A former Bishop of Kabba Diocese in Kogi State, The Right Reverend S.S Olayanju, has said that the family of the late Rev. Jide Fagboyegun, deserves adequate compensation.
Olayanju who was the provost of St. Andrew's Cathedral, Imola Owo, Ondo State and later became the Bishop of Kabba Diocese of the church of Nigeria, (Anglican Communion) said that what he witnessed in 2000 royal crisis in Owo town leading to mass destruction of the business interests of the Fagboyeguns, was a great injustice considering how the family had been a major employer of labour in the state.
Speaking at his country home in Omuo-Oke in Ekiti State where he is now spending his retirement, Bishop Olayanju said "their (the Fagboyegun) head office at Oke-Ogun was attacked."
He added that "their personal residence at the same location, the three storey building where the family sold assorted goods, their gas station and egg crates manufacturing plant at Old Ikare road got destroyed".
Bishop Olayanju said hardly had anyone he personally knew in Nigeria has ever had his or her faith tried like the two couple. "But they (the Fabgoyeguns) kept praying for Owo town.
"While Fagboyegun , the entrepreneur, died in July 30 2008, his wife, Florence Olawunmi Fagboyegun (nee Olafimihan), the matriarch of the family, died on May 17 this year. She would be buried next to her husband in the graveyard of the St David's Cathedral, Ijomu Street, Akure on June 21.
As the people of Owo town in Ondo State prepare to join others in ensuring a befitting funeral for Madam Florence Fagboyegun, one of its most notable citizens, again the unanswered questions about the immediate and remote causes of the 2000 communal crisis, arson and destruction of lives in Owo community, have once more come to the fore.
Royal fighters reportedly loyal to the Olagbegi ruling House in Owo were said to have misjudged the leaning of the Faboyeguns in Owo royal squabble, as they allegedly descended on his business concerns in the community.
Many of those who obliged to speak on the passing on of Mrs. Florence Olawunmi Fagboyegun said that the attack on the family and what it stood for are from envy and the mischief of politics.
The colossal and towering economic contributions of the Fagboyeguns naturally, makes anyone to believe that their businesses and properties in the ancient town, the whole streets have recently witnessed huge transformation, should want to ask for the remains of Mrs. Fagboyegun to be interred at Owo.
"The people of Owo love to see her as a kind of Moremi, the heroine of Yoruba folk history, who delivered her clan, Ile-Ife, from the terror of invaders and killing war machine of the Ugbos. Moremi sacrificed her only child, Oluorogbo, and got the divine commitment of the Esinmirin river goddess to guide her espionage foray to the palace of the king of the invaders, learnt the secrets of the enemies and paralyzed strategies and tactics that eventually led to the defeat of the enemies of Ile-Ife people," a source disclosed.
Chief (Mrs.) Adebola Taiwo Dada, the Iya Ijo of St David's Cathedral, Ijomu, Akure who met and became friends with the late Mrs. Fagboyegun in 1949, said the family also contributed immensely to the gospel of Christ. She said she and the late Mrs Fagboyegun struck and maintained strong bonds as young women who worshipped and served at the St. Andrew's Anglican Church at Owo.
Their husbands, Canon Johnson Olajide Fagboyegun and Late Mr. Michael Dada, a well known educator and school principal until his death in 1977, were also friends.
Culled from http://allafrica.com
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