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Mrs Dayo Akin-Taylor Ekong is the House of Representatives candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Etiosa Federal Constituency, Lagos State for the 2027 elections.
The daughter of the late eminent business mogul, civil engineer and philanthropist, she was the Lagos State chairman of the Labour Party when the party defeated the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the presidential election in Lagos State in 2023..
In an interview with Saturday Sun, she spoke about her childhood, her irrepressible nature from her early years, her foray into politics, and how she and her sister narrowly escaped death when the car their car ran under a truck while returning home drunk after attending a party.
She also spoke on other issues.
How was your growing up?
My father was the late Chief Akin Taylor, an engineer, and a very prominent person in this country. He brought up all his children with so much discipline.
I attended Mayflower School, Ikene, Ogun State, Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, Abeokuta, and Federal College of Education in the former Gongola State, now Adamawa State.
What led you into politics?
I went into politics about 1983, while I was in school. My classmates in secondary school will tell you that even as a junior student, I believed that everybody should be treated fairly. I remember something that happened about 1975 or 1976.
The senior students that were ahead of us just took power; became senior prefects and so on. They started oppressing the junior ones; punishing them for no cause, but I have always stood my ground. You can’t punish me for no reason; you have to tell me why you are punishing me.
So, I went to school a week later because I had an accident on my left leg, when a car ran into me, and I was still living with Plaster of Paris (POP), and the senior students just entered the dining hall and started commanding everybody to put down their cutlery, kneel down and hands up, but I kept on eating because I knew that wasn’t meant for me. So, they came to me and said, ‘Akin-Taylor, are you deaf? Didn’t you hear?’ I said, ‘to do what?’ They said, ‘kneel down.’
I told them to show me how to kneel down. That is me. You can’t punish me without telling me the reason you are punishing me. They had nothing to say. I finished my food and I left the hall, and a few of them followed me.
I was a tall girl, and was not afraid of anybody, and so was ready for anything that would happen. I told them I was not going to serve their punishment, and nothing would happen because I didn’t commit any offence.
Because I left the hall, everybody left the hall. In the whole school, everybody got their freedom that day.
Eventually, this thing got to the house mistress, the late Reverend Adebiji’s wife, and she now reported it to the principal. They investigated, and saw that I didn’t commit any offence, and those seniors were punished. The punishment was for all of them to cut their hair; when they had done that, they rioted, and were looking for Akin-Taylor that day because she was the one that caused it. Anyway, I escaped. I grew that confidence in myself that my responsibility is to protect people.
I remember in my secondary school, the dormitory was not far from a cemetery, and the students sometimes would shout that they have seen ghosts, and would be afraid to move, but I would tell them to just follow me; I would always lead them.
When I got to Yola in those days, I didn’t even ask for that position during the student union election, but a lot of the northern boys came to me and said, you have to go for the office of the vice president, as they already had a candidate for president. I did, and effortlessly won.
So, 40 years later, when our alumni met, they said everybody should introduce him or herself.
When I introduced myself as the first female Vice President of the Students Union, they said, no other female student has attained that after you; no female today has been able to attain that feat.
Student union election in the north then was like war, it’s not like what we see right now. God has always been by me and with me.
I just stand for what is right, and people know me for that. I believe that we just need to do the right thing at the right time.
And effortlessly, I don’t ask for accolades or anything. When people are looking for people who are forthright, even in my family, they know once I say, this is where I’m going, I stick to it even if I’m alone, as long as God is with me.
Where I am today, and how we won the 2023 election in Lagos, when I was the chairman of the Labour Party in the state, it was God.
If you schooled in the north when I was there, even if you didn’t have heart, you would develop one because it was during our days, we had the Maitatsine incident, where they would slaughter pregnant women, bring out babies, and so on. It was a very difficult time.
This thing that is happening right now in the north, started when we were in school, but at a different level. The way it is right now, we didn’t see it coming. We just saw it was a religious thing, but it has escalated and is out of control right now.
But for people who schooled in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; who schooled in the north, they will tell you that this is something they experienced, and by the grace of God, they were saved when they were there.
The 35 per cent affirmative action for women to occupy political positions in the country is yet to be implemented. Why are women afraid of entering into politics?
Women are not afraid of entering into politics. You can see that the tempo has gone down because it’s so sad that women are being suppressed and marginalised in this country. Nobody gives value to what we bring to the table. I will tell you this. What happened in Lagos during the 2023 elections is because when a woman wants to work, she puts in her all, even in the face of adversity and danger. And men should know this, even in this country.
A woman wants to work, directly or indirectly when the men are out there working; she manages the man, manages the children, manages the home, and manages her business or her work.
It’s a gift that God has given us. But Nigeria is a patriarchal society, where we have the males dominate the females, and they don’t even give the women enough room to express themselves.
You saw what happened to the likes of Natasha in the Senate. It’s really sad. How many people do we have in this House of Representatives that are females? Some of them have been dropped now. It’s sad.
Look at the countries that are excelling – Tanzania, Kenya, etc you see how women are well represented.
It is the fear of Nigerian men because they don’t want to be queried. They want to be living reckless lives, where they are not accountable to anybody.
But a woman feels a sense of responsibility, she believes that for whatever she does, she has to be accountable. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there are no bad eggs among the women. We are not 100 per cent perfect. I’m saying that Nigerian men have suppressed women because of our male dominance culture.
I even expect new parties like NDC that say 50 per cent payment for party form should even make it free for females. Encourage us to come out. How many elected women are in Lagos? I can count them at the tip of my fingers.
How many women have been given tickets to run, and we’re saying 35 per cent? What is 35 per cent? Even at the rating right now, we’re at the bottom of the ladder. I think we can do better. We can give women the chance to run and to come out for election, to vie for positions, and hold them accountable, and let’s see the difference.
That is why I’m going to make a difference. A lot of people have been going to the House of Representatives and Senate from Eti-Osa. Once I get there, you will see the difference, and it will be crystal clear.
When you were growing up and now, who was and who is your role model?
My father first, because a lot of things that I do today were initiated into my life by him. I worked with him. My mother was a nurse. She was the chief nursing officer for the state before she retired and passed. And my father, the late Chief Akin-Taylor was a very astute, very meticulous, very disciplined person for all those that knew him. And we always talk about it.
The first thing for anyone to get right is for him or her to have the right foundation, to have been given or imbibed the right culture from childhood. In my home, you have to hold on to the truth even if you are wrong. That was how I was brought up.
There was no room for sluggards to be with my father, because even at 74, he was still working as an engineer, constructing buildings, estates, and so on. He was still working. So, you can’t be with him and say you would not work.
There was nothing like, I’m a rich man’s daughter. Because he would tell you that his parents did not leave anything for him. So, you, these children, if you think you want to inherit my property without working hard for it, you have another thing coming.
He would say that he would be one to enjoy the fruits of his labour, and if you annoy me, I will even give it out to charity. So, everybody has no choice but to be on the same track and imbibe the right culture, principles, and discipline growing up. And that was the food and diet.
I thank God, because my life history will not be complete without my pastor; Pastor Wale Oladeni of Christ Living Spirit Apostolic Ministry. He was the person that actually led me to Christ and groomed me in the way of the Lord. My parents were Christians.
But you know, a Christian growing up as a child is different from when you actually know what it means to be a Christian. Pastor Wale did a lot in my life, and I will always respect him and be thankful, be grateful for the way and manner he taught me; he nurtured me into Christ with all the love in him.
And now, Pastor Itua Ighodalo is also my mentor. Why I like Pastor Ighodalo is because of his simplicity. He’s very passionate about the masses. Anybody that has the passion for the masses has my admiration because that was what my father represented while we were growing up. He was very, very passionate about the masses. He would tell you that there’s no difference between you and that house boy. It is the same thing with me.
I remember one of my workers then; this particular young man was quiet. You would never see him gossip with workers and so on. One day, I took interest in him, and I asked him why he was doing a cleaning job? He said that his mother died during childbirth, and his father has been left alone, and being the first child, he has to support the father to work and take care of his younger siblings. I asked him if he wanted to go to school, and he said yes. I sent him to university. He read mathematics and he is a computer guru right now.
I remember one funny thing that happened in my house when I adopted this boy as my child. I told him that he is also my son, and would stay with my first son in his room. My son said, how? How can you? No, it’s not going to happen, this is my house. I said this is my house too, and he is my son; I’ve adopted him. My son said, you are always doing this. Every time you bring strangers from the streets to our home. So, that is part of me, and how I grew up.
That is why I’m so passionate about giving. I’m not doing it because I need any accolades or people to hail me where I go. It’s in me. And that’s why my mother used to call me my liberal daughter. Because being liberal is part of me.
It’s not something I went to learn. It’s just that once you are passionate about other people around you, you do it effortlessly. So that is who Adedayo is.
I remember when we had the reunion of our alumni, and my restaurant was then in Victoria Island. So, I decided to use the reunion of the Lagos Chapter to open the restaurant. It was not yet open before then. They had the reunion there, and when they wanted to pay us, I told them it was free, and they were surprised. I didn’t do it because I needed recognition.
But I was shocked when they all went on the platform to say that Akin-Taylor has not changed, and that we remember in school when she would buy clothes to sell, and she would end up giving half of it out. She would give this person free and told her not to tell anybody because she was selling the clothes, and would do the same to others.
But unknown to me, this person would confide to the other that Akin-Taylor has given her clothes, and warned her not to tell anybody. That was how they would be telling one another until they all realised, they have got free clothes from me.
One said, she remembers that every Saturday, she would fry Akara for everybody, and also sometimes cooked for them to eat. I love to cook; it is one of my passions.
You would see students lining up in front of my room with their custard or pap. One said, ‘I’m totally going to make my custard so that she can give me Akara.’ Another would say, ‘ah, my custard is getting cold.’ I would say, you, come and take your own first before your custard gets cold.
It’s just something I enjoy doing effortlessly. That’s part of me. It’s not because I need anything. That is what I also want to bring to Eti-Osa.
If you should turn the hands of the clock backwards, are there things that you have done that, if given another chance, you would do them anoher way?
Yes. So many. I would apply wisdom sometimes because as a child I would speak out the way I felt at every point in time. And growing up, I have discovered that sometimes it is good to be quiet.
I was a stutterer when I was growing up. So, out of anger, I must express it, and if you annoyed me, I was ready to fight. But I don’t fight anymore.
Now, I’m a pastor, and we are preaching against it. Though I still exhibited it initially until Pastor Wale brought my head down a bit to calm me down.
I’m just expressive and outspoken, and I thank God for my dad to an extent, because he believed that you should be able to express yourself irrespective of the environment, and that has shaped my existence.
But if there are things that I shouldn’t have done, maybe it was partying recklessly as a young girl because I would have lost my life one day, drunk, going back home.
My sister and I were drunk. We almost entered under a trailer. Since that day, I have said no. No more again. Apart from that, I don’t really see what I will do differently.
But I will never change who I am. That aspect of me that is liberal, I will never change it.
With all these, are you an activist?
I am, and I have not changed. That is the truth of the matter. When you get married, sometimes they reshape your mindset to an extent, and you begin to ask who will take care of your children? And so on and so forth.
But I thank God that I am still who I am. Activism is in my blood, and it can never change.
