MY TEN KOBO; OBANIJESU@50

Today, I most heartily welcome my brother, friend and mentor , pastor Adegbenro Adebanjo a.k.a Stical, to the elders table.

Idowu ogbo, abi kere leti, tomba sunlo, a si ma jato.
Adegbemiro oko Olubunmi Abiola
Owo baba Opemipo, baba IseOluwa
Ekun baba Oyinloluwa, awo GKB
Omo won ni Okun Owa,
Ana won ni Ekiti,

Omo Olowu Oduu, omo aji fi epe seere.
Omo Oba to nko gbodolo si oko ni igba ojo, ko ma fese ko ere.

OBANIJESU,, Pastor, Writer, Journalist, Media guru, political strategist, University administrator.
Loyal, articulate, considerate, reliable, generous, compassionate.

I remember back in the day,
At our hostel, Sodeinde Hall, PG wing, UNILAG,
When you showed me three letters of employment. And I asked you which one you will chose.
And you said you had prayed on it.
I then asked 'How can you tell?'
And you then looked at me with those ever smiling eyes, and said " Yes, I can tell, because it is TELL!
( By the way, it took me years to get that joke)

And from TELL Magazine,
To Ogun State Government as CPS,
And now to FUTA as Director of Public Affairs,
Your humanity, and your spirituality, were never diluted by the exigencies of office, nor tainted by the allure of power.

You remain today, as always, our own Stical:
Never refusing to help those in need, always available to counsel those who are down. Never too busy to pick or return calls from your friends, and never carry on as if you are the best thing since abula was invented.

And it is by doing that, and not simply by saying it, that you know an Omoluabi, an Eleniyan.

Happy 50th, paddy mi. Wa gbo, wa to, wa fi owo pau, wa fi erigi je obi.

Igba odun, odun kan, Obanijesu Idowu.

My Ten Kobo+