Former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has said that outside politics, his aim is to preserve the environment by planting at least one hundred million trees in his lifetime.
Adebayo, who is known to many as a politician, is also a philanthropist par excellence, a sports enthusiast, a great farmer, a successful lawyer and a lover of colour aesthetics, particularly white colour.
Speaking in a recent interview with journalists in his home town in Ondo State, Adebayo spoke about his personal life, including how he met his wife and while some people travel to foreign countries to relax at their leisure, he relaxes at home when he has to. “Some people say when they want to relax they travel and go to places.
“But for me, when I want to relax, I stay at home. Secondly, I relax by doing sports. I have an interest in sports, I play soccer. I used to have a serious interest in boxing but my wife is not happy with it,” he said.
A visit to his splendid abode in Ondo Town GRA, clearly explains what Adebayo truly represents. His love for white colour is not hidden, as all the buildings are painted in sparkling white. He is also known to always dress in white garb.
What could be behind his passion for white colour, he said: “I’m attracted to white because it is easy for me to detect if something is not clean. It also depicts transparency. I don’t like something unclean or dirty.
“White enables you to know when something is unclean. As a lawyer, I wear white and black. White symbolizes transparency, and that is the way I see it.”
The atmosphere in his compound equally reveals a great philanthropist, whose benevolence to the poor and needy, knows no ethnicity or religion.
“At Adebayo’s house in Ondo, there are scores of people from the north and other parts of Nigeria, outside the South West, who live and feed on his account. Many of them have children, who have been given scholarships from primary to university level.
The saying that charity begins at home, aptly describes who Adebayo is. All the secondary and primary schools in Ondo Town have school buses provided to them by Adebayo, to ease transportation for pupils and students in the area.
In the same spirit of charity beginning at home, the story of his benevolence in Ondo Town is a household discussion, as the entire solar street lights within the town are said to have been provided, installed and maintained by Adebayo. His assistance financially, materially and morally to the aged in his community is also celebrated.
A sports enthusiast, who loves football and boxing, he has just extended his love for sports to marathon. In December last year, the maiden edition of the annual Prince Adewole Adebayo Christmas Marathon was held in Ondo Town.
Speaking about the initiative, he said: “It is not going to be just a marathon, I’m interested in sports talents and all of that and I thought that it would be a good thing for Nigerians to engage in sporting activities because sports, music and entertainment are some the ways by which you can transform poor people within one generation to stardom.
“We are in the talent period of human history now. Education, we do that a lot. Sports, we are trying to do that a lot now. These are ways to reduce poverty. Secondly, sport teaches discipline, because discipline is a problem in Nigeria and anybody who can run a marathon is a disciplined person. We also want Nigeria to feature in the sporting calendar globally.
“By next year, we want to get to where the Olympic international body will recognize our marathon event. This event will take place in the same period every year, December 30. It will take place for the next 1000 years and it will be regular.”
The marathon attracted participants from other African countries. In fact, after the race, the person who came second was from Benin Republic. According to Adebayo, some runners from Kenya were also available even though they arrived late due to flight issues. “We hope that they will come next year.
“We had a 14-year-old, who had never run a marathon before. We said he was too young when he wanted to register, he started crying and we said okay. Two of them took part in the competition and they were ahead of adults.
“When we took them to the palace, where they were all recognized, a 14-year-old who never thought he could be recognized, was recognized in the palace, to the point of being honoured with garlands. Those are the things we are trying to do with the marathon. People came from all over the world, all over Nigeria and within the community. These are the things we can do without waiting for the government.”
A lover man, he loves Lillian, his queen. Ask him to tell you about his wife, and you see him beam with a smile as he talks with relish the encounter that made him a husband and ultimately a father.
“I was a lawyer for a U.S. company, Colgate. They had an investment in Aba, at that time. One of my clients was the MD of Guinness at one time because he had worked in Colgate.
“He left Colgate to become the MD of Guinness. The National Assembly was investigating them repeatedly and unjustifiably, in my view. But in my wife’s view, the investigation was correct, because she was the lawyer to the Senate Committee. So, they would call us today, we would go there, and we would argue. It was a contentious hearing.
“On one of the occasions, it took us to the Senate Committee of Police Affairs and my wife was a lawyer to that committee. When we went to Hilton after the break, I was telling my client, don’t worry, we will win this case, and I will marry their lawyer, and everybody laughed.
“I think towards the conclusion of that hearing, I met her and talked to her. She spoke to me more professionally and I asked to know her. She didn’t show any interest, but towards the end of the case, I think she just took pity on me and said: you bring your number. I got her my number and she said ‘If I need you, I will call you.
“Later in the evening, she called me and asked ‘Are you in Abuja?’ I said yes. She was staying in Maitama and asked me to come to her street. I went there and she said let’s go and have a drink.
“We went out and she started asking me questions, interviewing me like a job applicant. After a while, she came to see the office where I was working, and then we continued like that and here we are today as husband and wife.”
Apart from politics, he is also a great farmer. He said: “I have an interest in farming. I’m a farmer, and if I am to be judged as a farmer, I’m one of the top farmers in Nigeria because I farm a lot. Until recently, we didn’t buy food, because we did a lot of farming.
“I have ranches in the North. I do forestry; I plant a lot of trees. Outside politics, I aim to plant at least 100 million trees in my lifetime.”
