Adebowale Fadairo dies three weeks to 78th birthday

The remains of Adebowale Fadairo, chairman of The Fadairo royal family of Owu-Abeokuta, Ogun state, will be interred at Grailland Iju Hills, Lagos, on Thursday.

Fadairo, who would have been 78 years on July 21, died after a brief illness, on Saturday.

He was head of chemicals marketing at National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company (now ConOil Plc), a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum Development Company, where he retired in 1998.

He spent 18 years in the oil sector. He had previously worked as senior marketing executive at Berger Paints Plc, which he joined in 1977 after a stint at the Customs and Excise upon completing a master’s degree in chemistry at the Governors State University in Chicago, United States.

Fadairo spent his retirement years running Flowale Farms, which specialised in large scale animal and crop farming of international standards.

He was an adherent of the Grail Message and strived to live his life “according to the Truth”.

Widely travelled, he spent the last decade leading the Fadairo Descendants of Amororo Ruling House as the Olori-Ebi and spearheaded innovative programmes.

Under his charge, the Fadairo Descendants launched into the global scene with its family tree hosted on MyHeritage website with hundreds of family members’ data incorporated. It is one of a handful of families having such sites in Nigeria.

During the leadership of Fadairo, the right previously denied the family in contesting for the Olowu of Owu-Abeokuta throne was restored.

According to Kola Fadairo, acting chairman of the Fadairo Descendants, the deceased “loved all and sundry in the family and was always looking out for their good. We will miss his dearly.”

Peter Omole, an old schoolmate of the deceased at Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos, described his bosom friend of over 63 years, as a mix between being rascally and gentle.

“He could talk but never violent. He never had any physical combat with any of his classmates. In the early 70s whenever I went to attend a regular conference in Phoenix Arizona, his residence in Chicago would be my last point of call before returning to Lagos,” he said.

Omole, who was his friend’s best man at his wedding, further said of Fadairo: “We will all miss Debo, especially his classmates at MBHS the 57/61 set, and the generality of the Old Boys’ Association of the School.”

Muyiwa Akintunde, former general secretary of the Fadairo Descendants, described Fadairo as a leader in a million.

“He was a stickler for time and paid attention to details. He was totally committed to the family celebrating whenever we celebrated and sharing our grief when that came upon us,” he said.

He is survived by five children, nine grandchildren, brothers, sister, nieces, nephews and several other relatives who also held him as a Father figure.