THE Ekiti State government has confirmed that the late deputy-governor of the Ms. Funmi Olayinka, will be interred on public property, near the tomb of the late martyr and first military governor of the defunct western region, Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi.
The area, named the Fajuyi Park, is a well-known attraction in the state capital of Ado-Ekiti and it has received considerable government attention in upgrade and renovation in recent years.
Ms. Olayinka died on April 6 at the age of 52, reportedly from complications of breast cancer.
The state governor had shortly after he death announced that a state burial would be held in her honor on April 26, and burial preparations are already in high gear.
Olayinka would be the second such indigene of Ekiti to get such honor after the late Col. Fajuyi, who as an uncompromising soldier, was killed along with the then Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Johnson Aguiyi–Ironsi, on July 29, 1966, at Lalupon, Oyo State.
Aguiyi–Ironsi had visited Fajuyi at Ibadan, the capital of the Western Region, when the incident occurred.
The incident consequently led the Nigerian Civil War between 1967 and 1970.
Government sources in Ekiti State also disclosed that Olayinka would also get full compliments and benefits attached to her office since she died on active service and that her tomb would be located almost adjacent to the Government House