In the nineties a Lagos Lawyer, Moronfolu Abayomi was shot dead in a Lagos courthouse at the Tinubu Square, on August 25, 1923, after rounding off a case. This incident happened three months and 15 days after the Barrister wedding day.
Abayomi’s killer is said to be a popular Lagos entrepreneur and “big boy”, Duro Delphonso, from the renowned Delphonso family. Duro Delphonso was having a legal battle with his Insurance Company and the case was taken to court which brought Barrister Moronfolu Abayomi on the case, he was hired by the Insurance Company. As the case proceeded, the young barrister was able to fish out things clearly that Delphonso committed arson on his home and business in order to defraud the Insurance Company.
On August 25, 1923, when Duro Delphonso was being led out of the court to begin his prison sentence, the convict shot Abayomi with a revolver and turned the same gun and shot himself. Barrister Moronfolu Abayomi was rushed in a transit in order to get him to the hospital for medical attention, later he was pronounced dead due to excess blood loss while he was in a transit to the hospital. Duro Delphonso was also hospitalised, but he refused to be treated and died six days later on August 31, 1923.
The Barrister’s young widow, Oyinkansola Abayomi was devastated and refused to love any man again but six years later, in 1929, a young doctor, Kofoworola John, was able to show her love and asked for her hand in marriage. Oyinkansola gave the Doctor a condition in order to accept his proposal that Kofoworola John bore the name of her late husband, which is Abayomi, and let go of his own name – John. Surprisingly, he agreed and they got married the following year in 1930.
They were married for the next 48 years until Doctor Kofoworola Abayomi’s death on January 1, 1979. He was 82. Lady Oyinkansola Abayomi lived longer to attain old age of 93. The popular Kofo Abayomi Street in Victoria Island, Lagos, is named in the honour of Doctor Kofoworola Abayomi #HistoryVille
