Olusunle at 60: Mystery man with a large heart

BY SERIKI ADINOYI

As we all roll out drums to celebrate Prof Tunde Olusunle, a man that has impacted his generation in many ways, I just realized that I have never met him in person.

Yet this man has changed my perception, my reasoning and my views about about life in general. He has also impacted my views about politics and politicians in many ways.

How could a man that I have never met impact me so much? What’s thick about him? How did I become one of his fans?

It all started with a phone call a few years ago…. “Hello Seriki, I got your number from your Editor, Tunde Rahman and your MD, Eni B.

“I had discussed with them about a job offer that you may like. So, I got your number from them to enable me reach you.. After this call, I will be sending you two email addresses. Please, send your Curriculum Vitae (CV) to them, and I will get back to you later.”

Of course, I was taken aback. How could a man that I have never met discuss about job offer for me with my bosses? How did he know me? In this difficult times, if a man has job offers I thought he should first think about how to corner them for his little brothers and cousins, I queried within myself.

But the voice that spoke with me sounded too sincere to be that of a fraudster, and the details he gave me about my MD and my Editor convinced me that he was out to manipulate me.

And if there’s a job for me, should he have called my employers to discuss with them? Does he want them to sack me? The questions were endless, but I needed to act.

I immediately called my wife and told her my encounter with the strange man, and she advised that I call my MD to confirm, and that I should be discrete about it.

With nervousness, I picked my phone and called the MD.

Mind you, my MD is man of few words. “Sir, a man called me and told me that he had discussed me with you. He asked me to send my CV. Is it true sir?”. He simply answered ‘yes’, and that was all; no further information. Haba!

I wasn’t satisfied with that, so I called my Editor. His words are not as few as those of the MD. I expected to hear more from him. “My Editor sir, a man called and asked me to send my CV to him. He said he has discussed with you. His answer too was “yes, send”. I tried to ask further questions, but he hung up. His words became few that day.

Well. I took the “risk” of sending my CV to the unknown man, who later turned out to be my advocate.

He reconstructed my CV and sent it back to me, and it was like wow! The same CV I sent was now looking different and better.

I later got to understand that is a name in Nigeria, especially in the media world. He had worked with former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a Special Adviser. Had had also worked with Military and Civilian Governors in the past.

The government of Governor Idris Wada in Kogi State at the time, needed to engage someone to work with His Excellency, and Prof. Olusunle was contacted, and it was me that came to his mind, a boy he had never met, and indeed has not met even today.

He didn’t just submit the CV, he pursued the job for me, and kept updating me with every development. The rest is history.

But this bulged my mind. How could a man I have never met do this? Who could this man be, and what’s his interest?

But that is him, a man with a large heart. He does that for people. He doesn’t have to know you.

I have made several attempts to meet him, but that has not happened yet. But he has continued to share his thoughts and suggestions on salient national issues with me. He has shaped my views on several issues.

Reading his articles has also groomed me to write better. A couple of times, he has send me some cash to help my life.

How do I celebrate such a good man as he turns 60 today? My family and I have prayed him. He can only grow bigger and better. A man that seeks the good of another can never go down.

Happy 60th birthday anniversary to a man with a heart of gold.

Seriki, PhD, Bureau Chief of Thisday newspapers, writes from Jos, Plateau state.