By Chris Onuoha

Mr. Oladipo Okpeseyi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, is Chairman, Lagos Island Club.

In this interview, he reflects on his life on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

As Chairman of Island Club, how have you fared?

It’s a privilege and honour conferred on me by the Lagos Island Club members to pilot the affairs for the second consecutive time. I have done my possible best to sustain the confidence my members reposed in me. It’s going to two years since I became the Chairman and I have not disappointed . It’s been a bit difficult, but, like every other people-oriented organisation, you have to deal with people who are from different professional and linguistic backgrounds. I am happy to say that Island Club is one of the biggest families with cordiality among members. I think I have been able to sustain the momentum without being immodest.

Many people see the club as elitist. Going by your age, how have you been able to manage the elders and senior citizens?

I do not see that as a challenge because the elders are like senior brothers, and that’s the role they play. The entire family comprises people that come as friends, fathers, uncles, contemporaries, professional colleagues, and so on and so forth. It is a place where you are privileged to be and also have the latitude to rub minds with people who, ordinarily, you may not have contact with. So, I don’t see challenges but privileges and opportunities and, being the Chairman, it is by the grace of the elders that I was even voted in, because if you check the demography here, you find that elders must accept you before you can walk in to say you are a member. It’s more of an honour and privilege and opportunity than challenges.

•Okpeseyi

One of the highlights of your 60th  birthday celebration is the church building project in memory of your late father that you are embarking on. Can you speak on that?

Some years back, I was at a ‘cross-over service’ in our church, St. Saviour’s Church, Lagos Island. The Vicar in-charge, after everything, said: “Ask God for one thing” as a prayer point. Of course, I tried to ask God for one thing but the issue to build for the Lord tried to come up incessantly on my mind. Well, I said, `okay, I will build a church for the Lord if I have the grace or means and in less than seven months. The issue has remained on my mind. Right now, I have acquired a land, put in place  all the  things to kick-start the project. Although the land owners wanted to give me the land for free,I said I want to buy. I purchased it because if you want to give to the Lord, it must be something you treasure or feel the impact. So in the process of project vision, I realized that my father who passed on about 35 years ago needed a memoriam. I then decided to commemorate this in his honour. Since the church is to be built in the area where my father resided before his demise, I bought the piece of land to fulfill my promise to God. I think it’s the highest honour to be privileged to build a church. So I am still praying to God to grant me the grace to build for Him because when you build for Him, you radically put your background on the solid rock of Christ. The project is a brainchild of my Foundation, Oladipo Okpeseyi Foundation (OOF) with the motto: ‘Christ, our defense and hope’.

Talking about your father and reason for this special project on his behalf, may I ask who your father was?

My father is my father. In a nutshell, my father is a man of very modest means, a gentleman. The most important thing about him because he died some years back when I was still young, was what he told me:  “Once you believe in something, hold on tenaciously to it. It’s not externally induced because your God’s essence is in you. Hold on tenaciously to it”. There were certain things that happened then that led to that. When I was very young, he would read to me about reports in newspapers – cases in courts, sensational political cases and so on and so forth. Saturday mornings were always a delight to argue with him on issues and unfortunately he was not a lawyer but very firm on arguments. He will read those things to me and discuss it with his friends. In the evening, he would be at the balcony when everyone had retired, and he will take the issue from one side for argument while I take it from the other side. At the end of it all, we would have had a very useful and meaningful discussion. The next evening, he would take the opposite side and so it continued, making his argumentative instinct interesting. While all these were going on, little did I know that he would not be there when I move to study law at the university, but I saw that as my initial kick into the law profession that I am in today.   As he rightly said to me: “What we are doing together is a programmed way I want you to move, think and reason”, but I give God the glory, to have had him as my father.

How would that reflect on your 60th birthday?

My 60th birthday is basically a thanksgiving to God, that He has been gracious to me. He has kept me these years, giving me good health. He has also elevated me in the area of my choice in life and the Foundation has thrived. If the Foundation is unsuccessful,  I won’t be here today. I believe it’s a credit to my parents and by God’s grace.

What role did your mother play to make you a success?

My mum was a disciplinarian.. My father will discipline me, I was the only one my father ever flogged because I was rascally when I was young. Of all my siblings, I cannot remember him touching any. But with my mum, you can run into trouble easily and she will give it to you very well and quietly before you take the next step. But my mum gave all the support my siblings and I needed after my father passed on. I used to joke that if not for my mum, life would have been difficult for me. I give every credit to my mum throughout my trying period; she passed on December 17, 2014.

What  advice do you have for youths who see you as a role model?

I must say it is disheartening that, these days, there are no mentors, no role models anymore in our society. This is because if you consider what’s going on daily and the people you talk to, you realise there is none. If there had been role models, those close to them would have seen the rot that is happening every day. To the younger generations, I believe in hard work, but, above all, hope and trust in God, because, no matter what you do, you are created by God and, no matter how you look at it, you have divine destiny. If God is good, it means there’s a wonderful destiny for everyone. Don’t believe you know all and don’t take your destiny in your own hands. Let God operate in your life. Wherever direction He pushes you today, give Him the praise and continue to move until He moves you to the next level. I put my trust in God. I believe in grace, power and faith in God and a little bit of hardwork that puts your life in the right direction.

Island Club has come a long way. As Chairman, what future do you foresee for the elite Club?

Island Club has a system. We believe in democracy and we have a Constitution. You can only serve at a time, for a maximum of three consecutive years if elected. That means you can serve one year, three times. By April, I will be two years on the seat. So, whether I want to go on or not, the best that can happen is to offer myself for another year. But on where I am now, I think I have done creditably. Island Club evolves and the leaders are the ones putting it together. It will continue to work. The club is 73 years plus. If it can survive this far, then it can go on for more than 2,000 years. It is a privilege to pass through it as part of history and it is a privilege to live within it in history.