Dotun Sanusi’s 58th birthday and the hard lesson in it for GSM
BY MUTALUBI OJO ADEBAYO
The oil and gas exploration mogul, Engineer Jubril Dotun Sanusi, FNSE, who is the Okanlomo Oodua of Yorubaland, the Otun Apesin of Ibadanland and the Gbonka Olubadan of Ibadanland, celebrated his 58th birthday with funfare, pomp and celebration in a grand carnival/rally-like at the Ilaji Hotels and Resorts, Akanran on Saturday, 17th October, 2026.
The celebration was unprecedented in the history of Oyo State since our state was created in 1976. My late dad, Papa Tijani Adebayo Akanmu Oyagbade (of blessed memory), was an avowed and fanatical supporter of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909 – 1987), was fond of encouraging me to watch the political rallies of the “Great Awo” whenever he came to campaign at Mapo Hill in Ibadan.
My dad, however, would not attend any political rally physically or in person; rather, he watched same on television only and or through his transistor radio with which he also used to listen to BBC and VOA, if there was power failure.
I took after my dad in that I avoided political rallies as much as possible and I also detested it like a plague. However, my avoidance and detesting political rallies is a paradox of contradictions, because I love passionately speeches, songs, dances, proverbs, idioms, commendations, insults, abuses, praise-singing, vulgar languages, rumours, beer parlour talks, pepper soup joints tales, factual statements, falsehood dissemination, empty promises, hyperbolic speeches, great embellishment of facts and issues, misrepresentations, great historical accounts/narratives and revelations and expositions of very top and highly-guarded secrets at political rallies.
“Baba mi” always admonished me to listen with rapt attention to all words said at political rallies, including the unspoken words, actions, gesticulation, drumming, drumbeats, dances and dancing steps and also advised me to understudy all great politicians, so that I could also be able to make use of great words, writings, speeches, and act like them, but with a very stern and clear warning that I ought never to become a professional politician.
Indeed and in truth, I have graphic memories of campaign speeches of the Great Awo, Uncle Bola Ige, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, Alhaji LateefJakande, the Great Lam, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Chief A. M. A. Akinloye, Alhaji R. A. B Abass, Baba Busari Obisesan, Baba Alarape Busari, Alhaji Adewole (an Ahmadiyya), Chief Suliat Adedeji, Alhaji Busari Adelakun, Alhaji Olatunbosun Debosa, Baba Bankole Alate, Chief S. M. A. Afolabi, Chief Alani Bankole and many others too numerous to mention.
I abided and complied with my dad’s express, clear and absolute directive by refusing to be a professional politician and also refusing to join any political party in Nigeria; but after my attempt to register as a member of the APC during their electronic registration exercise in 2022, which registration exercise, fortunately for me, never saw the light of the day.
Engineer Dotun Sanusi brought back the nostalgic memories and reminiscences of those great political campaigns era last Saturday, when he celebrated his birthday. The mammoth crowd that trooped to Ilaji that day dwarfed and reduced the mammoth crowds that I used to see at the rallies of the Great Awo at Mapo Hill to the case of comparing a sea to an ocean. I have never seen the procession of human beings with sea of heads, all of them moving en masse to Ilaji to celebrate and honour Dotun.
I had to alight from my car and abandoned my driver to find his ways to Ilaji later, when there was total and complete traffic logjam of vehicular and human beings. After, I trekked for about 30 minutes from Jegede village, I saw the gubernatorial candidate of APC, Senator (Oloye) Sarafadeen Alli, also trapped and completely held up in the traffic logjam. I stopped by to greet him and I also advised him to disembark from his vehicle, so that we could trek to Ilaji together. But he told me not to worry because the traffic would become controlled and cleared in about 15 minutes time. I had to leave him and continue my movement with other teeming crowds.
After another trek of about 15 minutes, I was lucky to see an okada (commercial motorcycle) who agreed to take me to Ilaji for a fare of N5,000 and I quickly and gladly accepted to pay. That okada rider was very good and best at his job, as he meandered and navigated through the vehicular and human landscapes as well as through bushes and bad roads without causing injury to anyone and without myself falling off from the motorcycle. I really enjoyed the ride and it was a great and novel experience for me.
After about 20 minutes struggle through the thick and thin, we eventually got to Ilaji and I paid the okada rider the sum of N10,000, instead of the agreed fare of N5,000; and he was very pleased.
Alhaji Rasheed Ayinde Merenge was on bandstand at Ilaji that day. His great performance of the best of fuji music and great dancing steps by all in the new hall at Ilaji made me to forget quickly all the hassles that I went through in getting to Ilaji that day. Merenge King was at his best and in top form. We all danced and had great fun. The organic crowd truly celebrated the Okanlomo. They all truly love him and the love is real and natural as one could easily see clear evidence of the pure and unalloyed love on the faces of the people and that of Dotun who is always at home, relaxed and at peace with himself when he is in the midst of his people that he has set upon for himself the task of providing all and every basic and necessities of life for all manners of people without any political considerations whatsoever and without expecting anything at all in return. Dotun is God-sent angel to our people and mankind. He is a benevolent, cheerful and uncommon giver.
Dotun’s generosity to our people is unparalleled and second to none. It cannot be gainsaid that the torrential tsunami volumes and waves of Dotun’s support, kindness, assistance and compassion for our people is greater than those acts of kindness and generosity done by the late Chief M. K. O. Abiola, GCFR and the enigmatic Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Alao Arisekola combined. Dotun’s generosity is phenomenal in that Dotun did not rely on the patronage of any government at any level.
On that 17th September, which was the date of the anniversary of birth of Dotun, Oyo State people spoke loudly and clearly that they would vote massively and re-elect President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC in the 2027 presidential election, while Senator Sarafadeen Abiodun Alli, PhD, who is the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, is undoubtedly the next governor of Oyo State.
On that day, the people of Oyo State passed a resounding “vote of no confidence” in Governor Seyi Makinde and all his candidates for the 2027 at that venue, the Ilaji Resorts, which coincidentally and ironically was also the place where his second term re-election bid was plotted, designed, clinically executed and delivered with heavy financial war chest and backing by Dotun, who from GSM’s first term till date never requested for any contract or favour from GSM, in the same ways and manners that Dotun never asked for such from my leader, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, and my hero, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN (the Great Aketi), both of whom I sought financial support of Dotun for and for which Dotun deployed same verociously for the duo.
Earlier last month, the Ibadan people had shown and told GSM in unmistaken term that they had abandoned and rejected him and his style of politics. That event was during the installation of the former managing director of First Bank, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, as the Balogun of Oyo by the Alaafin of Oyo; the day was the same date that GSM was also installed by the Eleruwa of Eruwa with an honourary chieftaincy title. The Ibadan people and all those that matter in Ibadan proudly chose to attend the installation ceremony of Dr. Adeduntan, while completely refusing to witness the installation of GSM at Eruwa on the same day.
The great lesson in all these is that all public offices, be it appointive or elective, surely have an expiry date, as they are for a certain term and tenure that would definitely come to an end on a date. That was in accord with the popular saying of the Prophet of Allah, Mohammed (PBOH) that: “Were it to be permanent and ad infinitum, will it ever get or reach your turn?”
In our Ibadan, we have a popular saying and words of admonition that goes thus: “Egungun to ba ranti pe oun ma pada bo eku eegun sile lati pada di eniyan, ko ni roro rara ninu eku, o si ma te jeje, o ma fi eso se.” I can literally translate it as follows: “Any masquerade who is always conscious of the obvious that he would eventually and ultimately drop off the masquerade costumes and regalia, will never be tough, rough, wicked, rude and ride any roughshod on the people while masquerading.”
I doubt if GSM has ever heard of that great proverb or, perhaps, if he has heard it before, the importance and the consequential effect of the words of wisdom and lessons that that great proverb teaches and preaches must have been lost on GSM and his clique of advisers.
Tomorrow’s day of reckoning is certainly here for GSM today and he should freely enjoy and savour it while it lasts.
*Barrister Adebayo is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
