Afolabi Olabimtan

Who was Afolabi Olabimtan?

Afolabi Olabimtan was a Nigerian politician, writer, and academic. He was born in Ogun State and was later the senator for Ogun West from 1999 to 2003. He died in a motor accident in August 2003.

Olabimtan achieved a PhD at the University of Lagos in African Languages. He became an expert in the Yoruba language, and wrote a number of novels in the tongue, such as Kekere Ekun in 1967 and Ayanmo in 1973.

In 1999, Olabimatan was elected as a senator for the Alliance for Democracy party for Ogun West. He served just one term, standing down in 2003 in order to allow a younger successor to take his place. Later in the same year he was killed in a motor accident.

His death preceded the release of his autobiography, The Graces, the Grass and the Gains. This contained the claim that, in a 1994 meeting, a number of Yoruba leaders had supported the continued imprisonment of Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, in return for bribes in the form of money and political positions. Those accused of attending the meeting, such as Ebenezer Babatope, have denied knowledge of it.