ASIWAJU Sola Adebayo @ 62: Na our Papa be dis ehhh ~ Truth Reporters

 

By Andy Emephia

Na our Papa be dis......

My very first close encounter with him was during the build up to preparations for the 2025 NUJ Delta Press week.

As a member of the planning Committee, l was privileged to travel to Warri with the State Council Chairman , Comrade Churchill Oyowe , Planning Committee Chairman , Comrade Pere Botu, and Secretary of the Committee, Comrade Barth Ozah, in search of funds sources to match the budget estimates for the event.

After a first attempt , we finally met him , albeit by a dint of hard luck, as he was already driving out when we arrived at his sprawling abode.

He stepped out of his fully customized Toyota Hilux and appeared ruffled that we had come without intimating him. He first appeared indifferent to us , but as the minutes went by , he loosened up and that was the first encounter with this blunt but firm leader .

After enquiring from the Council Chairman and planning Committee Chairman , how prepared we were for the press week and listening to the efforts so far made , he gave some "to dos" , assuring us of his support and guiding us on other aspects that will help the committee meet set targets.

But that was just the beginning. He thereafter asked Comrade Omigie Ruth , the Welfare Committee Chairman , salient questions about the status of a member of the union who was battling health challenges and had gotten his contact surreptitiously to appeal for help. After being briefed , his words were , "so what he needs in total , is #7.5 million for the drugs and medications", to which Ruth responded in the affirmative.

He merely nodded and then hit the bombshell ! He took us on an entrepreneurial lecture , schooling us why journalists must urgently start thinking outside the box of mono source of livelihood. His voice was emotion laden, akin to being pained, that members of the fourth estate of the realm have not risen above the narrow confines of living on their meagre journalistic earnings in this highly volatile economic clime. His insights on how he broke the jinx by branching off into agriculture , real estate, supplies and sundry other businesses, struck a cord in all four of us that were privileged to listen to him that fateful Saturday .

Now fast forward to the next day . The NUJ platform went abuzz that "donations are closed, ASIWAJU has responded "! To the tune of #7.5 million , in one fell swoop, to save a life he had never met , but bonded by the NUJ membership!

That's the leader l celebrate today , as he turned 62 years on Christmas Day of 2025. ASIWAJU Sola Adebayo, has become an enigma of sorts , even to those who know him. It appears he breaths and lives altruism , propelled by a force greater than him to do good to all that draw his attention, even without knowing them.

The fitting song for this worthy Omoluabi, veteran journalist and good natured humanist "without borders" , is , "na our Papa be dis o, we no get another, na our Papa be dis ehhh, ASIWAJU Adebayo, na our Papa be dis , ehhh"!

Comrade Andy Emephia, emeritus Chairman, ICC , NUJ Delta State Council, 26th December 2025.