How late ex-minister stopped my deportation – Ship Owners Association founding president

The Founding President of the Nigerian Ship Owners Association (NISA), Chief Isaac Jolapamo, has recalled how the late Minister of Labour and Productivity, Prince Sulaiman Ajibola Afonja, prevented his deportation while in the United Kingdom.

Jolapamo, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja during a night of tributes for late Afonja, said the deceased started watching his back from childhood.

The late Afonja, an Oyo prince, died on May 19, 2024, at the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, Oyo State, aged 82.

The industrialist who is known in his Oyo community by his company’s name, Integrated Dimensional System (IDS), reportedly sustained injuries from a lone accident he was involved in at Ilora, a few kilometres from his country home before he was rushed to UCH in Ibadan.

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He was a prominent Nigerian industrialist and politician, serving as the Minister of Labour and Productivity under the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan, as well as the Chairman of Board of Directors of First Bank Nigeria.

Jolapamo, speaking about his closeness with the late Afonja, said he was a ‘special breed’, recounting that their fathers were like twins during their lifetime.

He said, “He has been watching my back since our youthful days. He (as an elder brother) did the same when I was in the UK, at that time he was working and another uncle of ours wanted to send me back to Nigeria because he felt I was a stubborn person.

“He (uncle) was a military attaché and he thought I was instigating students in other military institutions against the government because they were withholding what we were entitled to. It was ‘broda mi’ (my elder brother, late Afonja) who came to save me. I was already at the airport.”

Also, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Mr Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, who recalled Afonja’s tenure as minister, described him as a humble man who, despite his wealth, related very well with the poor.

Adeniran, who said he once rode in the deceased’s official car with him, added that despite his affluence, he would sit with the poor in Oyo town to play ‘ayo olopon’, a popular carved wooden box game.

On his part, a former Osun State deputy governor, Prince Clement Hastrup, described the deceased as a generous person and humanist par excellence, who lived to serve Nigerians and humanity.