Eyitayo Jegede: That Infectious Star ✨

(Birthday Tributary)

~Debo Ikuesewo-Akinbami

Day arrived with peculiar, various arousals; birth of a sterling, leading citizen sits atop the list. Not in the mould of usual ritual, not as flimsy funeral. Not the flippant indulgence in revelry or any licence for mere memorabilia. A rare recall that throws up personality finesse at daring rate and challenges minds to thorough traits in a space already well rounded by rowdy wrongs, saltless styles that have come to portray dangerous dimensions.

Treatise was in offing, and one had to contend with which side of a personality qualifies for writing rigour. Times arrive, like this, where options confront, and the individual front presents itself with peculiar implications, so that weighing each worth becomes a duty. It's not a strange situation, anyway, as such usually associates with distinguished persons, a truer tendency with a distinction as this subject.

The strongest of motivation being his profound leadership finesse, Eyitayo Jegede stands out as one different leadership material whose kind of construct is uncommon around here. Even when there is the risk of hagiographical label of the uncritical, facts are insurmountable, however.

As a leader, he moves men with a clear integrity and purpose. His is a personality who endears his critics and enthusiasts alike; whose mein and penchant for temperance dumpfound admirers and acquittance, a persona whose leadership qualities are unlike those robed by impostors. His distinctions did not come cheap, they have been with him, consciously and innately, right from the formative, and traveled inseparably with him through the rungs.

Where honestly defines leadership worth, Jegede is not just honest, he does what he says. Where material affluence swells men to the rank of gods, he's unassumingly humble despite his meteoric achievements, never condescending. Eyitayo relates equally with all irrespective of socioeconomic positioning. Always caring. An angel to the widows, orphans whom he does hearty support, long before he foraged to public office. The many oppressed and abused for whom he got justice at no cost appreciate the worth of the man.



True lover of the underdogs, calm in the face of crude political oppression and nude injustice. Unmoved by political perfidy and near betrayals; yet winning army with simplicity and sincerity. The one man who prays as we works for the success of Ondo State and her people. Tayo talks less, yet he's deep with meanings; filled with love for the people and passion for the betterment of the lowly.

Jegede fought battles, resiliently, winning and losing, and moving ahead with renewed zest and mission. Passionate, never desperate, he pursues the happiness of many with his gifts and guts, and pleasures in peace.

For Eyitayo, these strong points are no borrowed belongings, since it beggars telling that he has since been different before fortunes arrived. He's been marked out for feats, even before fame. Not all about the darling herald of an accomplished luminary or his political rhetorics. Not about the loud lyrics or the laundered litanies. It is about the superlative seed at the core of a being that provokes both emulation and admiration.

Those who say Ondo State is blessed with both material and mental might may not be wrong, after all. I agree, her gifts litter all parts of human interventions, including law and politics, where Eyitayo Jegede sits princely. While we wait on date to say how Ondo State becomes a galaxy that it's, let's tell the worth of her own, who glows as he grows older.