Touching: Who House Of Rep Member, Funke Adedoyin Was And How She Died

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The death of house of rep. member, Ms Funke Adedoyin has been announced.

Late Princess Olufunke Deborah Adedoyin, 56, was a two-time minister in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The House of Representatives member, representing Irepodun/Oke-Ero/Isin/Ekiti Federal Constituency of Kwara State; under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) until recently when she joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a mass defection along with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, died after about two years battle with cancer.

Funke was the 2nd daughter of Nigerian foremost industrialist, Prince Samuel Adedoyin, 83.

In a lengthy interview with Brand Icon Image in 2013, Funke opened up on who she was among other things.

Below is an excerpt of the interview:

On who Funke Adedoyin is:

“My name is Funke Adedoyin. I was born in Lagos. I went to about four primary schools. The schools got better as my father got better financially. I ended up at the American International School at that time in Bonny Camp. I later went to Aunty Ayo Girls Comprehensive Secondary School for my Ordinary Levels and then went off to England for my Advanced Levels. At 16, I was ready to go into the university but no university would take me. I ended up at what is called Brownell University. I got a first degree in Social Studies but majored in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. I had a Masters Degree in Management Science. I did Management Science basically because of my dad who was a manufacturer. I did that so that I could come back and add some value to his business. But really, I was not fulfilled. So after I had done his own Masters, I did mine. I did a Second one in International Trade and Development, which is basically Politics and Economics again.

“After that, I started my PhD but because I was tired and needed a break. Also, my grandma kept saying that women who are educated up to PhD level are not likely to get married easily. I am the second child of both my parents. I have one older sister who is probably my closest friend. My dad had 13 kids. I am the second. My dad had five girls in a row. We were not raised with any consciousness. May be because we were all girls when we were younger. We did not know what being male or female meant. I was the one that was always climbing trees and falling out of trees. I was either reading or finding things and falling out of them most of the time. My parents just let all of us be who we were and by the time the boys started to come along, they had to fall in line in the sense that for my mum if you did not help in the kitchen you won’t eat; male or female.”

“In England, nobody told me I was not acting like a girl but every time I mixed with Nigerians they will be like ‘why don’t you behave like a woman.’ And I will be like ‘how is a girl supposed to be.’ I thought I was normal. But I keep getting this impression that I don’t act like a girl. I always tell them to ask my boyfriend whether I act like a girl or not. Apart from that, I like to cook, I am very home proud. I actually like to entertain. I’m simple and I’m cool. I came back and did my NYSC at NIBB, after which I joined Doyin Group. Then, we were assembling electronics and electrical but former President Ibrahim Babangida killed that in one day by one decree. I ended up at the pharmaceutical factory as the Chairman of the Management Board. Basically, I was a manufacturer. I designed and supervised new products. I was in the manufacturing industry for 15 years until a close friend and mentor, who is probably my biggest encourager, kept insisting that I could not sit and hide myself in the manufacturing industry. He said I have paid my dues to my dad because my dad and I had a very unique relationship and I felt a large sense of gratitude and owing a debt to him because the older I grew the more I realised how I have had quite an amazing childhood. Anything that I wanted to do that was legal, my dad would approve. My dad never said you can’t do this or that and I have met so many people whose parents have told them they can’t do this or that. He has never said this is too big for you to achieve. My dad would tell you that if there was a president for the world, Funke would be perfect for the job. So I did not realise what such amazing gift I have got until I started to be with so many women who were not able to achieve what they wanted because people have told them they could not achieve one thing or the other. So I felt a sense of gratitude to my dad.”

“But when my friend came up to say that I ought to have my agenda, that I cannot spend the whole of my life fulfilling my dad’s vision, I decided to go to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and I had a week’s notice to attend. We got there and it was quite amazing that they were supposed to do elections within a week to elect the management of the students’ union. I ran for the office of the Deputy Monitor General and I won and emerged as the first female deputy monitor general in the history of NIPSS. Again, I was the youngest. They didn’t know and that was because I started very early. You were supposed to have minimum of 15 years working experience, minimum qualification, minimum this or that. I qualified on every other point but did not meet the criteria of age. I mean you were supposed to be a minimum of 40 years. But I was not.”

On why she rarely spoke about her mom:

“Oh! That is amazing. My mum is a politician unlike my dad that is a businessman. Somebody should pay my mum because she has a room full of all the newspapers from the days of the Action Group, NCNC. She has all the newspapers and West Africa magazines. She took part in every election in those days. My mum is a Muslim and Dad is a Christian and I am a Christian. My parents met when my dad was 22 years and my mum was 18 years. They fell in love and they got married contrary to every form of parental opposition. The reason why I don’t like to talk about my mum so much is because when we were growing up, my mum was the bad cop and my dad was the good one. We were frightened speechless of my mother. She frightened the hell out of everybody. My mum used to do some funny strange things then. Like if she sees you sitting down reading a newspaper, she will just say, oh, it is because you don’t have a job that is why you are sitting down. Then she would tell you to go and be washing all the doors in the house and I would say to myself: what is the matter with this woman? Why can’t she let me be? At least I am not disturbing anything. When we were growing up, she tried to reduce that. I later realised that she was fighting a battle because my dad on the other hand was like you can do it, go ahead. At some point, I was convinced that my mum could not be my mum because she was so strict and I didn’t understand why somebody had to be like that.

Like I said earlier, if you were not in the kitchen when the cooking was going on, you won’t eat; male or female. All our boys know how to slice okro and chop vegetables. We didn’t really become friends until I was an adult, a grown up woman and a mother. I have a son contrary to everything you have read in the newspapers. When I went to the Senate, I got a petition that I had five children by five different men and I wondered how I managed to do that. He is 15 now. He is my heart. He is my everything. He is why I wake up in the morning and the reason why I go to bed at night.”

On religion:

“In our house, everybody comes for morning prayers. Even when we were old enough to sneak out and go clubbing or to parties, everybody will be running home because there’s no excuse to miss morning prayers at 6am.

It’s just not negotiable except you’re physically in hospital. If you’re in that house, you must be at morning prayers. And we went to church every Sunday. So, we all grew up with the understanding that there’s a God who answers prayers. My dad had a peculiar way of praying. He always talk to God as if God was his friend and he’ll say stuffs like, ‘you know, this my house that I want to build o, God help me to build it’. He would come to prayers at 6am and say, ‘God, the six flats in Surulere, I want to let them out for N300,000 though everybody says I can’t get it, Lord I want you to help me’ and he will. So, we all grew up with this concept of God whom you will ask and who will give.

All my dad’s kids are Christians, but mum is a Muslim and she never took any of us to the mosque. One of my sisters, Bimbola, is a pastor. She’s equally married to a pastor, Sola Fola Alade. She and I were always close. So, when I was leaving home, I took her with me… even to England where she eventually schooled, but she married in Nigeria to a medical doctor. She’s a lawyer. And they both run the biggest Redeem Parish Church in the UK. Even our first son is in pastoral school.

We still do everything that normal people do. We just have that sense of normal relationship with God. My mum is what I call a closet Christian. When you go to her room, you see her listening to Adeboye’s preaching tapes, listening to Christian songs and watching him on video. She can’t come out to admit she’s a Christian. She doesn’t want it to look like we’ve converted her.

Funke died Friday afternoon from cancer complications which she’s been battling since 2016. She was said to have been cured of the disease but she suffered a relapse 3 months ago which led to her traveling to the United States. She’s returned to the country and was recuperating in Abuja until her death.

May her soul rest in peace, and may her loved ones have the fortitude to bear the loss.

Meanwhile, the world over has declared the month of October as the awareness month for cancer. Women are enjoined to please go and get checked. Medical history reveals that early detection helps to fight the disease. It is not just enough for you to know than cancer exists, it is expedient for you to know your status.

You may read these inspiring stories of cancer survivors.