Late Olayinka Was Optimistic Of Making It Through

Jamiu Yisa
The family of the late Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Olayinka, said their daughter never gave up hope in the course of her sickness, saying that she was very optimistic of making it through from her sick bed.

Speaking on behalf of the family to newsmen at her Osborne offshore estate, Lagos residence, the sister of the late deputy governor, Fehintola Tade-Adekunle, said she saw her about a week before her eventual demise last saturday.

“She was a rallying point. She was very optimistic of making it through. She never gave up on her bed. She was still active and talked with us even on her bed. She was our role model and always interested in everybody,” she said.

Mrs. Tade-Adekunle noted that the late deputy governor who is the first of six girls in the family of ten is a strong woman that dutifully competed among men without intimidation.

“She is a very hardworking sister and everything about her is manly and her death it’s still a joke to me. I still feel she is still sleeping.

“We would miss her so much. There is no one that would call me “Kora”( Lebanese) again. She was a beacon of hope,” she averred.

Among early sympathisers that thronged the her Royal Palm Drive, Ikoyi, residence, includes former President of the Nigeria Bar Association and gubernatorial candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria in Ondo state, Rotimi Akeredolu.

Speaking to newsmen, he noted that her death has left a big vacuum in leadership, noting that he called the Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi some days before to enquire about the state of her health and was told that she was getting better.

“It was a shock to hear few days later, that she had died. Olayinka will be remembered for her unflinching support and loyalty to Gov Fayemi when he was struggling to reclaim the Ekiti mandate. She was with him in every step of the way and together, they were inseparable. We all saw her as the only person that stood beside him almost everywhere. She will be missed and I pray God will grant the state and the family to bear the loss,” he said.

For Senator Olorunimbe Mamowora, “It is a pity that we lost her at this point in time. She was a very amiable person especially with her infectious smile. She carried herself with dignity deserving her office. She didn’t carry her office on her head. She gave her job the best she could, always giving a helping hand. She left a legacy and the family should take solace in that.”

Also, the deputy governor of Ogun State, Mr. Segun Adesegun who came to commiserate with the family said, “It is a sad loss beyond words and I pray that God in his infinite mercies will grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss”.

Similarly, a House of Reps member from Ekiti State, Opeyemi Bamidele who came to the Ikoyi residence as well said, “I wish all the people of Ekiti State, her family and the entire nation to bear the loss.”

Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji in his statement, stated that the news of her death was devastating.

“What made her death painful is the fact that the coming of Mrs. Olayinka into politics, after having made her mark in the banking sector, where she served meritoriously for 21 long years, has indeed started making Nigerian upper class women to see politics as something that they too could now embrace,” he noted.

Though the husband of the deceased deputy governor and her three children, Yeside, Lolade and Olamide were seen at their Lagos residence, newsmen where barred from interacting with them.