Sir (Chief) Bode Akindele, the Parakoyi of Ibadanland, is one of the most celebrated and highly successful entrepreneurs cum renowned Industrialist of our time. He is a billionaire by all standards with a touch of royalty and a philanthropist par excellence who radiates the milk of human kindness all the time. Adeboye Bioku and Ademola Adetuyibi interviewed the Elder Statesman when they caught up with him at his Country home in Ibadan while on an assignment for Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu. It was an experience to relish forever as he shared from his fountain of wisdom. See excerpts below:
Question: Sir, by all standards you are a highly successful business mogul but you are very reserved. Can we know more about you?
Answer: There is nothing I can say about myself. I am just myself. I’m a family of Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu. That is all I can tell you.
Can you tell us the secrets of how to be successful in life?
There are no shortcuts to success in life. First, you must be God-fearing, then you must be hardworking and lastly, you must be honest. Those are the three essential things, all other things follow. If you have God’s fear in you, you will not cheat people; you will not do any bad thing to people. If you are hardworking, you will have no time for nonsense. Be honest and be plain. If you are not honest or seen, to be honest; because being honest is different from being seen, to be honest; you would not have been given this letter (referring to the endorsement letter from Archbishop Ladigbolu to conduct his Interview), if you were not seen, to be honest. I know even when you have worked hard for it and you are not seen, to be honest, your effort would be futile as your request would have been declined.
Hmmn! You are right Sir. Let’s talk about your first meeting with Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu.
My first Meeting? How do I describe that? How long ago can that be? I don’t know where you were at that time (laughing).
I might still be in my mother’s womb.
You know, as a member of the family, you cannot quite remember what first day you met. I’ll tell you why? It may have been when you were in trouble and they were looking for who can salvage you or if you were a troublesome person and they were looking for who could tame you during that time of the trouble. So, there were several times but the only one I could remember now was when Archbishop Ladigbolu was being translated to Ibadan. Ibadan Methodist Diocese then was in a serious problem; not only financially but even spiritually and everything was in disorder.
But the people had faith that one day God would hear their prayers and take care of them. And suddenly, we heard that someone was being translated as Bishop of Ibadan and he would also act as Archbishop of the Diocese. Everybody in all the Dioceses, not Ibadan alone, took it as a joke but some of the people believed that God had heard their prayers and He wanted to make a change, which was exactly what happened.
When he came, it was as if he was the one who put the problem or planted the problem all over. You know What Western Region used to be so, here and there, everything was just being uprooted like that. It was like, ‘I put it there and now I have come to take it’. Almost immediately, Ibadan Diocese became very organized and the situation left everybody amazed such that everybody including the small children noticed and it became the talk of the whole Church. So, wherever you go throughout the Yoruba speaking areas and most other parts of the Diocese, you will find the name of Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu. Have you ever been to a church where Archbishop is preaching at any time?
We are even looking for tapes or CDs of his messages.
I think that is exactly what we should find for you very quickly. And that is not enough we should organize, unknown to Archbishop or anybody close to him, that you should be taken to a place where he is preaching so that it will not appear pre-arranged. When you get there, you will see him in his finest elements. When he mounts the pulpit, you will hear the message of God. So, it is important that the arrangement is done as quickly as possible. So on your request for Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu’s messages, I will contact the Cathedral and ask for some of his sermons so that I can make it available for you and others.
Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu is many things to many people. Who is he to you, sir?
To me?
Yes. How will you describe Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu?
A man of God. I will describe him as a man of God.
Sir, what are your wishes for him as he celebrates his 80th birthday?
My prayer is that he will live a long life in good health, prosperity and be firmly built in the call that he has gotten.
Lastly, Sir, the Archbishop is one the strong voices in Yorubaland and he is a leader in the Yoruba Unity Forum. He is a man of God who is also deep in the Yoruba Culture going by the role he played in the Installation of Aare Ona Kakanfo. What’s your take on this?
Now, let me tell you this. You don’t find so many kinds of Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu. Why do I say this? This is someone that was originally born into the Muslim circle, who was well advanced in the knowledge and study of Islam and just by the Act of God, not by any other thing, suddenly turned into Christianity and he excelled too. To get to the Archbishop hierarchy in Methodist Church Nigeria (MCN) is not a small job. It was not like some other Christian Denominations where you can buy your way through to the top and it is not even like the Christian Ministries of today, where you buy the title of Bishop and bribe your way through and all the rest of it. At that time in MCN, there was nothing like that. Also, in his own time as Archbishop, everybody that you asked will say, ‘It is not the time of Ladigbolu that you will hear somebody put money down to be promoted’. What would he do with the money? No! Nobody could cut corners and that testimonial of truth, uprightness and equity in character was what was attested to everywhere. That was the legacy he left. Now, talking about Tradition, if you don’t know your past, you cannot navigate necessarily and safely to the future. So many things that happened in the past have an effect on the future. So, if you don’t want to know the past now; do you know that I was a Business Manager in Oyo Town? I don‘t know what age you were by then in 1952 (laughing because none of the members of the Interview Crew had been born by then). So, unless you know the past and with God guiding you, your future can be assured.
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