Alhaji Azees Arisekola Alao,
Going by your deeds and acts when you were on the face of the Earth
You will be in Aljaanah
You were not a saint
You were human
And Allah knows this
But your good deeds superimposed your wrong acts
and God forgives
I am sure Allah would have forgiven you
But for me
Wale Ojo Lanre
But I don’t know why I should forgive and forget you
Forgive and forget you in a hurry?
God will punish me if I do.
And I will never
Why should I forgive and forget a man who called me Onitemi?
I cannot forgive and forget you because …
You
were a priceless philanthropist, the best so far
Though I never demanded any financial obligation from you
You never turned down anyone who I referred to you.
Let me remind you why I will never forget and forgive you for being a rare
kind man
Some years past
A mentor, brother of mine and benefactor of mine
Who is not from my state
Who is one of the best politicians in Nigeria now
Was a Senatorial candidate of a party
Nice intelligent guy. A visionary and an accomplished professional
Who has brilliant ideas but no funds for his ambition
And we love this man to partake in the election
I quickly made a call to you
Alhaji AAA
You asked me to send your number to the DPN candidate
Which I did
Two days later
You left a message through Soga Oke
GSM was not yet in Nigeria
A period of analogue telecommunication
Poor one foisted on us by ITT of MKO fraudulent business
To see you in your old Bodija home at 5; 30 am
I never knew you had invited my Mentor and brother
He was seated in your visitor’s waiting room downstair
While I was ushered into the one on the first floor
You put on the while Jalamia
As you sighted me
You called me “Wale Ojo Lanre Onitemi ”
You now sent for the visitor downstairs
A Muslim name which you fancied so well
You went to the room
And twice you came out
With two Ghana – Must – Go bags
walahi talai
filled to the brim
With money, the highest denomination then
Handed over o me
“O le gbe fun Egbon re bau. ”
And I immediately handed it over to that responsible fellow
Who was accompanied by one of his friends
The man was shocked
Yes shocked at your sheer and rare philanthropic gesture with nothing attached
“ko de mo mi o . Wale o se o . “( and he did not know me from Adams )
But the DPN senatorial candidate was shocked
On getting to his BMW car
He said “Wale, wa mu tie ninu owo yi. Iwo lo se at least,
Emi ko mo Are ri ”
He was in a greater shock
I looked at his face
” Sorry, I will not take a kobo from this money. It is meant for your campaign ”
The man could not believe this
‘Wale, mo ni ko mu any amount se ”
‘Moni mi o mu se “(I had only 50 nairas on me. And Moyo was complaining of
the paucity of money last night )
He looked at me and said
You will never regret this
And I have never regretted that action
And you want me to forget and forgive you for raising my status
For helping my brother, friend and benefactor
You called me Onitemi, the meaning and reason I don’t know
I also remember that day at Ibadan Airport
Just a coincidence meeting.
A friend needs an introduction to a bank
You said “Onitemi, I will help Inshallah ”
And you did.
I remember when I was preparing to wed.
the news filtered to you through my mentor
Dr Victor Sowemimo Omololu Olunloyo
And you told Dr “egbon mi onitemi ko ni so fun mi
omo Ekiti ti ki bere owo ”
You indeed sent an album
The copies there were no photos but cool naira
I promptly diverted half of the naira on my uncompleted first house in Ibadan and lavished the remaining on the wedding.
When you read about my tourism strides
my sojourn in Israel
You promised to send me to Mecca to see the mighty work of Prophet Mohammed ( Peace Be Upon him )
Too nice. Too compassionate. Too fatherly
No one enters your house and goes out without smiling
You are the best.
The best
And the best
And they want me to forgive and then forget you
I will never
You will Rest in Peace
You are Resting In Peace
Rest on Onitemi
