Tears, Tributes As Deji Tinubu Goes Home

Even if you had literally feasted on the head of a tortoise, as the Yoruba would say, you would have cried out your heart, on January 30, when the remains of the late Deji Tinubu, a former Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Commerce and Industry, were committed to mother earth at the Vault and Garden, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Amidst the funeral ambience, tributes poured in torrents from family members, friends, government officials and sports enthusiasts, who had come to pay their last respects to Tinubu, who passed on January 25, during a novelty football match in Epe, at a retreat of the Lagos State Executive Council.

In reference to the biblical saying that “the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot”, the former Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission was celebrated even in death with sweet and kind words during the burial.  In fact, “If the dead could look back, the former Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission would be grinning in his grave now,’’ a source said.

In his tribute, his brother, Wale Tinubu, Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Oando Plc, described him as “one deserving of prize for decency, courtesy, fairness and exceptional kindness.”

Also, his wife, Oluwayemisi, said she couldn’t have asked for a better husband, as “he was a bold and courageous man, who was willing to yield himself to the Lord, to be used as a perfect example of what a Godly marriage should be.”

Before the final journey, many personalities across the country, including the  Vice President,  Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, business moguls,  Femi Otedola, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had paid condolence visits to his family.

In attendance at the reception held in honour of the late Tinubu at the  Havillah Event Centre, Oniru Estate, Lagos were   wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osibajo; Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode;  his Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun; Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi; Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Dayo Adeneye; Lagos State Commissioner of Art, Culture and Tourism, Steve Ayorinde, Ogun State Commissioner of Commerce, Bimbo Ashiru, former Lagos State First Lady, Mrs. Abimbola  Fashola, and Ovation publisher,  Dele Momodu, among several others.