There was a certain man who lives on the outskirt of the city of Lagos, and mostly sits quietly in his mansion to ruminate. He lives in a one-of-a-kind house where a first time visitor could easily get lost if not properly chaperoned. Great and mighty are the definitions of his wealth, affluence and power. His level of authority make one wonder why he choose to live in such a local community when he could be living in the finest cities around Lagos; locations like Lekki, Ajah, VGC, Magodo, Victoria Island or even Ikeja?
His influence is so strong that it became a norm for governors and top politician to pay him compulsory visits, especially when elections are fast approaching. Whenever it was time for elections, you can’t help but notice all the biggest rides that parade in and out of his place. Renowned politicians troop in asking for political strategies and favours because they believe, if well implemented, any advice from him is sure to make an undisputed winner out of them. I sometimes find it hard to believe all of this myself but, like they say; seeing is believing.
Now my question is how can one man provide lasting solutions to the problems of all these powerful men and women trolling his house? This was a mystery I am very much interested in unraveling. Should I ever have the privilege of meeting this man, the questions on my mind are simple and straightforward; “Sir, what makes you, you? What makes you so tick and special? Have you two heads? Why are all these powerful people not coming to my father’s house with the kind of wisdom my father shares with us shortly after flogging us…?” This was simply unfair and unjustifiable to me. “My father must be wiser than him,” I comforted myself.
There came a particular day, I was on my street playing football with my mates, not knowing a car was approaching. I suddenly played a long shot and the ball hit the side mirror of a moving car. The car stopped abruptly and, before I realized myself, my co-footballers had disappeared into thin air within a split second. I can’t explain why I stood there and didn’t disappear along with them but I did remain there. I saw a hand beckon on me, from the car, to come forward. Upon moving closer and seeing the person inside the car, I thought to myself that, “my remaining here must have been the handwork of some witches from my father’s village.” I never realized these so called village witches were literarily setting me up for a life-altering encounter of a lifetime.
It was the same man whose house all the powerful people in this country usually flock to seek counsel. He ordered his driver to pull over, opened the door of his car and asked me to come in and sit beside him. I quickly obliged; who am I not to?!
The degree of cool breeze that caressed my skin from the car was another encouragement to oblige. It might interest you to know that, at that time, I didn’t know it was called air-condition. My father wasn’t rich nor poor, so air-condition was only an English word to me before that day. Before then also, I had always thought that no matter my efforts, I would most likely end my life somewhere close to my father’s. Well, maybe I would have a few more thousands of naira than he had, maybe I would have a car that I can also covert into a Taxi or maybe I would be able to afford my own children’s school fees. These were my little dreams at the time but an encounter with this mysterious man changed everything for me.
He asked me why I was playing football on the streets when I should be in school and I explained that I was sent home for unpaid school fees and I was sure my father couldn’t do anything about it at the moment, so I decided to console myself with some sports before heading home to break the bad news. Almost immediately, I saw this strange anger on his face. At first, I was afraid he was mad at me, but soon realized it wasn’t about that as I also saw compassion in his anger. At that point, as if bestowed with the boldness of a lion, I asked the strangest question I had been longing to ask him. Even he confirmed he has never been asked such question by a boy of my age.
“What makes you so wealthy, powerful and influential?” I inquired. Right there and then, he told me three sacred but common secrets have been instrumental to his present status, and that I must also covet these three secrets if I truly desire to go far in life. These secrets are Information, Skill and Mentors! As at then, I really didn’t understand any of that and I wanted something more practical, so he further obliged me. He explained to me that, although he has never had the opportunity of attending a formal university, he has been privileged to serve a lot of political gladiators in Nigeria when democracy has not been entrenched into our system. He had the opportunity of travelling abroad where he enrolled for some courses on politics which lasted a few months. He said the information he acquired during those courses with the ones he gathered from the country’s former political heavyweights, coupled with deliberate constant updates about the happenings around the world has positioned him as the solution provider when it comes to politics.
He concluded by saying he is an informed politician, a skilled democrat and a man surrounded by highly successful men and women who had gone before him. He said these three things will make anyone an outstanding individual in whatever field of life they choose to operate in. He finally handed me a sealed envelope filled with cash and told me to give it to my father when I get home. It was on getting home that we discovered the envelope contained a whooping sum of a hundred thousand naira.
I couldn’t sleep well that night as my head was clustered with different thoughts. I kept comparing this man to my father and every other man in my area and realized the major differences between him and the rest of them. Most of them had a skill such as tailoring, plumbing, shoe making, bricklaying etc but that was where it ended. They were not informed, they operated only based on yesterday’s information and neither do they sense any need to have mentors. Instead most of them preferred that everyone call them ‘sir’ while they offer their obsolete advice and counsel to them, when they needed counsel themselves.
That was the day I made some vital decisions about my life. I also agreed within myself that if I ever ended up the way my father did, it would not be anyone’s fault but my own fault and personal failings! As the unforgettable day was coming to an end, a highly inspiring quote came to my consciousness - “If you are not skillful, you won’t be useful to the society.” “Those who you know don’t matter but mentors who know you matter”. “Information will give your destiny a formation that no team can beat”.
N.B: This write-up is an excerpt from OlatunjiSpeaks' forthcoming book for Teenagers titled, The Millionare Teenager!
Gabriel Olatunji Legend is an entrepreneur and a solution strategist. I am open to further discussions on my twitter handle @OLATUNJISPEAKS
Nice and inspiring
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