Williams: The man, his politics, his past
The Source chronicles the life and time of the late Lagos PDP gubernatorial hopeful, Funsho Williams

Late Funso Williams

By Chidiebere Onyemaizu
Anthony Funsho Williams, until his assassination on Thursday, July 27, 2006 was by no means a minnow in diverse areas of human endeavour. Before he berthed in the murky waters of Nigerian politics during the transition programme of the late despot, General Sani Abacha, Williams had already put in more than two decades in the Lagos State civil service having joined it in 1974.
His sojourn in the state civil service somewhat came to a climax when one-time Lagos State Military Administrator, Colonel Olugunsoye Oyinlola appointed him the State Commissioner for Works. Instructively, Oyinlola himself is today the elected governor of Osun State.
Having been swept aside alongside his principal, Oyinlola, during one of the regime’s redeployment of state military administrators, Williams who was not re-appointed by the new helmsman in the state, then Colonel Buba Marwa, took a plunge, headlong into the politics of that era, berthing dramatically in the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) – one of the “five fingers of a leperous hand” as the late Justice Minister, Bola Ige described the five parties that existed during the Abacha era.
Though then touted as the party’s favourite, Williams’ gubernatorial quest was to be dogged by the bitumen issue. Notably, throughout his 32 months in office as Works Commissioner, Williams and his boss, Oyinlola claimed to have searched for the road making component without apparently hitting the right formular. This, however, did not make sense to Lagosians who desired results rather than efforts. The effect of this dearth of bitumen was that Lagos roads remained in utter state of disrepair throughout that period.
However, upon assumption of duties in the state, Marwa dramatically broke the bitumen jinx and then fixed the roads. He instantly became the toast of Lagosians while insults were hauled on Williams and his former boss, Oyinlola. Thus, during his campaigns for the UNCP ticket, the bitumen issue remained a reccurring decimal confronting him.
Described as one of the foremost grassroots politicians Lagos State has ever produced, Williams never allowed the bitumen issue to becloud his gubernatorial quest. He was then always quick to assert that as far as Lagos politics was concerned, he was the main issue. Thus, in an answer to a reporter’s question, Williams had retorted: “Why not? Have you done any empirical research to find out who the most popular aspirant is in Lagos today? Go and find out.”
And for the vexed issue of bitumen, Williams had ready-made defense: “We knew where to get bitumen. Only by importing. But there was no go-ahead from the presidency. We applied, made entreaties, pressurised but the order didn’t come for us to go ahead and import. Remember the bitumen plant at Kaduna had stopped functioning. Every state had that (Bitumen) problem... by the time we were leaving, the presidency gave the order...Marwa was lucky that he came in at the nick of time.”
The bitumen issue was not the only controversy that assailed his political ambition during the UNCP era. His traducers had alleged that Williams was not a full-blooded Lagosian. They allegedly traced Williams’ roots to Ogun State. But again, Williams shot down this allegation. “My parents,” he had stressed, “are Lagosians. I am not bothered about that because I don’t want to lend dignity to rumour. So I discontenance such frivolities, it is a non-issue.”
Though the assassinated frontline politician was favoured to pick the UNCP ticket, however at the twilight of Abacha’s infamous transition programme, a political re-engineering of sorts laced with brinkmanship, saw the UNCP Lagos gubernatorial ticket tilting towards William’s rival in the contest, Durosimi-Etti.
A self-confessed believer in the power of God to make and unmake, Williams who had at the height of his struggle for the UNCP ticket in 1997 declared thus: “I believe in God, and I know if it is the will of God, I will not only secure the UNCP ticket but will also become the next executive governor of Lagos. Mine is not a do or die phenomenon; I am a man of God that reposes his fate in providence.”
That opportunity presented itself to Williams at the dawn of democracy in 1999. He was among the politicians of the progressive leaning who midwived the Alliance for Democracy (AD). In AD, Williams, operating under his formidable political platform, “the justice forum,” where virtually all his supporters in UNCP found accommodation, argurably bestrode the AD.
The 1999 AD gubernatorial primaries in Lagos State later turned out to be a straight contest between Bola Tinubu, the incumbent Lagos State Governor and Williams. Bringing into play his amazing grassroots politics, Williams, who is popularly called “captain" by his admirers, was said to have won the AD primaries – beating Tinubu hands down. But the AD elders, largely made up of octogenarian Afenifere leaders reportedly put their feet down, insisting that one of their own – somebody from the NADECO stock – should wear the governorship crown of Lagos State, and not someone who was reportedly frolicking with the military junta while they (NADECO) bore the brunt of the struggle for the enthronement of democracy. Thus, as it were, Williams was said to have been prevailed upon by the party elders to subsume his gubernatorial ambition under that of Tinubu. Till today, watchers of Lagos politics swear that Williams was the real winner of Lagos AD gubernatorial primaries in 1999.
However, apparently coming to the grim realisation that he had no political future in the AD, Williams soon decamped to the rival People's Demo- cratic Party (PDP) and subsequently became the party’s governorship flagbearer in the 2003 elections. Till his death, his supporters believed that Williams actually won the 2003 gubernatorial election in the state but some political manipulations later threw up Tinubu for the second time. This line of thinking gained currency when, weeks after the results of the election had returned Tinubu, the INEC website curiously displayed results which awarded victory to Williams. His opponents, however, described the strange occurrence in INEC website as an evidence that the PDP was bent on rigging Williams in-to power.
Before his demise, Williams, regarded as one of the pillars of PDP in Lagos, was already warming up for yet another electoral contest. Posters advertising his renewed ambition dot every nook and cranny of the state.
Williams was also apparently not prepared to allow his old political adversary, Tinubu a respite, hence he (Williams) occasionally bought newspapers to criticise the governor and his policies. In one of such publications, entitled, “365 Days To Go.. Promises, Promises... Promises,” Williams chronicled Tinubu’s alleged maladministration since coming to power and concluded that the governor had largely not fulfilled his campaign promises.
One of his last major political outings was his visit to the site of the collapsed four-storey building where he berated the state government for not putting in place contingency apparatus for such disasters.
Regarded as detribalised, Williams’ wife is said to hail from one of the South east states while his first son is married to the daughter of former Information of Minister under Abacha, Dr. Walter Ofonagoro, an indigene of Amaigbo, Orlu, Imo State. Born on May 9, 1948, Williams attended St. Paul’s Catholic School, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, St. Gregory’s College, Obalende and University of Lagos, Akoka where he studied Civil Engineering. He later proceeded to New Jersey Institute of Technology, United States of America (USA), where he obtained a Masters Decree in Civil Engineering in 1974.
Williams, a devout Catholic, upon return to Nigeria joined the Lagos State Civil Service. He rose through the ranks to become Permanent Secretary, before being appointed as Commissioner for works by Oyinlola. As a seasoned Engineer, Williams made a great input in the design and construction of the Third Mainland bridge, Carter bridge, Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja and Opebi link bridge, among others.
Before he made his debut in politics, he was a director in several companies including Julius Berger, Cappa D’ Alberto and Ajaokuta steel company. Williams’ last public office was the chairmanship of the Board of Directors of the National Maritime Authority (NMA).