The name Funso Oduntan may not be popular like the face that carries it, that is because he is popularly known as Toronto in Kosofe Local Government, his place of abode. Hon Toronto as he is fondly called is a man of many faces. He is a young, dynamic and active humanitarian and philanthropist. His humanitarian activities made the people plead with him to join politics and this is because the political platform would afford him the opportunity to touch more lives even as an individual.
Mr
Funso Oduntan is a realtor per
excellence, businessman and politician who has made the grassroots his place of
primary assignment and Kosofe his practical field of assignment. Mr Odutan has been supporting different political
leaders since he joined politics and he has always been a part of the winning
team. A lot of people have asked him why he is not running for any political
office yet and why he has enjoyed supporting people and seeing to it that they
eventually emerge as winners.
In this exclusive
interview with City People’s Brands Editor, DAMILARE
SALAMI 08155134152, Mr Odutan revealed
why he’s not keen on running for any political office yet among several other interesting
topics. Below are excerpts from the interview, enjoy.
Mr Toronto, can we talk
about your political antecedents in Kosofe Local Government?
Apparently, I started
politics in Kosofe local government as a rookie in 2017 and in 2018
I showed my interest in running for the house of assembly and in 2019,
I pull all my weight behind Hon Sanni Gani Okanlawo who
eventually emerged. It was a great feat for us and a great experience for me
personally and it’s been fun all the way. I’ve worked with different aspirants
from the incumbent Senator Abiru who emerged after the death of Senator
Bayo Oshinowo aka Peperito. By the grace of God, I worked closely
with our present chairman and he has been active all the way to make sure that
the glory of our party, APC is felt in Kosofe as a whole.
2017 is not too distant
a time but the experience has been enormous. Would you like to tell us what
prompted you to join politics?
What prompted me
basically is service, service to the people and humanity. Apparently, I’ve been
a community person from day one, from Gbagada to Ifako and environ, we’ve
done different activities community-wise and they deemed it well along the that
I would do well in the field of politics in other to have a wider touch on the people
and with that, I got encouraged to join politics and ever since, it has been APC
and we’ve not looked back.
You appear to be a core
grassroots politician. Why did you decide to play your politics at the
grassroots level?
Politics is local and
anyone that’s going to do politics and is not doing it at the grassroots level
is not ready to do politics. Your people must feel your impact. There’s an
adage that says that charity begins at home and the holy bible also says that
the husbandman must be the first partaker of the fruits. So the people that you
represent must feel your impacts first before other categories of people. Therefore,
politics, first of all, is local and it’s at the grassroots; so, it is for the
people, by the people and to the people.
How did you get your
nickname Toronto?
Ah! It’s a long story
and a long time ago. It was way back when I was in school, in fact, when I was
in secondary school. I used to do sports when I was in secondary school and
that day I was wearing a particular jersey with Toronto written on it. I
apparently did well that day and that was how they started calling me Toronto.
The name has stuck with me ever since.
Before politics, what
were you doing?
And what I’m still
doing right now… I’m a realtor, a businessman and I have my hands in the real
estate business. My company is fairly doing well in real estate, that’s all.
Politics and real
estate are two different and difficult ventures to combine. How are you able to
do this so effortlessly?
It’s been tedious I must
say, but when you have a round peg in a round hole, it seems to be easy. I have
good people around me to take the pressure off me. I have very good hands
that work with me in the real estate business and when it comes to politics, its
service, it is something you shouldn’t get tired of no matter how stressful it
may be. You need to be ready and be happy to serve no matter how tedious it may
be. By the grace of God, we’ve been able to put it together, it’s not been easy
but it is important to also state that people that need to go into politics are
the people that are engaged. They must have something they are doing already
and are very successful at it. You shouldn’t come from nothing to say that you
want to serve the people. I have been using my resources at the community
level. We are not new to the community, we’ve done free eye tests at some points
to the whole of Kosofe, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we did palliative
so, we’re used to giving back to the people. Politics is just a name given to
the activity; it is actually a way of life.
Politically, what are
we expecting from Hon. Toronto? You haven’t run for any political office, why?
I must say this when
you are in terrain, you need to study that environment very well. We have
great hands in Kosofe right now, in the person of Hon Ganiu Okanlawon that
we are pulling our weights behind for a second term in office and we need to
take it one step at a time. When it comes to the chairman, we have a very
young, vibrant and capable man who is also doing wonders for the people of Kosofe.
So, I believe that with time, the tide will also swing to another side which
will also be the right side.
Why are you routing for
Hon Okanlawon so much, you’ve mentioned his name a couple of times in the
course of the interview?
I will say that he is
the people’s man, he’s a grassrooter and I identify with him from the days of
the late Hon Bayo Oshinowo (Peperito) and he hasn’t failed. He touches the
base with his people, he loves his people and he stands for his people. What is
leadership all about? Representation and he’s doing it beautifully well. So, why
won’t anybody want to support a man like that? Take a look at him and the
synergy between him and the LG chairman, Barrister Moyosore Ogunlewe, it’s
fantastic and nobody wants to change a winning team. Barrister Moyosore stands
for the young people, he’s giving hope to the people and his generation and
honestly, I would want to stand by him over and over again.
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