By BONIFACE AKARAH

The Yusufu Bala Usman Institute has announced the death of its Chairman, Dr. Samuel Olusegun Osoba, who passed away peacefully on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at his residence in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. He was 92 years old.

The announcement was contained in a statement issued by the Institute’s Director, Norma Perchonock, who described his passing as a major loss to the academic and intellectual community.

“With heavy hearts but with gratitude for a life lived in the service of scholarship and humanity, the Yusufu Bala Usman Institute announces the death of our Chairman, Dr. Olusegun Osoba, who passed away peacefully today, 14th May 2026, at his residence in Ijebu Ode,” the statement read.

The Institute described the late Osoba as “a rare scholar whose whole life was dedicated to teaching and research” focused on understanding Nigeria’s political economy and what it termed the structures of neo-colonialism.

“Dr. Osoba was a rare scholar whose whole life was dedicated to teaching and research that was designed to educate his students, colleagues and the general public about the nature of the capitalist system and the structures of neo-colonialism that dominates the Nigerian state,” it said.

The statement added that his work in economic history sought to expose structural challenges affecting national development, while proposing pathways toward what he viewed as economic liberation.

It noted that his writings spanned academic books, research papers, and newspaper columns, which reached both scholarly and general audiences.

“One of his major achievements was to author, together with his close comrade Yusufu Bala Usman, The Minority Report and Draft Constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1976,” the Institute stated, adding that the work “has had a profound impact on debates about the way forward for Nigeria.”

The Institute said Osoba’s intellectual contributions left a lasting legacy in Nigeria’s academic and policy discourse.

“Segun is gone but he has left an enduring legacy and a shining example for patriotic Nigerians to emulate,” the statement added.

Funeral arrangements, according to the Institute, will be announced by the family in due course.

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