The passing away of my very good friend and buddy, Alex Ibru, has been extremely painful. Here was a friendship of over 50 years; to be more precise, approximately 52 years and yet I can never remember us quarrelling on any issue. Perhaps, the only time I had very serious reservations about his decision was when he joined the government of Gen. Sani Abacha. From that time till when he died, things had never really been the same. However, it was his decision and both of us ensured either consciously or unconsciously that it didnt affect our relationship. This is particularly so because the Patriot Group of Eminent Personalities was diametrically opposed to the plundering of the nations wealth and the very poor human rights record of Abacha. Consequently, I knew that Alex would sooner quit his ministerial appointment in that regime rather than later. He was too much a gentleman, too much of a honest man and too refined to remain in that regime for long.We must remember that it was an appointment he never lobbied to obtain. The rest is history as God spared his life and thereafter he dedicated himself fully to his religion which is Christianity; set up an institution to encourage and propagate his belief in the Almighty God. In addition, he continued to take care of the under-privileged and showed the Nigerian people that we can still be relevant and be useful to the society without necessarily being partisan politicians.Alex in his earlier days was a dedicated follower of fashion. In the 70s, he used to love beautiful Cecil-Gee suits, Lord John of Carnaby Street, TedLepidus of Paris and Gucci, an Italian design. He was a successful businessman far above his peers in those days in terms of success and business. Chief Michael Ibru, (his eldest brother), was his mentor, benefactor, father and teacher in all the good things of life and made him a successful businessman and a philanthropist that he later became. The affection between these two brothers was reciprocated and mutual; Alex was the (blue-eyed boy) of his eldest brother and in the early days, it would not be wrong to say he was his pet because he lavished love and attention on him. We were contemporaries in the UK in the mid 60s; he read Business Administration in Nottingham, whilst I read Law at the University College London.I can never forget the fact that amongst all of us in England, Alex was the first to own a brand new car, a Woseley 1300CC, which his brother, Chief Michael Ibru, gave him as a birthday present. It is to be remembered that this period was during the Nigerian Civil War when foreign exchange was hard to come by. At that time, there was no envy whatsoever because Alex made all of us who were his friends to feel that his car belonged to everybody, he did not mind doing two shuttles from a night club to their respective hostels in one night.When I wanted to choose a best man for my wedding, I had a little problem because Alex was already a married man. When I told my parents that he was my choice to be my best man, my mother was of the view that it was more appropriate for a bachelor to be a best man. However,my fathers view was that the status of a best man was irrelevant, that its the bridegroom whose status is relevant because he has to be a bachelor otherwise he will be committing bigamy. He gave his consent for Alex to be my best man. I related what had transpired to Alex and it was as if we had won a one million dollar lottery. Not many would have known this other part of Alex. He had a soft spot for two members of his family outside, of course, his biological children: his nephew, Olorogun Oscar Ibru, the eldest surviving son of Chief Michael Ibru. When Oscar was a younger boy and right till he got into adulthood, Alex simply doted on him. If my memory serves me right, he gave a beautiful BMW sport coupe model 635i, which at that time was a very rare and expensive vehicle, to his nephew. Their relationship has always been very close. The other member of his family that I am also aware he had a soft spot for too is Mabel. In the 70s, he established a Cecil-G fashion shop for her to administer. He was so protective of his sister that I once remarked to him that sooner or later she must get married and move on. This is not to take away the brotherly love that for many years I knew he had for his elder siblings. When Alex and I came back from the UK, Olorogun Felix in partnership with Allan VaughanRichards in the architecture profession, designed my fathers family house in Ilupeju. I can never forget the way Alex went the extra mile to ensure first class representation for his brother, Felix, when he had his election success challenged by Mr. Opia for the governorship election in Delta State. Alex chartered an aircraft in which he was the sole passenger all the way to Port Harcourt, until my father, late Chief FRA Williams (SAN), finished his argument on behalf of the Ada George /Peter Odili ticket in the governorship election in the old Rivers state. He and my father flew in a single engine turbo prop aircraft from Port Harcourt and landed on a football field in Asaba in order to meet the proceedings before it was over.The contribution of Alex to his brothers success at the polls both financially and morally is also very substantial. I am sure when Felix looks back on this period of his political career, he will be proud of his brothers contribution. I recall that Alex used to be fascinated by the Oloroguns residence which resembled the capsule of an Apollo space vehicle. In our early days in the mid 70s, a lot of the people who now see us as grandfathers, business moguls and S.A.Ns will not believe what we used to get up to, racing in our respective cars. Alex had a Mazda RX3 with a Rotary engine whilst I had Citroen DS-21 Palace. We used to race from the Federal Palace Hotel all the way to the airport in Ikeja to see which car can perform better. The loser must buy the winner a drink at the Caban-Bamboo, which belonged to the late musician, Chief Bobby Benson. I do not recall Alex ever smoking, however, the occasional glass of wine was what he would take to socialise, He remained focused throughout his life. From 1958 at Ibadan when his late mother introduced us, we became friends ever since till the very end. His late mother and my paternal grandmother were very close friends even before Alex and myself were born. The grand old ladies implored both of us to always watch out for each other and so it was to the very end.My dear Alex, your nuclear family will miss you, your extended family will miss you, your friends will miss you, and indeed right thinking members of the Nigerian community will miss you. You have taught the nation how to forgive even those who set out to destroy you; you forgave them and simply moved on with your life.Chief Rotimi-Williams is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
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