TEN YEARS AFTER…TAYO AYENI, SIBLINGS REMEMBER LATE FATHER
Yes, if Tayo Ayeni, the chairman
of Skymit Group, would define his father, he would claim that the wall of his heart was lined with gold and silver; he would say that he lived by a moral code that dwarfed old England’s claim to chivalry and honour. Tayo loved Baba 10-10 as he was fondly called.
As the horizon is not the end of the ocean, the children of late Sunday Ayeni including auto magnate, Tayo, did not see their father’s death as the end of his life. Thus, as they have done every other year since he passed in 2007, the Ayenis gathered last Sunday to honour his memory and celebrate his life in a unique way.
Being the 10th year of his death, this year’s remembrance was of a different hue and form. Though there was no elaborate party, their native Ilesa in Osun State where they were all born and bred, shook to its fabric as Tayo and his siblings scattered all over the world made sure to be present for the 10thyear remembrance. After the church service, there was an entertainment of guests at the family house of the Ayenis. The Ayeni patriarch popularly called ‘Baba 10 10’was a prominent businessman back in the days. Perhaps the most prominent of the Ayeni children, Tayo founded Skymit Motors in the mid-80s. Aside Skymit, which tends to the auto needs of the rich and powerful with showrooms across Lagos, he is also into properties.