As he turns 90, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, an elder statesman and one of the leading voices in South West, evokes a rare combination of critical approval and public affection — love, even. It’s probably because he is audacious in his simplicity and brilliant in his business exploits.
At 90, he projects even greater charm. He ducks your compliments, absorbs your indelicate questions, jabs back with interest in you and never appears tired of the exchange: he is the middleweight champion of charm. His best punch however, is his self-awareness. Nine decades on, his personal story demonstrates that strength is built through struggle and hardship, and he shares that strength with tremendous compassion and empathy.
Channelling his own experiences, he has personally touched the lives of countless others who have had to confront their own challenges. A champion of social justice here and abroad and now even, Ayo is as much a business titan and quintessential rock of his family: a loving husband, father, brother and uncle. He’s a man of great faith and character and financial wherewithal.
Yes, it is enlightening to be of the same decade as Chief Adebanjo. That is because his life unfurls like the proverbial whirlwind writing on the sands of time, it reads like inscriptions teaching us all that life is ephemeral and it’s only the good deeds that lasts. Come Tuesday, April 3, his autobiography, ‘TELLING IT AS IT IS’, would launched at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos. It promises to be a day in history.
