Funsho Williams: The man who could have become Lagos Governor
Fawehinmi noted: “What we have been witnessing recently is not democracy by politicians, but a mindless display of craziness by members of the political class, and unless quickly checked, the democratic edifice will surely collapse and we would have ourselves to blame for the unprecedented flow of blood that will follow.”
Williams was a thoroughbred gentleman and could best be described as a true ‘Omoluabi’. His cool and calm mien and his record of success in the public service earned him admiration and respect among the Lagos populace. In an interview with The Punch in July 2013, his second son, Babatunde, described him “as a very private person…very dedicated to his job. A very quiet man and loving father.” Babatunde’s description confirms that Williams wasn’t Janus Faced, that was exactly the part of Funsho Williams many Lagosians knew, and were already rooting for him to succeed Tinubu in 2007 before he was murdered barely a year to the end of Tinubu’s second term in office.
Babatunde Williams describes late Funsho Williams as “a caring and loving father”. Photo: tundefashola.com Designer: Oludare Ogunbowale.
He obliged and allowed Tinubu to run as AD’s candidate but moved to PDP to run against Tinubu. Before then, he was a member of United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), the dominant political party that endorsed former military dictator General Sani Abacha to run for President in the August 1998 presidential election, but never held due to Abacha’s death in June 1998.
A civil engineering graduate from the University of Lagos with a second degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology, United States, Williams would later run for governor under the PDP in 2003 while Tinubu ran for second term but he lost to the incumbent, polling 725,000 votes against Tinubu’s 911,000. Before his political career beckoned, he had worked in the Lagos Civil Service as an engineer for 17 years and retired as a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works in 1991. He ran his own private company and served on the board of several companies like Julius Berger, Ajaokuta Steel Company and Cappa and D’Alberto Plc.
He would later return to Lagos public service to serve as Commissioner for Works under the military administration of Olagunsoye Oyinlola (1993 – 1996) and that was when his vision to serve Lagos grew bigger – he wanted to be governor and he was well positioned as the leading contender for the 2007 governorship election.
“He was a very unique politician who truly desired to serve his people and to add value to lives,” ex-governor of Lagos, Babatunde Fashola, told William’s mother, Madam Abiodun (right) and widow, Hilda Williams (left), when he visited the family in July 2008.
“Politics for him was a natural progression. It was a means to an end for him and not an end in itself. The passion to continue public service was the driving force for him,”
Babatunde said. “After serving as commissioner, he felt the only way to realise his desire to further develop the state and touch the lives of Lagosians was through politics.”
Sadly, Captain, as he was fondly called, never fulfilled his dream to govern Lagos before becoming another victim of political assassinations that swept across Nigeria at that time. He was strangled to death in his Dolphin Estate home in Ikoyi on July 27, 2006.
“His hands tied and lying face down in a pool of blood on a dagger, wrapped with a newspaper,” Prof John Obafunwa, the Chief Forensic Pathologist of Lagos said in his witness before a Lagos High Court. He added: “Based on our findings, the deceased’s death resulted from asphyxia or lack of air intake, due to manual strangulation, while the wounds found on the deceased can be described as defense wounds.”
On June 30, 2014, the court acquitted the six suspects (Bulama Kolo, Musa Maina, David Cassidy, Tunani Sonani, Mustapha Kayode and Okponwasa Imariabie) standing trial over Williams’s death. 14 years after, many Nigerians are still puzzled with the question – who killed Funsho Williams as no one has been brought to justice.
Babatunde Williams (right) appointed as Senior Special Assistant on Corporate Matters and later as CEO Lagos Ferry Services by ex-governor Babatunde Fashola.
He left behind his wife Hilda Williams and their four kids. He was laid to rest at the Victoria Court Cemetery in Lekki on August 10, 2006. To honour the man who would have become Lagos state governor in 2007, by popular opinion, the state government renamed the popular Western Avenue in Surulere Funsho Williams Avenue.
At Williams’ funeral, Rev Father Mary Vin Ubili described him as a politician who embraced politics of ideas as the basis for getting power to serve humanity. “He was a man who stood above men‚ literally and figuratively. He stood above six feet and usually wore a serious look,” Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour wrote in his tribute to Williams.
This story was first published on August 8, 2020.
