IN SUN DAY, BLACKNIGHT IS A NEW AGE

Story by Raising Adedeji Jimoh

He talks so less. And when he does, it is soft with exudation of measured caution for weighty value of wisdom. You would want to confuse that with introvertism; it could be the peculiarity of one though. It is nevertheless the characteristic of inventiveness in the elder so blessed with ramifying spirit of Omoluabi. But move closer to him, you will encounter a brilliant man once ruled by innate obstinacy which made him a vulnerable child to regular strokes of the cain. You get to know this in his occasional slip into deep nostalgia for his early years when he engrosses in wistful introspection with you.

Being mulish could as well be an asset when it mixes with brilliance. The empirical fact of this should be the manifest hallmark of the sterner stuff of Otunba Adedayo Adebayo Salvador, who is today celebrating his birthday in pride of a fulfilment thus far in his journey through life. His fulfilment is one grounded in the oxymoron of silent loud achievement with his invention work of a popular spirit brand his many acquaintances would never have traced to his footprint in the industrial evolution of Nigeria. Popularly as “Blacknight” in the progressives’ tribe of ‘Politicians' Cave beyond Alimosho’, his creative ingenuity as a Chemical Engineer product of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, is an open read. It is historically informing as the origin of Nigerian version of the Seaman Aromatic Schinapps that gave Nigeria Distilleries Limited (NDL) its liberation from the imperialistic shackles of unfair business practices it began to experience with the foreign partners at incipient of industrialisation era of the country in the mid-1970s. Through that innovative achievement, he rose through the ranks to the post of Managing Director from Operations Manager in the multibillion naira company the NDL had then become. He also made a stint as marketing Director in the firm. Through this promotional trends in management cadre, he would have to go for a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

He must have risen to that peak of his career in his late thirties, as he moved into Alimosho to mark his 40th birthday with a self-gift of a new house that became his country home at Jemi-Alade Estate of today. There, he began his political career in the progressives’ cave with grassroots level involvement as Chairman of his residential Community Development Association (CDA). He would later move to the conservatives’ where he upped his political activism into aspiration for the executive chairman of the former whole Alimosho Local Government. This was nevertheless botched by the strategic move of then Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu to create new local governments with fragmentation of the existing 20 local governments.

With his sound footing in the progressives after his retirement, Otunba Adedayo Adebayo was appointed as Chairman of the Governing Board of a Federal Polytechnic in the Niger Delta region of Southsouth geopolitical zone under the administration of President Muhammodu Buhari. He is today a member of the Progressives’ G-10 Elders and Leaders Council in Egbe-Idimu LCDA. This status literally ranks him among the first ranking 60 progressive politicians in the Alimosho Federal Constituency.

Soft spoken in his medium frame light complexioned body, Otunba Adebayo Salvador has had his own fair share of the ugly experience of the unruly world of politics even from those he had given so much. Despite his social status of economically successful pedigree, he had suffered a classic case of debasement Alimosho politics had slipped to when his like would find themselves at the mercy of a benighted personality in political leadership. In fatherhood, he is highly ranked with successful children too – all holding foreign citizenship in duality to their Nigerian identity. Among them are American based medical Doctor Who is now a public health consultant to Deloit -- a multinational company of repute. Another one is a software engineer engaged by global brand firm.

As he Otunba marks his birthday today, I could only which him many more years in good health of sound mind active soul

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MAN OF EVERGREEN SEASON />