I have no reservations whatsoever in joining many others at home and abroad today, Saturday, April 29, to celebrate the birthday of the man popularly known as Otunba, Dr. Mike Adenuga on the occasion of his attainment of the landmark age of three scores and ten. It is trite knowledge that 70 is the Biblical age. The average time of longevity in Nigeria is 54, a country bedevilled by many existential crises and issues.
Living up to the age of 70, in a country
where death is cheap, poverty is rife, political leaders are not trusted, the
road lies in wait to grab harvests on a daily basis - is in itself an
achievement. It is therefore fit and
proper to celebrate Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr. on the occasion
of his 70th birthday. Born on April 29, 1935, he is seventy today, and he truly
deserves our applause.
In the past week, I have seen a surfeit of tributes and announcements. One particularly notable one was posted by Aare Dele Momodu, one of Otunba Adenuga’s many proteges and beneficiaries, on his social media pages. Aare Momodu tells us that today, to be precise, there will be no loud parties… Otunba Adenuga has chosen to be at home with his family to reflect on an unprecedented trajectory; thanking God for seventy years of abundant grace,
(2) that those who wish to celebrate with him should do so in modesty and simplicity which reflect his own reclusive personality;
(3) that he would be delighted to have the younger generation read about his epic battles for success and imbibe some of the extraordinary attributes that catapulted him to being one of the most enigmatic icons on planet earth;
(4) Dele Momodu says Dr Mike Adenuga Jnr has dominated the
business space in the last four decades with investments in commodity trading,
real estate, banking, oil and gas, telecommunications, manufacturing and
construction. … and (5) he adds that Mike Adenuga is a most generous giver and
a silent donor to worthy causes…” I concur. Seventy years of achievement.
Seventy years of glory.
The only part of this advisory that I think
will not fly is the build-up story that Otunba Mike Adenuga is going to spend
his special day, today, ensconced with family, reflecting on his 70 years, in
line with the virtues of modesty and simplicity and a reclusive personality.
Yes, I know, that Otunba. Mike Adenuga is a self-effacing personality. With all
his accomplishments, you won’t find him making noise at social events, throwing
money around or trying to prove that he is a big man, as Nigerians say. But
come off it, he is 70 today. He deserves to stage a dance and sing a song.
Where I come from, every birthday has what I
call implications because birthdays are not for dying, they are for
celebrations, not monastic ruminations and hibernation. Otunba Adenuga’s aides
should be told to urge their boss to celebrate. God has been kind to him.
Adenuga at 70 is an occasion for pepper soup and jollof rice, and let no one
tells him to restrict the feast to his family. The other day when Tony Elumelu,
Chairman of United Bank of Africa (UBA) turned 60, I was quietly in my house
when they sent me jollof rice and other gift items which I received and
consumed with relish. When, a few years earlier, Nduka Obaigbena, the publisher
of this newspaper, turned 60 we all went to Eko Hotel, the rooftop oh, not any
small space, where we all had fun and took photographs. I ate and I took
something home!
Can someone please drag out Otunba Mike
Adenuga, today and let him have fun, as we all join his friends and family to
wish him a happy birthday, because he is indeed a jolly good fellow, an icon, a
role model, a man with a good heart and a dependable guy. He is one of those
persons that President Muhammadu Buhari referred to the other year when he
talked about diamonds that make Nigeria great. Mike Adenuga is indeed a fine
representation of the Nigerian dream, one of those who gives hope to younger
generations that it is possible to achieve, excel in whatever you put your mind
and energy to, and surpass your dreams.
Michael Adenuga is identified with two major
animals as totems of signification: the first is the Bull. The Bull is the
second sign of the Zodiac sign: Taurus, an earth sign relating to persons born
between April 20 and May 20. Persons born under this sign are cosmic oxen,
steadfast, loyal, and ready to roll up their sleeves and get results. Apart from
Otunba Mike Adenuga, one other Nigerian, in fact, the only other one that I know
who goes by the epithet “the Bull” is Daniel Amokachi, the ace footballer and
legend. Daniel Amokachi even in
retirement is one of the best that ever played football. There are men and
there are persons. I submit that our subject in this commentary is a man. It is
not for nothing that Otunba Mike Adenuga is portrayed in other representations
as a lion. The lion is the king of animals.
In his many expeditions in the course of seven decades,
Mike Adenuga has indeed proven himself to be
a king. I mean this in the literal sense without prejudice to the fact that he
is the son of a princess of Ijebu Ode, who married an Ijebu-Igbo man, whose
burial is recorded as one of the most befitting and colourful in contemporary
times, nor the fact that Mike Adenuga is a first cousin of the Ogbagba II,
paramount ruler of Ijebu Kingdom, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, one of the longest
living monarchs in Nigeria having spent more than 60 years on the throne. My point is that Adenuga had royal blood in
him, but he became king not in the palace, but on the streets of struggle and
self-realization. Despite his privileged
background with noble connections, he actually sent himself to school in the
United States.
Business schools teach case studies, and the
models can be organizational or individual-specific. I once sat in classes
where the subject was about CEOs – what makes them tick, how they think, how
they are made, and why they do what they do. Mike Adenuga would prove to be a
classic case study and a source of lessons for the younger generation. Some of
his critics, and I am sure there would be many out there, are likely to say
that he is a lucky guy, who managed or happened to be in the right place at the
right time. After all, he attended Ibadan Grammar School. Founded in March 1913,
Ibadan Grammar School was one of those top elite schools in Ibadan, of Anglican
Church extraction. This was the school
that Mike Adenuga attended.
The school also had on its alumni list,
Justice Franklin O.M. Atake, a distinguished jurist, Chief Ayo Rosij, lawyer,
politician, former Minister; Chief Michael Omolewa, the industrialist; my late
boss, mentor, benefactor and employer, Mr.Alex Ibru, founder of The Guardian
Newspapers and the Sheraton Hotels, Dr Olusegun Agagu, former Governor of Ondo
State, and Chief Bola Ige, lawyer,
politicians, author and former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.. The
school also had the reputation of having had as principal and founder, the late
Pa Bishop Alexander Babatunde Akinyele who brought much-distinguished glory to
the school.
We had a lecturer, Mr. Sonny Samson-Akpan, in
Calabar in those days who never failed to remind us that he attended Ibadan
Grammar School. If we wanted to prod him, we would point out that Ibadan also
had Government College, Ibadan (GCI) which had an even more glowing story. The
truth is that once upon a time in this country, alumni and alumna of different
schools used to compete for glory. They were proud of their alma mater. But
that is another story entirely.
After
Ibadan Grammar School, Mike Adenuga went to Comprehensive High School Aiyetoro
for his A’Levels as it is called. “Compro,” as that school was popularly known
was one of the best schools in Nigeria’s Western Region. It had excellent
teachers, offering American-styled education. It provided a truly comprehensive
education across disciplines and subjects. Products of the school, from that
era, even till today, still go about as if they are on stilts, although the
school like many others of that glorious season has changed form, content and
substance.
The Adenuga story is that he later went on to
the United States for further education, and there, working as a taxi driver,
he sent himself through college, getting a first degree from Northwestern Oklahoma
State University and a graduate degree from Pace University, New York, majoring
in Business Administration. The man we are celebrating today is that taxi
driver, I think they call a taxi driver, a cabbie in the US, who is now 70 and
is known as one of the most accomplished men on the African continent.
He became an entrepreneur quite early, buying
and selling. He was already a millionaire by the age of 26. He sold lace and
soft drinks. By 1990, he had diversified into many areas of enterprise and industry,
banking, oil and gas, entrepreneurship. In 1990, his company, Consolidated Oil
and Gas, (CONOIL) had struck oil in commercial quantities in the shallow waters
of South Western states of Nigeria. He also founded a bank, now defunct - the
Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB).
He is also today, the Chairman and Founder of
Globacom, the second largest telecom operator in Nigeria, with a significant
presence in other African countries including Ghana and Benin Republic. Adenuga
is regarded by Forbes and other wealth-watching groups as the second richest
man in Nigeria. Adenuga is the second richest man in Nigeria and the sixth
richest in Africa. To bring that to the level of the common man, each time you
make a call on the Globacom network just to say “Hello My Neighbour. How are
you today?”. Mike Adenuga makes money. He mints money.
I have been attending classes in
International Political Economy taught by Professor D. K. Ologbenla who has
been treating such subjects as the Theories of Capitalism, the definitions,
scope and essence of political economy the Tenets of Capitalism, International
Aid, Multinational Corporations, IMF/World Bank, and in all this he talks about
the capitalist as an agent for wealth production/creation, property
acquisition, job creation and value addition. In other words, whether you view
capitalism from the laissez faire, neo-liberal perspective or the communist
conception, capitalism ultimately adds value, and it is better to have a
balanced perspective of the various propositions.
Otunba
Mike Adenuga is one of those capitalist agents involved in trade and industry
and one of the most impactful in Africa, promoting prosperity and economic
growth. It is instructive that he has
been honored by his own country, Nigeria, as a Grand Commander of the Order of
the Niger (GCON), the second highest honour in Nigeria. He has also received
high honours from Ghana, and France where in 2018, President Emmanuel Macron
conferred on him the prestigious Commander of the Legion d’Honneur. In
Ijebuland, he is Otunba Apesin.
He is also one of the top-most influential
Africans alive today. But the key thing is his promotion of welfare capitalism,
his commitment to charity and community (the three Cs), philanthropy, and the
manner in which he constantly gives back and helps to recreate society. I have
read quite a number of tributes in the last week, from persons who have given
testimonies of how they have benefitted directly from his generosity.
As someone who has known him since I was a
young, very angry, activist, journalist, I have been a beneficiary of his many
acts of generosity. I don’t intend to tell those stories here today. I would
rather reserve my “Adenuga and I stories” till another date. Most of our people
are too envious. I don’t want to put anybody under unnecessary pressure as in:
hen hen, is it Reuben Abati alone? I don’t want to attract the attention of you
people who put eyes and mouths in other people’s matter. This is about Otunba
Michael Adenuga: his humanism, his accomplishments, his heroism.
He has done so much for the land of his
birth: creating wealth, prosperity, opportunities and building lives. As he
turns 70 today, I urge you to charge your glasses and let’s propose a toast to
this great son of Ijebuland, Ogun State, Nigeria, Africa, and a global, bridge
builder across the world as he turns 70. Is Bella reading this? Bella Adenuga
(now Mrs Disu) is Otunba Adenuga’s daughter, if you are there, please bell me.
I will tell you my address, for the onward
transportation of my own Birthday mende-mende as they say in Yoruba language.
Even the great Michael Adenuga must know that it is not fair for him to hide on
his birthday today. Happy birthday sir. Many Happy Returns. Cheers.
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