’s first Professor of Medicine, Theophilus Oladapo Ogunlesi dies at 99, Gov Abiodun mourns

The first Nigerian Professor of Medicine,  Theophilus Oladipo Ogunlesi has died at 99.

Ogunlesi, an Emeritus Professor, who hailed from Sagamu area of Ogun State, died on Thursday.

He made history in 1965 as Nigeria’s first Professor of Medicine.

Ogunlesi started on the path of a medical doctor at Yaba College of Medicine in 1947, and advanced his career at the University of London, 1953 where he qualified as a registered Medical Officer in England.

The family in a statement signed by Adeleke Ogunlesi and shared by Tolu, Special Assistant on Digital/New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, confirmed his demise.

According to the family, funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.

He is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Ogunlesi is Nigeria’s first Head of Department of Medicine University College Hospital, Ibadan; inaugural Director of the Ibarapa Community Health Programme, and first President of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.

Mourning his demise, Ogun Governor Dapo Abiodun described Ogunlesi’s death as painful.

Abiodun in a statement on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, noted that Professor Ogunlesi passed away when his vast experience in the field of Medicine was needed most, especially in the face of challenges militating against human health.

While saying the late Emeritus Professor would be sorely missed in the state, Nigeria and the world at large, the Governor said Ogun has indeed lost one of the finest medical experts the world would ever know.