Baba mi, as he loved to be called, was a man loved, feared, adored, respected and recognised by many. I still find it difficult to use the past tense to describe him. His memory is 'is' to me and cannot be 'was'.
I am trying to compile thoughts about you babami.
Strong man, a man of integrity. His yes was his yes and no was no. He was a diplomat. He knew how to negotiate and made peace with men. He was a peace maker and he enjoyed to keep the peace.
He taught me so many virtues. One of them is time keeping. My dad will not be late to an event. If he was attending an event billed for 12pm, you can trust that my dad will be there 15mins before the time. He was on time, despite the unstable and unpredictable nature of Nigerian life where it is difficult to plan because of traffic, no fuel and so many other incidentals. My father will be on time.
My father taught me that a clean environment was next to Godliness. I remember way back when he will make us sweep the main road of our street then in Festac. The compound had to be clean. We had an almond fruit tree that shed its leaves in November and trust me; he made us sweep beneath the tree sometimes thrice a day. He could not stand a dirty environment.
My father taught me that hard work does not kill. He showed me by example that there is a reward for hard work. Work hard at studies, at work and any other thing and surely there is a reward.
My father taught me that education was key in life. It is the hope for the next generation. An enlightened mind is a liberated mind. An educated mind is an advanced mind. An educated mind is one that is cultured ready to be developed for greater works. Education of the mind is an exercise you don't compromise. My father!
He taught me that an idle mind was a devils workshop. So he will encourage me to read the newspapers at a very early age of 6years. He encouraged me to have a discourse with him on the things I read in the papers with him.
My father, baba mi, my father. Loving you so much even in death.
