Funmi Olayinka, Ekiti Deputy governor passes on

Mrs. Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka, the deputy governor of Ekiti State is dead.

A terse statement by the Ekiti State Government of southwest Nigeria, said Olayinka, aged 52, died this evening, and provided no further details.

P.M.NEWS learnt she succumbed to cancer in a Lagos hospital after months of struggle.

“She demonstrated exemplary courage and dedicated service to Ekiti people both during the struggle to retrieve the stolen mandate and in her position as Deputy Governor,” said the government statement signed by Tayo Ekundayo, Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation.

Olayinka, a trained banker, worked in the financial industry for 21 years before taking to politics. She ran with Governor Kayode Fayemi, on the ACN governorship ticket in Ekiti in 2007.
She is survived by her husband, children and aged parents

She was born in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria on 20 June 1960 and attended Holy Trinity Grammar School Ibadan where she obtained her first school leaving certificate with distinction.

She attended Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo State, Nigeria where she obtained her Higher School Certificate (HSC) She holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Business Administration [Marketing] from Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma, United States in 1981 and 1983 respectively. She was three times winner of the Dean’s Honour roll.

She worked at various professional levels with First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Access Bank, and United Bank for Africa Plc. Until her election as the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, she was Head of Corporate Services, Ecobank Transatlantic Inc.

Following a fundamentally flawed elections process during the 2007 Gubernatorial elections, the candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, Mr Segun Oni was declared as the winner of that election. Whereupon Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka in conjunction with Dr Kayode Fayemi headed to court to contest the veracity of the results. On 14 October 2010, after a three and a half year prolonged re-election process and court battle, an Elections Appeal Tribunal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria sacked former Governor Segun Oni of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared Dr Kayode Fayemi of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as the new governor of Ekiti State.Mrs Olufunmilayo Olayinka was subsequently sworn in as the substantive Deputy Governor of Ekiti State.

Funmilayo Olayinka is married with three children.

Her illness was a major concern to the Ekiti State government, such that three weeks ago she was asked to proceed on leave to take care of her health. The leave proved a terminal one.

May Her soul rest in peace.

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