WE had hardly arrived Ijebu Jesa in Osun State when I got a phone call from my immediate younger brother, Oluniyi, that my father,Mogaji Oladapo Adigun Opadotun, had passed on. We had to cut short the journey and hurry back home to join other family members to convey his remains to the mortuary. If the elderly ones had not insisted, my age-long friend and confidant, Chief Kunle Ayorinde would have taken charge and sorted things out by himself.I had thought that I was too old and mature, too composed to cry when the old man passed on but I was of course wrong. Most people who were close to Mogaji Opadotun know that he had a rare grace to live his life to the fullest. He had such access to medical attention that it was an herculean task convincing him to go to a hospital whenever he fell sick.His role as a father became glaring, when on a Sunday in the early 70s, he instructed my mother to ensure that she took me to Wesley College Practising School, Elekuro, Ibadan for enrollment. He had earlier arranged with a colleague of his to assist my mother with the exercise as my father himself was a teacher. Although communication then was difficult, he ensured that he did not miss home every weekend. And before travelling back to his duty post, my father never shirk in his responsibility to make provision for the basic needs of the family. He came home every Friday and returned to his station every Sunday.He was committed to his job as a teacher. He was such a hardworking, industrious and thorough bred professional teacher that was celebrated by most of the schools where he taught before his eventual retirement.As a husband, Mogaji Opadotun was committed and devoted to my mother, Alice. He was sympathetic and considerate. He took special care of my mother and ensured her well-being. As a father, he was very caring. I make bold to say that neither I nor any of my siblings were ever sent away from school for non-payment of school fees. He never waivered on this aspect. He paid our school fees on the very first day of resumption of schools, bought our textbooks and exercise books to time and backed these up with new set of uniforms. Mogaji Opadotun told me that education was his priority because he believed it liberates human beings from the shackles of poverty, ignorance and diseases. He was a disciplinarian, I do not recollect a time when he spared the rod. Although my father was for several years away from home, during his working years, he would punish you for offences committed during the week when he was not around.My mother would give him a detailed report on how we sometimes did not come back home to time, how we often strayed to Ansar-Ud-Deen to play football, including other youthful adventures. We called him Bakunmi (Kunmi's father) as my senior brother, Kunmi, is the first born. Bakunmi was a painstaking and highly intelligent man. He never rushed at taking decisions and that accounted majorly for the high regards I have for him. I also noticed that Bakunmi was very strict and contented. He was satisfied with the little he had. He did not go a borrowing. Throughout his 82 years sojourn on earth, Bakunmi never borrowed a dime from anybody. He was such a contented man.At the family level, when his elder brother, Olasupo Aremu was alive, he respected, loved and gave him high regards. Whatever he (Olasupo) said or did was final and binding, and that was why he properly and successfully held the forte from 1986 (when Olasupo died) until Saturday October 22nd when the curtain of Bakunmi's life was drawn closed by the unseen hand.To his younger ones, he was accommodating, tolerant and generous. He was always ready to share whatever he had with any of them, thus, his house was home to many even when he was lying critically ill on the hospital bed, they were always with him.His social life was moderate. He belonged to only one or two clubs and had a special place for the family club, Egbe-Omo Ile Bode.He abandoned smoking as far back as 1974 and never drank alcohol throughout his lifetime. Bakunmi never slept outside, even during social outings, he never ate outside his home as my mother was the only person that could prepare his meal to his satisfaction.On the religious level, his parents were choristers and played prominent roles in the allocation of the land on which The Wesley Cathedral, Elekuro, Ibadan stands till today. My father also embraced Christianity and brought up his offsprings in like manner.He was until his death a prominent and leading member of Ina Olorun Ntan Society at the Wesley Cathderal, Ekuro, Ibadan. The only appreciable gift you could give to him was the annual family harvest in the church. That was what he appreciated most in his lifetime and we willingly obliged him in this respect. Even this year, he led the family harvest thanksgiving in June.He was also a community leader and an agent of change at the Elekuro community. The whole community will, no doubt, miss his foresight and leadership style coupled with honesty and probity.What will I and my siblings miss about him' We will miss his fatherly role, he was a father of fathers; we shall miss his contentment, satisfaction, wisdom, dedication and above all, humility.I am saddened by his demise but more importantly by the outpouring of encomiums by sympathsiers. Space will not allow me to reflect on the life and times of Mogaji Opadotun in this tribute.I thank the Almighty God for giving me a wonderful model as father in Mogaji Oladepo Adigun Opadotun. With a father like him, one does not need another. As Papa goes to join his father, who was the first Ibadan indigene to operate a cocoa produce outlet in Gbedun, Ibadan in 1936, he would be warmly received his brother and father, Olasupo Aremu and younger brother, Olatunji Akanji (Elewi Odo).I say goodbye and good night to you. I have no doubt in my mind that the Angels of the Most High will gladly team up with your siblings over there to make your place of rest beyond a blissful abode. And I promise on behalf of my siblings and with the help of God Almighty, to sustain those unique qualities you toiled to build. Adieu, Adigun.Opadotun is on the staff of Nigerian Tribune
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