Ekiti considers public holiday for Fajuyi

AUGUST 25, 2013 

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi
| credits: www.ynaija.com

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said his government would consider setting aside a day as a public holiday in recognition of the valiant act of the first military governor of the old Western State and hero of the 1966 coup, late Col Adekunle Fajuyi.

Fayemi said this on Saturday at the funeral service of Fajuyi’s wife, Madam Eunice Fajuyi, whose remains were laid to rest in Ado- Ekiti.

According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, the governor noted that the legacy of the late Fajuyi was built upon the foundation of Ekiti values that is consistent with the tradition passed down by the Ekiti forebears.

He added that Fajuyi’s legacy was the path that upcoming generations should follow.

Fayemi added that the Ekiti identity of integrity and commitment has forever been etched in the hearts of Fajuyi’s primary constituency, the military and the whole country through his sacrificial life.

While justifying the state burial given to the Fajuyi matriarch, Fayemi said there was the risk of allowing the larger-than-life persona of Col. Fajuyi to overshadow the nobel role that Madam Fajuyi played in supporting her late husband during his lifetime and her dedication to the preservation of his legacy.

Fayemi commended the Fajuyi matriarch for stoically bearing widowhood as well as managing single parenthood with grace and wisdom.

“In my opinion, the fact that the late Col. Fajuyi (a husband, father and family man at the time) chose the high road of Honour at personal risk, is a testament to his assurance that he had a spouse who would not question the values that informed his decision and who was up to the task in keeping the home front,” he said.

In his sermon, the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti, Most Revd Felix Ajakaye extolled the late military governor for offering his life to preserve the unity of Nigeria which was under threat by mutinous soldiers who had come to kill the then Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi.

Ajakaye noted that Fajuyi’s preparedness for death made him willing to sacrifice himself for his guest and boss; adding that everyone must also be equipped with the same mentality of sacrifice that has preserved the integrity of the Yoruba race and the unity of Nigeria.

The bishop commended the state government for giving the Fajuyi matriarch a state burial, which he described as a remembrance of the life and times of Adekule Fajuyi.

The Ndigbo community was also well represented at the funeral with different Igbo groups in full traditional attire singing and dancing in praise of the late Fajuyi’s heroic deed.