Count Down To Tobi Ijaya’s 40-Day Prayer: Daughter Speaks About Dad In New Memoir

Copied from the Memoir “The Street and The Crown

“My Dad Was More Than a Father”
Perhaps the most powerful voice at the funeral was that of his daughter.
Speaking with remarkable composure, the London-based daughter struggled to compress years of affection, memories and conversations into a few minutes before mourners.

Her tribute was not about the union.
It was not about politics. It was not about the controversies that sometimes surrounded the world in which her father operated. It was about a daughter remembering her father.

She spoke about the distance between London and Lagos, but also about the emotional closeness that distance could not destroy.

She remembered his patience.
She remembered his love.
She remembered their conversations.
And she remembered something that, in ordinary times, might have appeared insignificant — his greeting.

But grief has a way of turning ordinary things into priceless memories.
The words she once heard routinely from her father had suddenly become words she could only remember.
“And hearing those words became something I looked forward to,” she recalled.

Then came the sentence that appeared to capture the many dimensions of the man she had lost:
“My dad was just more than a father, he was a son, a brother, a husband, a family member, a friend…”

In that moment, Toba Ijaya ceased to be merely the NURTW organising secretary.
He became somebody’s son.
Somebody’s husband.
Somebody’s brother.
Somebody’s friend.
Somebody’s father.
The daughter’s tribute moved mourners at the ceremony, with reports describing people wiping away tears and applauding after she finished speaking.

The 40th-day prayer will therefore also serve as the formal presentation of The Streets and the Crown, the first-ever biography dedicated to Toba Ajiboye.

How to Get a Copy

The book is available for ₦5,000 per copy.

Interested buyers can make payment to:

Echonews Newspapers Limited
Access Bank
Account Number: 0054545616

After payment, buyers are requested to send their payment receipts to any of the following contacts:

• Kunle Awosiyan: 08032178602
• Yusuf Olatunji: +2347033654689
• Confidence: 08108442296
• Mary: 09128232584
• Rasheed Obe: 08025378799

The Streets and the Crown: The Life, Rise, and Legacy of Toba Ajiboye (“Toba Ijaya”) is published by Echonews Newspapers Limited.