KEHINDE AYOOLA: TRIBUTE TO AN EXEMPLARY PERSONALITY

KEHINDE AYOOLA

TRIBUTE TO AN EXEMPLARY PERSONALITY 

News of the demise of Rt. Hon. Kehinde Ayoola was one of the rudest shocks I ever heard and a pill too bitter to swallow. Every time my mind goes to him, I feel the same grief.

Kenny was a friend and co-traveler in the journey of politics for the sake of the people. 

After leaving the Oyo House of Assembly in 2003, Kehinde had built himself up politically and academically. 

He was so well read resulting in his ability to contribute meaningfully to discussion on almost any topic. 

He was passionate about Oyo, his home town. 

He was an exemplary family man and a gentleman. 

Kehinde had the ability to see both sides of any issue hence his ability to build bridges in time of conflict. 

It is thus so painful that when Hon Ayoola had an opportunity, in a government he helped put in place, to put to use all the knowledge and experience gathered over the years death took him away. 

We always miss him so much. Many situations arise that elicit the vacuum left by Kenny.

Oyo state lost a rare gem. 

May God grant the family (who he loved so much) the fortitude to bear the loss. 

 A-KENNY-KENNY: I MISS HIM IN SO MANY WAYS.

We first met in the year 2000. 

I wanted some information from the Oyo State House of Assembly. I knew his name but didn’t know his face. 

I met him at the car park and told him I wanted to see the Speaker. He asked why I wanted to see the Speaker. I told him and he gave me all the information I needed right there at the parking lot. 

We exchanged complimentary cards and it was then I knew I had been SPEAKING WITH THE SPEAKER. That was my first impression. 

I had two other significant opportunities to SPEAK WITH THE SPEAKER. 

Sometime in 2013 he came visiting at my office in Basorun in company of Adeniyi Rotimi Johnson (Ojasope). Our discussion was Seyi Makinde’s Guber ambition in 2015. He wanted us to be part of it. He agreed with me it may not be feasible in 2015 but stressed it is achievable in the future if we all kept faith and kept at it. He kept at it. 

He was a man who saw 2019 in 2013. So sad he left the “house” he saw so soon. 

The third time was in 2018 in the run up months to the election. We met at Shoprite, with a Lady political mutual friend to discuss the possibility of my joining him in the Seyi Makinde project. We agreed none of the opposition parties could go it alone. After much argument back and forth we agreed that it may not be just about me but that all opposition elements must work together. 

Our opinion that day came to fruition and it worked. That was my third time of SPEAKING WITH THE SPEAKER. 

We had spoken hundreds of times in the past but those three stand out because they shaped my opinion of him. 

• The first showed me he was simple and not haughty or beclouded by position. 
• The second showed he was futuristic in his activities. 
• The third showed me he saw the other person’s view. 

I will miss our political and apolitical discussions. 

Sometimes we agreed sometimes we didn’t and it didn’t make a difference. 

REST IN PEACE, THE SPEAKING SPEAKER