It is inconceivable to note that while thousands of their die-hard supporters could not boast of personal contact with the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo and late MKO Abiola, a man, who was never a politician, had the privilege, remembering his encounter with them with fond memories. He is Alhaji Adiatu Oladunni, a centenarian who clocked his 100th year few weeks ago.
He recollects, “I met Awolowo in his house at Apapa. I got to know him through my father-in-law who was one of his close friends. It was a case on a property which facilitated our first meeting. I also met MKO Abiola in a flight to London. It was Nigerian Airway. I saw him rising up from his seat and walked straight to him and stretched my hand to him. And we greeted each other and alighted. We later met at a different occasion. Also, Chief Rotimi Williams served as my lawyer during his lifetime.”
Despite wielding such a rare social influence, the Masifa, Osun State-born remains his unassuming but firm self in a world tucked away from unnecesary publicity; he wears no air; he won’t even mention his privileged profile unless pressed by lovers of history who look our for him at his Number 35 Ramlat Timson
Aguda, Surulere, Lagos State residence to seek clarification based on an acclaimed trust in his fertile brain at a century years, when majority of his contemporaries understandably suffer dementia and, thus, can’t accurately remember their immediate past events.
Oladunni is mentally sound, so incredibly that an interviewer, who is not worth his or her name, would encounter a stumbling block while attempting a joke with his retentive memory. When, for instance, he observes his guest is not attentive or is perhaps distracted, he has a clever way of pinching him or her with “are you listening well?”.
This is just a tip of his natural inclination to details being a polygamist who, as a matter of duty, adjudicates on issues among his wives. To him, use of patience, wisdom and a bit of carrot and stick formular where and when inevitable makes a good, successful husband, a head of multiple wives.
He awarded his wives, all of them, a good grade, in terms of cooperating with him and his principle of home management, maintaining, “I can’t forget name of any of my wives because they all do well. I must give it to them. It does not mean everything is a bliss, but I must say it that each plays her role well as a committed wife.”
Long before fortune eventually smiled on him, elevating his status to a famous textile merchant in Balogun Market, where, according to him, late wife of Awolowo, Mrs HID Awolowo also had stalls, his life was marked with potholes and gallops, especially his childhood in his agrarian hometown where he emerged top among his peers who could climb palmtrees in the farm. No education because his parents lacked resources to send him to school. More so, going to school was like an exclusive culture to only elite and returnees from outside Nigeria.
Yet, he grew to be on top of numerals and passable english language he used to conduct his day-to-day business transactions within Nigeria and outside. Always haunted by the ghost of his lack of western education and limitatons it imposed on his desires, he ensured all his children attended schools up to higher institution at home and abroad. Gracefully, he produced a son, a pilot, once in the employment of the EgyptAir.
Recollecting his contact with late Mrs Awolowo, Oladunnu reveals, “She had her shops at Balogun West while I was at Balogun East. She used to come around visiting shops and we also always accorded her respect.”
Back to Masifa, he is the last born of his parents who were blessed with four children. He left the farm after the death of his father and followed his maternal uncle to Togo where he began a new life as an apprentice and later an independent trader familiar with West African coastal countries up to the then Ivory Coast (Cote de ivore) where he became a household name, especially among the Yoruba community, rubbing shoulders with the likes of late Amuda Obelawo, an Ejigbo, Osun State prominent son, who passed on just last month.
As Oladunni now feels impacts of old age more than never before, he is more prayerful, asking God for another 100 years to be spent in sound health and renewed energy to witness expansion of his wealth. In particular, he thanked God for blessing him with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, all of whom are growing in his lifetime.
“I thank God for all he has done for me despite my humble begining. I didn’t know things would turn out like this. I am even more than 100 years but let’s just put it at that. Many of my friends have long passed away. This is grace of God I am enjoying and asking for more.
“I thank God for my children. They are making me happy. Their children too shall make them happy in their lifetime. I am fulfilled, I am happy and I pray for more years. My children should love one another. This is important. God shall also bless them with long lives,” he told Abiola Orisile during an interview commemorative his 100th birthday.
Published on April 4, 2026
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