Encomium
As family moan over daughter forming another company
Late Olatunji Okusanya, the boss of MIC Funerals will certainly not be happy wherever he is now going by the happenings in the family and the business he left behind.
His brothers and his second wife are up against his first child, Mrs. Bolanle Okusanya-Feyita, for dumping the family business, MIC Funeral to establish her own LTJ Funeral International.
Not only this, they also alleged that she poached three staffers of MIC and that she bid for business with MIC from clients.
According to the story making the round on internet, prior to Mrs. Bolanale Okusanya-Feyita, leaving MIC to establish her funeral service, the family which includes her paternal grandmother, Mrs. Juliana Olayemi Okusanya, her father’s siblings and her step mother, Mrs. Debola Apinke Okusanya, held a meeting with her where they told her not to leave MIC.
She was said to have promised to get back to them (family) about her decision whether to continue to work with MIC or not.
But she never did. Rather she relocated abroad and when she returned from her trip abroad, she established her won funeral service.
The talebearer also said that Mrs. Bolanle Okusanya-Feyita grandmother, Mrs. Juliana Olayemi Okusanya called her several times on phone since she left MIC but she did not take nor return her calls.
The story went further to say that the main reason that led Mrs. Feyita leaving MIC was because she did not want to work with her stepmother, Mrs. Debola Apinke Okusanya.
A reliable source told ENCOMIUM Weekly cracks has been in the family right from the moment the man, late Tunji Okusanya died. Our source said the animosity between the first wife, Dame Omobola Erogbogbo who divorced her husband because of the second wife and the second wife, Mrs. Ayinke Okusanya reared its head during the burial.
The cold war between the two women led to the two of them doing separate events for the man during the burial.
For instance, the first wife and her daughter, Bolanle Feyita were conspicuously absent at the wake-keep organized in the late undertaker honour at his Ogudu Estate residence (Lagos) on Sunday, November 17, 2013. Again, at St. John Anglican Church, Aroloya, Lagos, where the funeral service was held on Monday, November 18, 2013, the two woman were sitting separately.
While the first wife was sitting with her daughter, Mrs. Feyita and her late husband love child, Wuraola, the second wife was sitting on another pew with her three children, Opemipo, Ladipo and Nifemi.
The two women did not exchange glance not to talk of pleasantries. There were two brochures for the burial and the two were distributed during the church service. One was coupled by the man’s first child, Mrs. Bolanle Feyita and the other by the second wife. The contents of the two brochures further showed the gulf in the family.
Our source further told us that the second wife was never a General Manager at MIC as being speculated before the man died. She was a pastor in Redeem Christian Church of God according to our source.
Our source referred us to what the second wife wrote as a tribute to her husband in the church programme. Here is what she wrote, “When the Lord called me to set up a church, I was truly blessed by the support you showed me. In those early days before we acquired the church building, you were the one to suggest that we use our home for those early church gathering. You opened our home and welcomed the congregation with warmth and hospitality.”
ENCOMIUM Weekly further gathered that LTJ that Bolanle Feyita established has been a brain child of her brother late Olatunji Okusanya (Jnr) who also died in the ill-fated Associated Airline plane crash of October 3, 2013.
LTJ according to our source is the name Olatunji was using for his own philanthropic organization and business before he died in the plane crash.
ENCOMIUM Weekly sent questionnaires to Mrs. Bolanle Okusanya-Feyita, the Managing Director of LTJ Funerals and the first child of late MIC boss, Tunji Okusanya.
Greetings Madam
The internet is agog with the stories of the feud in your family over your leaving MIC Funerals to establish LTJ Funerals. So, we will therefore, appreciate it if you will respond to our questions which are based on some of the issues raised in these stories.
Is it true that your step mother, Mrs. Debola Okusanya was already a General Manager at MIC before your father died?
Is it true that you took over at MIC while she (stepmother) was observing the traditional mourning period?
Is it true that when she resumed at MIC after the mourning, you refused to work with her and therefore decided to leave MIC?
Is it true that the extended family including your grandmother and some of your late daddy siblings appealed to you to stay in MIC and work with your stepmother?
Is it true that you promised the family to get back to them on your decision on whether to work at MIC or not, but you never did?
Is it true that your grandmother called you on phone several times but you did not take her call?
Is it true that you established LTJ without informing any member of your family?
Is it true that you poached three staffers of MIC?
It is true that you tell your clients that MIC is the same as LTJ?
We sent these questions to Mrs. Bolanle Okusanya-Feyita on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. She responded on Saturday, April 16, 2016, with this terse text message.
“I got your email, thank you. I don’t have anything to say. Hope you have a nice weekend”
However, during the opening of LTJ in June 2015, Mrs. Bolanle Okusanya-Feyita granted ENCOMIUM Weekly an exclusive
interview on why she left MIC.
You were the one running MIC immediately after your father’s death?
Yes, when my father died in October 2013, I ran MIC for six months.
For six months, why?
Because six months is very long time. It was during the six months that I ran MIC that I started thinking about this project. As you can see, this place (LTJ) is bigger than MIC. MIC was able to work without me and I felt it was time for to do this (to establish LTJ).
So, who did you hand over the running of MIC to?
The family members.
The elderly members of the family?
Yes.
Why was MIC taken away from you? Is it because you are a woman?
I ran the company for six months. So, there was no question of whether I am a woman or not. I was the one who decided that it was time for me to do the memorial project, to make sure that my brother’s dream did not perish.
Does that mean LTJ will be competing with MIC?
Not competing with MIC, because MIC does not serve everybody. When it comes to funeral services every company has its own style. There is no competition at all.
Is LTJ a subsidiary of MIC?
No, it is not a subsidiary. It is a different company on its own. It is totally different. As I said, I want something that will serve as memorial for my father. You cannot have a memorial with something that is existing.
So, what will LTJ be doing that will be different from MIC?
LTJ has a young person behind it and that is me. LTJ will be taking funeral services to the next level. LTJ will create an atmosphere that is not scary. When people come to funeral service provider, they are not in good frame of mind.
LTJ will provide a friendly atmosphere to the bereaved families to the extent that they will think they are in a hotel, a place that they can come in and relax.
Magbomowo Industrial Company (MIC) was founded by late Pa Theophilus Oladipupo Okusanya, the father of late Olatunji Okusanya was basically doing casket the. When the son, late Olatunji Adedeji Okusanya took over in 1987, he brought in the MIC Royal Ltd, the all-in-one comprehensive funeral services provider. The name later changed to MIC Undertakers with late Olatunji Adedeji Okusanya still in control as president.
He also introduced his first son Olatunji Okusanya (Jnr) business. Okusanya (Jnr) later established LTJ, a company that takes care of and beautiful grave yard and as NGO to take care of the needy.
But both men died in the ill-fated Associated Airline plane crashed of Friday, October 3, 2013, while taking the corpse of former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu to Ondo State for burial. Since their death, things has never been the same in the family and the thriving funeral business they left behind.
- TOLANI ABATTI
