Madam Efunroye Tinubu Deserves Posthumous National Honour, Says Estate Chief

Fadekemi Ajakaiye

At the Civic Centre in Lagos on Wednesday night, the 138th anniversary remembrance of Madam Efunroye Tinubu fused history, heritage, and a fierce demand for justice.

Organised by Adamakin Investments and Works Limited as its end-of-year celebration, the event spotlighted the legendary 19th-century Amazon, hailed as West Africa’s most influential woman.

Chief Akindele Akinfolabi Adamakin, Sole Administrator of the late Madam Tinubu’s estate and Chairman of the group, delivering a compelling address, urged the Federal Government to bestow a posthumous national honour on the iconic figure, whose commerce prowess and conquests shaped Lagos and Abeokuta’s territorial foundations.

“Her contributions stand unparalleled. The land’s political leaders occupy today were acquired genuinely through purchase and conquest, long before colonial peaks.

“In another nation, she’d be canonised; her Abeokuta tomb could rival global tourism sites, drawing Americans to witness a Black woman’s empire,” Chief Adamakin declared.

He decried the erasure of indigenous heroes from Nigerian school curricula, contrasting Mali’s reverence for Mansa Musa with Nigeria’s neglect.
Madam Tinubu, he noted, traded with the Portuguese pre-British annexation, a brainy powerhouse predating modern institutions.
A pivotal moment clarified the Tinubu family lineage, linking it directly to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Chief Adamakin affirmed that the President’s surname traces to Madam Efunroye herself, yet a 1945 rift divides the Lagos and Abeokuta branches.
“The real Tinubu our President embodies is Madam Efunroye. This platform reunites all Tinubus. We invite the President to unite with her living descendants for a unified front,” he stated.

Chief Adamakin didn’t hold back on the estate’s plight. He accused private individuals and government bodies of illegally occupying lands stretching from Lagos Island to Ibeju-Lekki and the Lagos mainland.

Tying history to today’s crises, Chief Adamakin blamed terrorism and banditry on ideological poverty from educational neglect and Naira’s collapse since the 1980s.

“Structural poverty breeds desperation. A man breaks the physical rather than starve alone,” he said.
Prioritising education, he argued, is key to eradicating insecurity. The gala pulsed with cultural vibrancy, graced by Nollywood icons like Segun Arinze, Saheed Balogun, Adewale Adeoye (Eleso), Owolabi Ajasa, Anthony Ogundimu, Doyin Amodu, and Abolaji Amusan (Mr Latin).