Family, friends remember Deji Tinubu

For many, it has been so hard to say goodbye or forget the memory of accomplished sports entrepreneur, the late Deji Tinubu. It was a year on Friday, January 25 that the late Special Adviser on Commerce, Industry and Co-operatives to Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode passed on. For his remembrance, friends and family members gathered at his Victoria Island, Lagos home for a prayer for the repose of his soul. While on Sunday, January 27, a special memorial service holds at the RCCG City of David Parish, Victoria Island, where Deji and his immediate family worshipped till he breathed his last. There will also be a symposium organised by his Company, Sports Vision in conjunction with Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, with the theme: ‘Combining Education and Sports (Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions)’. The event holding on Tuesday January 29 at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos will have Chief Segun Odegbami as the Guest Speaker and Deji’s widow, Mrs Yemisi Tinubu as Special Guest.   

Deji, the scion of late Alhaji Kabiru Tinubu, foremost police topshot and lawyer, had slumped while playing a novelty football match with some members of the Lagos State Executive Council at the Jubilee Chalets in Epe on January 25, 2018. Doctors and nurses rushed to give him first aid. In fact, Dr. Jide Idris, the state Commissioner for Health, was in the stands, and was one of the people who applied first aid on Deji but he could not be revived. He was taken to the General Hospital, Epe where he was confirmed dead.

Born on July 31, 1964, between 2000 and 2004, Deji was the Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Council. He was at a time an executive committee member of the Nigeria Football Federation. Deji, who is also a nephew of All Progressives Congress national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, gained recognition as a radio and television sports analyst as one of the founders of sports broadcast organisation, SportsVision, with his business partners Deji Omotoyinbo and Bode Oguntuyi. His smooth and flawless analysis on sports matters, especially football, endeared him to viewers for years. The cast then excelled and thrilled with their late night exemplary and well-packaged show of 90 minutes on Africa Independent Television (AIT). He’s survived by his aged mother, Iyalode Bintu Tinubu, wife, Yemisi and their two children – a boy and a girl and his younger brother, Jubril Adewale Tinubu, billionaire tycoon and co-founder, Oando Plc.