Urhobo News

The Ernest Sissei Ikoli Foundation on Sunday announced the passing of Elsie Ajayi Ikoli.

Elsie Ajayi Ikoli departed this earth on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, in the quiet of her Lagos home — not with fanfare, but with fulfillment. She was 93.

A statement issued in Lagos by the Ernest Sissei Ikoli Foundation described the death of Elsie Ajayi Ikoli as a big loss to the people of Bayelsa and Lagos in particular and Nigeria in general.

“Mama Ayo, as friends, family members and neighbors called her, was a good mother, a church servant and a quiet revolutionary. She turned duty into destiny, grief into gospel, and labour into love. She also turned scarcity into a sanctuary for her children with hands calloused by labor and a heart softened by grace”

The statement by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Ernest Sissei Ikoli Foundation, Chief Anthony George- Ikoli, said the death of Elsie Ajayi Ikoli has robbed Nigeria of a seasoned business icon.

“Elsie Ajayi Ikoli was a woman of the altar, industry and unyielding grace”

The statement highlighted Elsie Ajayi Ikoli’s intellect, resilience, wisdom and sobriety.

“Mama Ayo’s mind was a boundless library. She devoured books not for ornament, but for illumination — a habit that would later become the quiet engine of her wisdom”

The statement highlighted  professionalism, apprenticeship in nation-building and her role as Executive Assistant to the First Editor of Daily Times, Publisher of African Messenger, President of the Nigerian Youth Movement, one of the founders of Action Group (AG) and representative of Lagos in the Legislative Council, Ernest Ikoli.

“Mama Ayo moved with quiet precision behind the scenes of history. While Ernest drafted editorials that stirred the conscience of a colony awakening to freedom, Mama Ayo kept the rhythm of his days — managing correspondence, organizing schedules, shielding his genius from distraction”

A tireless and cheerful woman who could be counted on, the statement said Elsie avoided the spotlight that focused on Ernest Sissei Ikoli through his long political career.

“In her presence, chaos yielded to order. In her silence, purpose found its voice. She did not seek the spotlight, but stood steadfast in its penumbra — a dutiful woman, an unseen architect of legacy, ensuring that the man who helped forge Nigeria’s voice never lost his own”

The statement recalled the period when the mantle of the sole provider fell upon her shoulders.

“Mama wore it not as a burden, but as a covenant. She became a staff member and major distributor for Abbott Pharmaceuticals during its pioneering years in Nigeria — a time when Similac and Isomil were not just products, but promises whispered into the cribs of a hopeful, growing nation. With grit and grace, she out-distributed her peers, not through force, but through faithfulness – waking before dawn, returning long after dusk, her arms laden not just with formula tins, but with the nourishment of futures. In her, Abbott did not merely find a distributor — they found a disciple of diligence, a woman who treated every delivery as a divine assignment”

A study in humility, matriarch, cook and counselor, the statement recollected how life exacted its cruel toll on Elsie Ajayi Ikoli.

“The loss of two of her children carved a canyon in her soul — a grief so profound it could have extinguished her. But Mama Ayo did not retreat. She ascended. In the hallowed halls of the Salvation Army, Marina Corps, she entered into a sacred covenant with God — a vow of everlasting service. There, as Welfare Keeper of the Home League Unit, she washed altar linens until they gleamed like morning snow, believing that holiness resided not only in prayer, but in purity of preparation. She folded hope into every crease, ironed devotion into every hem. Her hands, which once balanced ledgers and stacked crates, now cradled communion cloths with the reverence of a priestess”.

The statement emphasized her role in the women’s ministries.

“She was a pillar in the Women’s and Mother’s Ministries, where her counsel was sought not for its volume, but for its virtue. And beyond the church walls, she poured her spirit into the Nembe Women Society (Lagos Branch) — gathering daughters of the Niger Delta in diaspora, weaving community from memory, stitching solidarity with stories. She did not merely lead — she mothered. She did not merely organize — she sanctified”.

Blessed with a rich and agile mind, the statement said Mama Ayo’s worldview was sculpted by sweat and scripture.

“She believed work was worship, excellence an echo of the divine, and failure not a full stop — but a comma in God’s longer sentence. Like the ant she so admired, she saw the cathedral in the crumb, the empire in the errand. She got up early, humming hymns to the rhythm of responsibility. She taught by presence: “Do it yourself, Do it well and Do it now.” Not as a command, but as a creed”.

The statement lavished praise on her for the quiet revolution.

“Her altar remains spotless. Her hands still shape us. Her name — Elsie — “God’s Promise” — echoes in every life she lifted. Rest now, Mama. The Rock you carried has become the monument. The vision you served has become a victory. Well done, good and faithful servant”

The Ernest Ikoli Foundation highlights the values of the late First Republic politician, nationalist and pioneering journalist, Ernest Sissei Ikoli, to inspire present and future generations.

It also promotes the ideals of integrity, unity and service that the late leader championed.