His group, the Network Alliance had such a strong grassroots following that everyone accepted it as a forgone conclusion that Funsho Williams would become the next Governor of Lagos State. But fate had other plans as the Abacha transition died with Abacha and Williams along with his group joined the Alliance for Democracy where he vied to be the nominee of the party, this time with the backing of old stalwart, Alhaji Ganiyu Olawale Dawodu.
was indeed declared winner of the primaries but the results were manipulated and both he and Pa Dawodu were persuaded to allow Senator Bola Tinubu run for Governor instead, as one of those who had been a part of the anti-Abacha movement via NADECO. A few elders dispute that involvement‚ but thats a story for another day.
Funsho Williams understood the art of statecraft as a means of service to the people rather than a means to wealth and understood that the pursuit of power must never be at the expense of the blood of anyone else. Unlike some politicians that seek to grab, control, milk and convert public service and political sits in to family heirlooms, Funsho Williams was offered the senatorial seat of Lagos East but he ceded it to Adeseye Ogunlewe who indeed won the seat but soon defected to the PDP along with Funsho Williams when it became clear that Gov. Bola Tinubu was not going to honour the agreement that had been reached when Williams conceded the gubernatorial ticket. Funsho Williams bided his time but soon defected to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2001 providing a rallying point for the party in the state.
Williams was the candidate of the PDP but Bola Tinubu became more of a frontline campaigner for Obasanjo than Funsho under the guise of Yoruba solidarity. A meeting was arranged by the gubernatorial candidates of the party across the Southwest including Olusegun Agagu, Gbenga Daniel, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Ayo Fayose, Rasheed Ladoja and Funsho Williams along with Chief Bode George and some other party stalwarts where Obasanjo clarified that his alliance with the AD was only to shore up support but the PDP gubernatorial candidates still had his backing.
The PDP swept all the other SW states, except Lagos, where Bola Tinubu deployed every tactic in the book to prevent a Funsho Williams victory in 2003. Again Funsho Williams was offered a National ministerial position but true to form, he declined, keeping his eye firmly fixed on Alausa.
Towards the gubernatorial contest of 2007, Funsho Williams was set to run again and this time he was even more formidable and a massive threat to those who wanted to use Lagos State
On July 27, 2006, Funsho Williams was found bound, strangled, and stabbed at his home in Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, an exclusive and wealthy neighborhood in Lagos.
On July 28, 2006, two people were arrested in connection with his death. One was his campaign manager, and the other was a senator and former Works Minister Kingsley Adeseye Ogunlewe. Ogunlewe was also hoping to be the PDP Gubernatorial candidate.
Williams was laid to rest at the Victoria Court Cemetery, Lagos. He was survived by his wife, Hilda, and four children.
Those who killed Funsho Williams are still among us today but so is the spirit that moved the man Funsho Williams whom his close friends called Captain, admirers called Omoluabi Eko and whose politics was so gentlemanly efficient that those who were his rivals felt they had to kill him in order to thrive.
With this murder, the gentleman politician became a liability, in its place thuggery was glorified, election violence and the elevation of reformed touts to the highest levels of governance. To be a politician, it was no longer about your education, ideas, vision, integrity or pedigree it was about the number of thugs you have and how many thugs you can deploy to suppress voters and disrupt otherwise peaceful elections.
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