Isaac Oladipupo Unveiled!!! Who is he? Tribute on his Birthday!

N.B: This write-up is not edited for the purpose of friendship! No forming, just from the heart.

It was a bright day and we were all playing pranks on each other, we gather at the field in the evening to play football; I wasn’t a good dribbler but I can vouch for my abilities to stop any dribbler before he gets to the defense. So that left me with doing all the dirty work on the pitch; I loved to defend and I believe I still love it although I haven’t played football in a while. Isaac was one of the dribblers, he has a long leg and leg-over was the only major skill I believe he has. As a good defender all I had to do was stop the legs from going 360 degree, then pass the ball to someone else or play a shot; this was how I stopped Isaac on the pitch. It would be a lie if I deny that sometimes he gets the better of me on the pitch but that is one out of five – I was always looking forward to stopping him.

We weren’t friends! We just lived on the same street and I never liked him. He was arrogant and rude; he believed as a result of his ‘longness’ (height) he could beat up any of his contemporaries and I saw him do this over and over again to one or two boys in the street. Each time I see this or am told I get furious and this birthed a dream in my heart; infact it wasn’t just a dream, it was a prayer. You know how Jabez prayed fervently in the bible, how he shouted ‘’Oh Lord, please enlarge my coast…”, that was how desperate I was with this dream and prayer that I had but mine wasn’t that God should enlarge Isaac’s coast but that God should provide a platform where we would have to fight so that I can teach him a lesson of his life with my fist. That prayer went on for many months but the opportunity never came. I guess God knew my fist would do a lot of damage to his face and tooth that it would take a miracle to fix. How childish could I be? I only wanted to fight him because I saw him beat up some other boys – God had something different in stock for us. Did I mention we were only ten years old or fifteen years old at this time?

As fate would have it we ended up in the same secondary school but different classes in our senior secondary school days but I don’t remember sharing a friendly smile with him because of my initial resentment for him.

Because this is a very long story I will fast forward it and speak about this middle part some other time if need be.

We found ourselves on the same team in church long after secondary school and we always argued during meetings but at that time I had grown up, was more matured in my judgment of people and was willing to give him a chance. Ofcourse, he was a grown up man too, he no longer needed to use his fist when issues happened; he used his words. Before I decided to give him a chance I remember the day we were at a meeting together and when it was time to leave we had to leave together (just the two of us), I will never forget that day; we walked home for about an hour or more and we never uttered a word to each other on the way, I mean not a word. The day after our other friend who happens to be my closest friend at the time came over to my place and told me Isaac said we didn’t utter a word to each other throughout our journey yesterday. I knew this had to stop, I cannot continue to judge a man by his ways as a child and am I a saint myself?

I think that moment defined the beginning stage of our friendship; all of my anger dissolved in that period. I wanted to know him, I wanted to talk to him, and I wanted to be his friend. It so happened that opportunities kept bringing us together. He became my best friend! How?

Today is Isaac’s birthday and I am amazed at how astronomical he has grown from that little boy who swings his legs on the ball and calls it a leg-over, at how I haven’t seen him used his fist in over a decade and how I hear his intelligence and I say to myself, “what a friend I could have missed had I not given him a chance.”

Traits that won me over

• He doesn’t sit down! He is always on to something and this has kept me on my toes. He is the type of friend that challenges you to bring out the best in yourself without necessarily saying a word.


• He saves, I spend! Am trying to save now and that’s one of the things I learnt from Isaac; I can give the world my last cash but Isaac knows how to save his last cash so that the world doesn’t have to give him when he goes broke.


• Dependable; he has consistently read my #MondayInspiration write-up before any other person and his contributions to them are enormous. That is just an example!


• He craves for God; I don’t want a perfect friend, I want a friend who’s ready to make mistakes but at the end of each mistake he goes back to God and amend his ways.


• Did I mention that he can be very stingy? Yes, I know he would like this but I just thought I should say it. However, I found out that its one of the things that endears me to him; he knows how to manage resources and that is a scarce manager’s abilities.


• He’s Choleric and I am choleric but on a different dimension; he knows how to get the job done.


• A very large heart; you know how a man knows how to use relationships to help people with their problems? That’s what am talking about! You might go on trying to help people yourself but he knows how to link people to the right quarters for help and if its what he cannot do he gives up, hoping that you will understand.

Too many things to say but time isn’t a friend. All I want to say to Isaac Oluwaseyi Oladipupo (Pislok) is that I have never regretted this friendship from that day. You are the type of friend I can confidently call MY CLOSEST FRIEND after the Holyspirit o, lol! Apologies to my other friends!

The above truth is my gift to you!

Let’s hook up with Isaac on Sunday afternoon by 4pm as we celebrate with him on the same street we grew up; if you know the street, hook up with us. Lots of music, dance, food, and inspiration!



I am Gabriel Olatunji Legend and Isaac Oladipupo is my closest friend (some people call it ‘Best Friend’)!!! I tweet from @OLATUNJISPEAKS