It was the end of an era Friday, April 14 as the remains of frontline Ibadan socialite and businesswoman, Yeye Justina Iyabo Ogundoyin was lowered into the Ogundoyin Vault inside Adetoro Estate in Eruwa, Oyo State. The deceased —mother of Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin— died in the United Kingdom on Sunday, March 26 at 63 after battling a stroke.
She was laid to rest beside her husband —late Eruwa-born billionaire, Chief Adeseun Ogundoyin— at the private vault. The late Tina from the Anyakudo Royal Dynasty in the Ekwe Kingdom of Imo State was a prominent face on the social circles in Ibadan and Lagos.
Since her sudden death, hordes of top dignitaries and family friends thronged her Iyaganku GRA, Ibadan home to commiserate with the family. And they were also present to give the society matriarch a befitting farewell during the three-day funeral programme. Her final journey started with a service of songs on Wednesday, April 12 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. It was followed by a motorcade procession to Eruwa for a candlelight procession, lying-in-state and a wake. On Friday, April 14, a funeral service was held at the Eleruwa Stadium before her interment inside the family vault. Hundreds of dignitaries were later treated to a reception at the DEC Hall in the heart of Eruwa.
Until her late billionaire husband, Chief Ogundoyin’s death in 1991 at age 51, the ever-gorgeous late Tina was, somewhat, a private woman with little activities politically —she was the last of the late philanthropist’s four wives. She had four children for him and never remarried. However, a few years into her husband’s demise with substantial fortune inherited as well as her own thriving petroleum retailing business, Tina, famously known as Queen of Sheba, became more of a society woman than politician as she rocked the Ibadan social scene.