Mr. Adebola O. Lema firmly believes as President Theodore Roosevelt aptly puts it, “Everyman owes some of his time to the upbuilding of the profession to which he belongs.” This is his creed and his charter, “to build this profession of ours” with abiding faith that it can be done.

The above sums up the man who seeks our mandate to lead the Branch and serve you in the coming elections. Those who know him know this is true. His motivation is nothing other than to show that a different way and a different leadership is possible.

We may not well rely on what he says alone. Many have attested to his character in the past and now but someone who knows our candidate well has well captured his character and what he stands for. Obajaja’s wonderful piece shows that with Adebola O. Lema, what you see is what you get. Please consider his testimony below on the auspicious occasion of our candidate’s birthday earlier this year and vote for the man of character, integrity and Spartan discipline. What he says he would do is what he would do.

Thank you.

TO MY ONLY FRIEND AT 50

There was Sterling Bank in Nigeria a few years ago which said it had only one customer and that customer is you! No one noticed but I thought that was genius. It vividly portrayed in what great esteem the Bank held even its lowliest customer with shallow pockets. You would be proud to bank with them.

In the same mould of Sterling Bank I have only one friend myself! I have never believed in the fad of ‘best friend’. It only exists in the lexicon of Elementary School Children who do not realize that there will be a thousand best friends turned enemies by the time the cause of their lives reaches its twilight.

My only friend was the first friend I met and made at the great research University of Benin (Uniben) in what should be the rain semester of 1995 if we did not suddenly elevate the mundane above the symbolic. Imagine the sound of Harmattan and Rain semester as against First and Second semester as we call the two halves that make up an academic session in our Schools today!

My only friend took me to heart. He was to me a great friend and at the same time a true brother. There was nothing he will not do or let go for me whilst we were at Benin. I was a high spirited young man who thought he knew where to draw the line in Benin but my friend would nonetheless look out for me always even when I thought at the time that he was as much to worry about too.

My only friend was not always whatever he has become now. There was nothing we did not do together in Benin. I have always had capacity for all sorts and he did too even if not quite as much. We left Benin and had to go serve our country. He went to Jigawa State and I went to Ogun State. It was then we discovered how efficient NIPOST was. Those letters we shared always arrived even after the cause and effect/event. I still have a few of those letters.

That done, he went to Law School in Abuja whilst I was at the original campus in Lagos. Nothing changed as we held fond memories of each other in our hearts. God helped us and we both qualified in due course in 2003. I remained in Lagos and he returned to Lagos. Everything just continued as it was. We both found those small Law jobs in Lagos and set to work. We lived with relatives at extreme ends of town from each other but we still found time to get together on occasions and met in Court when God willed.

Then in November 2003 my only friend called me, “Obajaja where you dey? Make we go collect University of Lagos (Unilag) form for Masters degree oooo”. You do not mean it was my response! How much is the form I asked in a whimper? He answered and said N7,500.00. I earned only N10,000.00 per month at the time. Whilst I yet protested, I heard “Obajaja I am going to get my form on Monday, you can opt out if you are not interested”. That in a nutshell is my only friend and how he made me earn a Master of Laws degree from the prestigious University of Lagos – but give me Benin any time, any day though. Anyone who studied Law at the University of Benin will immediately tell you that there is something about the University that seems so conducive to the study of Law.

In that time in Lagos, our friends Tunde Odusanya and Festus Ofume helped us. I and my only friend lived in a one room apartment at Ketu at the time as we managed to pool resources whilst we were at Unilag and had to jostle work and school life. Between the two of them, they vacated a three bedroom flat in Ilupeju for us as Tunde was leaving to join a Communications company in Ibadan and Festus was moving to Canada. It was in that house that we completed our program at Unilag and my only friend got married.

I lived with him and his wife in that house for a while before I married and moved out and all the while he was a true brother to me. It was in that house and at a lounge at the University of Lagos that we planned a future for a big Law firm with a lot of Partners across the country founded from a core of our friends from Benin. We worked and kept at it but in the end I and my only friend had to go together and we are still going together since 2006.

At Fountain Court Partners, we have kept going still. My only friend has been Managing Partner since 2006 and no one has thought of changing him even though our articles of Partnership allow us to do so. It is a testament to his leadership qualities that not even a man like me is interested in taking on the role. It must have helped that my only friend is a man you can completely trust to do the right thing. He is a man of empathy and that is the most important quality a true leader can have today.

Then God blessed us with great families. My only friend probably speaks with my mother more than I do. His own mother takes care of me before anyone else whenever the occasion arises. It must be the happiest time of our lives when we took holidays together in Igarra and Okitipupa where all my childhood friends become his friends and in turn, I met all his acquaintances and school mates in Okitipupa and Ilutitun respectively. Our marriages uncannily mirror each other too. Our wives are great women who respect us and love each other like Sisters. Our Children look like they will further this great relationship. My only friend is indeed a blessed man.

He has always showed selflessness and charity towards all in all he has done in his life. His professional and Christian life is emblematic of true devotees of old. He is a contented man who puts his trust in the Lord always. You can never catch him out. He will simply not do anything wrong. He is so devout to the Law and the Church. He once made the point as Theodore Roosevelt earlier made when he ran for Branch Chairman that everyman must give back to the profession to which he belongs. His fidelity is to the Law and his Lord. His commitment to members of the bar and all with whom he shared communion is legendary and self evident.

My only friend proved his loyalty to me many times over and he earned my eternal depth of gratitude when he treated any indiscretion and infractions on my part with understanding and equanimity. He had opportunities to torpedo the ship of our friendship on occasions but he always chose to uphold the time honored Yoruba life blood of “the bond of brothers may strain but it must never break”.

He has his faults as we all do no doubt and it is as well so, for what man is all good except he be god? Even those faults in the case of my only friend pans out into insignificance all considered. It is rare for a man’s good side to so outshine the bad as a lighthouse would illuminate the path and point out the way in which to navigate in the dark in some distant land and in the high seas of life where men travelled.

Thank you again my only friend as you celebrate your golden jubilee today. You are the one with whom I share everything and anything. You are the one of whom I can ask anything however outrageous. You are the one who looks out for my family. You are the one who never judges me. You are the only one who will give me the little you have even if it means you have nothing afterwards. You are the one from whom people who largely misunderstand me ask in exasperation how and what manner of friendship you have with Obajaja and you just smile and make it look like they will never understand.

My only Friend and Brother, Adebola Olarotimi Lema, I thank and appreciate you profoundly on this day. Without you, there will be no me. I am what I am today because you are. I continue to bless that fateful day in 1995 when I met you at the University of Benin. I will be there to felicitate with you when you are 100 years in good health, happiness and prosperity.

You are my only Friend!!!

Stephen Onimisi Obajaja Esq has only one friend and his name is Adebola Olarotimi Lema.

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