In this piece, adapted from Festus Adedayo’s column- Flickers in Nigerian Tribune, insideoyo.com’s Sikiru Akinola extolled the virtue of a former commissioner for finance in Oyo State, Adedeji Zaccheus Adelabu, who clocks 40 today.
His late father, an indigene of Iwo-Ate community of Ogo-Oluwa local government area of Oyo State, was a cocoa merchant. Every market day, Pa Adelabu would leave his hometown and travel several kilometres, to sell cocoa. Most times, especially during holidays, young Adelabu would accompany him. Through that, in Oyo Town, he made new friends. But he was not unmindful of what his parents were going through; he was determined to change everything for good.
To enable concentrate on his studies and assist his father whenever he comes to Oyo, he was later transferred to AFIJIO (one of the local government areas in the town), to complete his secondary school education. He was one of the best in his class. He would later proceed to the Federal Polytechnic, Ede where he bagged distinction in accountancy. This qualified him for a scholarship award instituted for indigent but brilliant students by late legal luminary and human rights crusader, Chief Gani Fawehinmi. At the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where he had been admitted to study through direct entry, he shone like a bright star, he replicated what he did during his ordinary national diploma (OND) days in Ede; he graduated with a first class in accounting. He is one of the accountants to have been chartered at a very tender age in the history of accounting profession in the country.
In 2011, barely seven months after his 33rd birthday, he was appointed commissioner for finance by Governor Abiola Ajimobi, becoming the youngest person to have occupied such a position. This was after he had attained managerial position few years after working diligently with an American multinational company- Procter and Gamble, (P & G). Till date, he is one of the most sought after in the state and beyond. He has assisted not a few numbers of Nigerians, especially the youth. Like they say, a golden fish has no hiding place, he was, only few days ago, towards the last days of December 2017, appointed chairman of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, ATBU, Teaching Hospital, Bauchi by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Below is ‘Olo’un Mbe At 40’ written by Dr. Adedayo to celebrate him:
One bane of the Nigerian youth is that the young boys and girls do not take their time to cultivate mentors. As such, it is very easy to wander away in the wilderness of life. Someday when it is ripe for this writer to tell his story, he would recount how the life of one of the fallen journalists of The Guardian, Kris Imodibe, whom Charles Taylor made barbecue of in the Liberian civil war alongside Tayo Awotusin of the Champion newspaper, was the path this writer trod into journalism. That is a story for another day.
Because, according to the holy writ, there is nothing new under the sun, virtually every aspiration has got a precursor. So for a youth who aspires to be somebody in life, patterning their ways and lives towards that of some icons in society would sure yield bountiful dividends.
One young man whose life should be a bible to read for upcoming youths in society is Zaccheus Adelabu Adedeji. He will be 40 years tomorrow. Adedeji was Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State between 2011 and 2014. Adedeji typifies that biblical exhortation of a diligent man whose space is assured with the mighty in society.
From myth-like stories of his battle with lack and poverty while growing up, Adedeji fought a titanic battle against this undesirable twin. He hails from the country called Iwo-Ate, Ogbomoso in Oyo State and spent considerable time tilling the ground with his mother in the farm. But while hunger daily hit his belly, he made up his mind that the quest to acquire the golden fleece was a battle of his life. And gradually, through thick and thin, he entered the polytechnic to study accountancy and up to the Obafeemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, where he came out with a First Class in Accounting. Those who knew him in school said he was an embodiment of the humble background he hailed from. However, he paraded a brilliance that is rare among youths of his age. Providence brought his unusual brilliance and native intelligence in contact with the management of P & G, an American multinational, which recruited him upon coming in contact with his deposit of human intelligence. From there, Adedeji shot up to the management cadre of P & G in a few years. At age 33, he was appointed head of Oyo State’s Finance ministry and by the time he left in 2015, he had acquired M.Sc. in Accounting. Today, he is a doctoral student in the same field and school.
While in government, Zach’s name was a refrain on every pair of lips. He helped the needy with a baffling resolve that speaks to his desire not to forget where he came from. A story was told of a woman he once encountered on the Oyo/Ogbomoso road whose baskets of tomatoes were flung off the moving taxi one morning. The woman was said to have thrown herself on the road, literally asking death to come and finish her up as all her investments had been incinerated by those mangled tomatoes. Having driven past, Adedeji was said to have asked his driver to reverse the vehicle. He reportedly uplifted the benumbed woman with a cash gift which, till date, the distressed woman must have concluded came from a benevolent angel sent from heaven. His quip was said to have been, if his mother had been faced with such fatality while he was in Iwo-Ate, he probably would not have risen to where he is today.
The talk at the state secretariat was that, while some politicians are born with wickedness lining the edges of their beings, taking gross pleasure in inflicting pains on their fellow beings, Adedeji would rather die than not leave a positive impression in the life of anyone he comes in contact with. Perhaps this philosophy informs his riposte, Olo’un mbe (there is God) whenever anyone acknowledges his goodness. While we join the fray to give Nigerian politicians the back of our tongues, characters like Zach impose a restrain. Here is wishing Olo’un mbe many happy returns.
