Rights activist and executive director of Adopt A Goal Initiative, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, has died at the age of 42.
According to reports, he died of lung cancer in Abuja on Thursday.
His colleague, Deji Adeyanju, announced his death on Thursday via Twitter.
“My brother comrade Ariyo Dare Atoye has gone to be with the Lord. He was looking at me till the last moment. From God we came, and it is certain to Him we will return,” he said.
Atoye had tweeted three days before his death, “My Health, I have done nothing to deserve all the prayers, calls, goodwill, generous donations, financial supports, efforts, love and affection. My God will do the needful.
“The day of Thanksgiving will come and we shall all celebrate. I’m not broken. I can’t be broken. Too late to be broken. I have God. Thank you, all.”
Mourning him, publisher and presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore wrote on Twitter, “Today, we lost an amazing human being to the cold hands of death. Rest in Power @AriyoAristotle! Sad day!”
Activist Aisha Yesufu also mourned him on Twitter.
Another activist Bukky Shonibare said in a Facebook tribute that the “streets will miss you.”
In a short text message he sent from his sickbed to SaharaReporters in mid-October, Atoye said he needed prayers from Nigerians to save his life.
Atoye played a significant role in the passage and signing of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2022 into law through a coalition called Civil Society Partners on Electoral Reform (CiSPER).
