By Ikhili Ebalu, Benin City
On an evening in 1979, Mr. Dehinde Ogunji (an uncle of mine of blessed memory) walked into our Lawanson, Surulere Lagos residence and handed my father an entry form for Nigerian Military School Zaria. He was the Headmaster of Army Children School, Yaba, and that was the moment my destiny changed forever.
Olaolu Mudasiru and I met as students in NMS Zaria in 1980 in my Form 1, he was a year my senior. We instantly developed an unusual bond even under a strict and regimented military environment, as he began to look out for me. His immediate younger brother Sola was my own mate in NMS, a friend, brother, and colleague till this day, however I was closer to Olaolu. After we both left NMS in 1985, Olaolu and I immediately connected as young teenagers in Lagos.
At the time his late Dad was the immediate past military Governor of Lagos State. I used to frequently visit their Oba Akinjobi residence in Ikeja GRA, and I would spend many nights in Olaolu’s room in their residence. Every time I walked into their home and met his Olaolu’s mum, (mummy Foluke Mudasiru also of blessed memory), she would say, “mi o mo boya Olaolu wa ni ile o, lo wo lehin kule” (I don’t know if Olaolu is at home, go and check in their quarters behind the house). Even his mum and his other siblings, Tolu, Ope and Dapo knew of my personal fondness of their eldest brother, Olaolu.
Even when he began his medical internship at the medical school in Idi-Araba, I used to visit him and spend nights in his room in Idi-Araba. That was when I met most of his medical colleagues, Tosin Ajala, Rotimi Ojo, Emeka Okaro, Femi Okuwobi etc. He took me to many night parties typical of the excitement of our age group then, and because of him, I started learning how to play squash at the Gbadamosi’s residence right next to the Lagos State Governor’s official residence where they used to live.
His childhood sweetheart, Zainabu (nee Wushishi) was also doing her internship at Medi-Lag, and on many occasions Olaolu and myself would drive to the Wushishi’s residence in Ojora Close in Victoria Island. I became familiar with the entire Wushishi family, from the late Mallam Garba Wushishi to Yaya (their mother) and Zainabu’s siblings of six sisters and a brother. All through his wedding to Zainabu, and when they moved into a rented house in Opebi. I recall about the time he went on a course in Redding, UK. This was his departure from his medical training into investment banking which was really his passion. He had a brief stint with Oando, working closely with Wale Tinubu.
In 1997, I relocated to Los Angeles, California and in 1998, Zainabu was in Los Angeles to deliver their first daughter Zafirah into my arms. I teased him till the end that I carried his first child in my arms before he ever set his eyes on her. It was at this time that Zainabu introduced me to my wife and mother of all my children, Olayinka. They were both medical doctors doing rotation in the UK at the time. In fact, she and another one of their colleagues, Bose Soyannwo (nee Cole) picked up Zainabu from the airport in London as she returned to UK with their newly born Zafirah in 1998.
Around 2017, I was working with an oil firm in Geneva, Switzerland and in the pursuit of transactions, I used to visit him at Vetiva Corporation where I met his co-founder Chuka Eseka. Olaolu and I both reconnected with the CEO for Africa Finance Corporation, Samaila Zubairu who was and is still the AFC CEO and a senior to both of us in NMS Zaria. Olaolu used to fondly call me “Muyee” from NMS, then he changed it to “Muyee of Swiss”, then later he shortened it to “Of Swiss”. I would keep track of his movements through other NMS ex-boys like Akinbiyi Adekoya and Rear Admiral Ayodeji Olugbode.
I could go on and on, shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, I relocated to Kigali Rwanda. He promised he would come and visit me in Rwanda. He made good on his promise in June 2022, just before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which was hosted in Kigali. He called me abruptly while I was in Paris to announce his arrival date and he needed a bicycle technician that would help him assemble his bicycle, which I gladly availed to him. I also had developed a love of cycling around the hilly topography of Kigali, that mutual passion further cemented our bond. It was that his same bicycle we assembled that in Kigali (pictured behind us) that sealed his fate on the morning of December 11, 2022.
As if to say goodbye or some kind of premonition less than 48 hours before his passing, he called me in Kigali on Friday December 9, 2022 by 10:00am and we had an intense 15+ minute conversation. It was going to be the last time I would hear his voice. He asked when I was going home to California for the Christmas break and his parting statement before he hung up was “bami ki Yinka ati awon omo o.” (Extend my regards to Yinka and your kids).
To hear of his tragic and untimely demise less than 48 hours the next Sunday morning by 10:00 am from a mutual friend Mojisola Adeniran shattered me instantly. Another brother of mine, Dr. Ladi Bada and Olaolu’s good friend was the one who confirmed he saw his lifeless body as he returned from Lagoon hospital with Karl Toriola that fateful Sunday morning. I had a parallel relationship with him as Yinka has a parallel with Zainabu that endures on till this day. As I type this tribute at the Kigali Airport lounge awaiting my flight to Lagos to attend his funeral events, my hands still shake, and tears are rolling down my cheeks.
Olaoluoluwa Ishola Mudasiru, Dr. Bob, (as he later became known in his adult years), may God grant you eternal rest. May he forgive your earthly sins, and may God grant your family and loved ones the fortitude to bear this terrible loss. You have departed too soon; we cannot question the creator. We will miss you terribly, and I speak for all NMS Ex-Boys, particularly for the 42 years that you were my own senior brother in words and deeds.
What is the point of this tribute? What information pertains? The thought that you are in a better resting place is woven indelibly into our hearts. Sun re egbon mi .. olorun a toju awon omo ati aya ti o fi si le. Goodnight.
Olumuyiwa Omololu.
December 17, 2022.
Kigali, Rwanda.
olumuyiwao@gmail.com