Amosun: An Embodiment of Loyalty at 67

Wale Morafa

Former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Oyelaja Amosun, is one of the few persons around – politics or not – whose words have always remained his bond. This, perhaps, could also explain why loyalty is one of the currencies of his networth. He takes it very seriously.

Without a doubt, former Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s 2015 screening submission that, “May our loyalty never be tested” is timeless and instructive. But Amosun’s loyalty has been through the many curves of various tests and has always come out unblighted.  Kind, generous, and God-fearing, it is always not an easy run enlisting Amosun’s support for anyone or cause. But that’s where it ends. The moment you do and he gives his clearance, you’ve earned the sort of loyalty that money cannot buy.

Last December, Senator Amosun gave a glimpse of what his loyalty was worth, when he visited former President Muhammadu Buhari, at his home in Daura, Katsina State, in commemoration of the former president’s 82nd birthday.

While this was to Amosun an annual ritual, which has never failed, and must not fail, no matter the challenges, many political observers were actually stunned to see such unconditional display of loyalty in a clime where everyone is believed to not only have a price, but can also be bought cheap, regardless.

The shock expressed might have been informed by their concerns over all that they reckoned Amosun’s political career and future went through under Buhari’s sleepy watch, even though none was intended.

While such concerns might seem genuine and justifiable, what a majority of the people saw were just some of the challenges of friendship or relationship. Not many of them had witnessed or seen the sacrifices of the relationship, which might continue to give Buhari his flowers.

Therefore, Amosun is, and remains a friend of Muhammadu Buhari, and not a friend of President Muahammdu Buhari, while in office and able to dispense patronage. The difference is evident and requires no hairsplitter to denote a person’s friend when in office and when he is no longer calling the shots.

Amosun is one person who gleefully prides himself in his privileged upbringing and his quick to always recite the prose-poetry of his lineage in obeisance to the sort of values instilled in him by his parents, which he believes brought him this far.

Thorough, selfless, hands-on, decent and given to details in all things, Amosun is not just the “Super Man” he was codenamed as governor, he’s been dubbed another designate within his close circle of friends and allies: The Perfectionist.

Sometimes, his quest for perfection could be annoying. They always tend to slow down the speed of deadlines. But Amosun would rather wait and get it right than to be in haste and get it wrong. In the end, you’d always applaud his purist disposition despite the cost to time and resources.

Arguably the biggest political concern in the political equation of Ogun State today, and despite not currently holding any office, his staying power has been his love for his people and constantly catering to political base.  He has not done this by merely living among them. He is constantly holding court and meeting with them as time and needs permit.

Amosun’s loyalty to any cause he believes in is worthy of study. He detests deception and loathes dishonesty. Curiously, his biggest strength is as much his weakness: his incredibly large heart. The same way he’d defend loyalty is the manner he’d justify forgiveness and large-heartedness.

A lover of God and family man to the core, Senator Amosun remains one great example in leadership and mentorship, his personal shortfalls notwithstanding. His style of politics may seem atypical and far off from the familiar. He never cancels out the God-factor and the place of humanity in all that he does.

Happy 67th birthday, Ajiri omo oye!

• Morafa wrote from Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State Foundation (SEOF)  country,” he pledged.