Chief Folarin Oderinde Osatuyi, The Oloode of Ijan Ekiti
Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi: A legendary Risk Taker @70
The story behind the above caption was coined from the opening remark from Mr. Olayinka Lynton Fasuyi at the commissioning and opening ceremony of the 33-year-old Supreme Management Training and Consultancy Services Limited iconic building at number 26 Francis Okediji Street, behind Oyo State Secretariat, old Bodija, Ibadan; Oyo State. It was a story of how he woke up that fateful morning and looked at his wife straight in the face and said “Bisi, I will resign from my job today”! And the man resigned! The story was like somebody who woke up from the wrong side of the bed. I think the wife seemed. Today, we know better! This is no doubt a story of audacity writ large in pursuit of knowledge and purpose, risks, big dreams, resilience, dedication perseverance and passion, ruggedness and doggedness, energy and strength of character, dint of hard work with dignity that have all combined to define and shape the essentials and the quintessential of the man we all came to celebrate today; Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi, The first Asiwaju Ijesa land, the founder and chief executive officer of supreme management training and services ltd, the founder of the prestigious Ibadan business school, the founder of the of the Ijesaland community philanthropy organization [AYFF], the first patron of the first cosmopolitan club in Africa, Ibadan recreation club [1902],and the patron of Ijesa sports club, among several others.
The above elastic qualities have encapsulated the numerous achievements over the years endeavours and forays into business, philanthropy, humanitarian services and social pedigree. The specific achievements of this landmark and groundbreaking activities will be too numerous to mention here for space in this compendium. Your relationship building is evident and a statement of fact and a case study open to those of us who are closer to you and those here present to felicitate with you on this momentous occasion. Even the energy and strength you bring to bear in these responsibilities is amazing and burdensome to some of us who followed you closely through these years. Some of us much younger would have fagged out much earlier than you in some of these activities you called us to assist once awhile.
At 70, I once asked him in one of our recent outings at Atlanta, [this Atlanta is a night club, here in Ilesa] at around 3am, what is his staying power apart from the one I grew to know from him? He told me, “Working hard has become a habit for him and that habits are safer than rules, you don’t have to watch them. And you don’t have to keep them either. They keep you’’. He intoned that early morning. He regaled me his more than before familiarity with Artificial Intelligence [AI] technology as taking a more prime of place over the Goggle that came much earlier and that’s why he can still work both online and offline to keep in tune with the latest in Technology and innovation, in all to horn his further knowledge in almost every topic and subject under the son. He told me, the role AI can play in research methodology, education, teaching ,learning, and knowledge which unfortunately , he said students and professionals are not tapping into fully to realise their talents and potentials other than their field of study, and expertise, than seeking to travel out of the country, where he equally noted is not as it used to be in the past. He mentors so much these days!
We rose that early morning at about 4am with a promise that he would rest well, go no where in the day, eat breakfast at 12noon and see me off back to Ekiti at around 2pm. We agreed. But I doubted him. And true to my doubt, I later saw him when I woke up at about 1pm in a WhatsApp photo he sent to me at 11am at another church program without the breakfast. Such is a man with a fastidious commitment to whatever he set his mind on without bordering the health implications to his age. He pays detailed attention to commitments and promises to family, friendship, relationships, people, clubs and association, the body of Christ and the church of God. He would never want to fail them. A lot of people ask if he ever sleep at at all.
“Sir, its time to slow down now”, I once whispered to his ears He countered back and told me emphatically that there are “more jobs to be done in the service of our people”. We could only wish him well in his future endeavours. The man is 70 today surrounded by grace and abundance of God Almighty
For Asiwaju, working hard, doing philanthropy, and avoiding words of appreciation from his beneficiaries define success, his successes is in his habits of mind and usual behaviour.
As a mentee, I am expressly happy to have watched you display and perform these arduous responsibilities at various times and therefore incumbent on me to wear my own shoes following your footsteps, but I will wear my own shoes because your shoes are just too heavy and large.
Congratulations and happy celebrations on your birthday @70
Chief Folarin Oderinde Osatuyi
The Oloode, Ijan
Ijan Ekiti
