A Jolly Good Fellow!

In 2017, one of the last duties I carried out as the frontline employee of the telecom regulator in charge of legislative relations was to organise a workshop for the stakeholders in the National Assembly, Nigeria’s bicameral federal legislature. Thereafter, I was transfered to another section of public affairs department to head the online media and special publications unit.

It was traditional for the organisation to have a didactic orientation for members of the House and Senate Committees on Communication to enable them glean a modicum of lessons on the trends in telecommunications. It was basically an induction course and it usually takes about a week where experts on different aspects of telecoms are invited to have intensive interaction with legislators to arm them with the knowledge they may require to perform their oversight and ancillary functions.

It was at the 2017 edition of the workshop, which took place at the Protea Hotel, Isaac John Street, GRA, Ikeja, that I met Senator Ademola Adeleke. He was the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications.

I was intimately involved in the programme, so I was quite swarmed. When Senator Adeleke arrived, I sighted him before my colleagues, so I received him and took him to where he was to sit. He was so effervescent with an electrifying warmth. He was quite friendly and joyous and I reciprocated.

Not long afterwards, he came out to receive his niece and handed her over to me. I mean, that was precisely what happened because he took the lady’s right hand, placed it on mine and requested that I take care of her while the programme lasted. He told his niece that I am his friend assuring her of her safety.

After the day’s presentations at the workshop he requested that I join him where he was going with his niece and others who came to visit him. I thought it was a political statement. But he sent his driver to fetch me. When I arrived at the place I met some other people, largely
members of his family. The atmosphere was so lively, you would think he had been away for a long time and just returning home. The kind of bonding in that family is rare and quite worthy emulation. Anyone who’s in doubt should see the relationship between the Governor and his nephew, Davido. Indeed, “every family needs a Davido”.

Interestingly, I haven’t seen the Governor since that time because by the following year I travelled to complete my studies but I’ve got fond memories of that meeting. He’s indeed an amazingly jolly good fellow.

May God engrace him afresh to work for the people of Osun State.