Ajibola Ogunsola: Model of faithful brother

Ajibola Ogunsola became a household name upon assum­ing the chairmanship of Punch Nigeria Ltd. in 1987. For well over two decades he steered the ship of the Punch Group of newspapers, which sailed through turbulent waters at dif­ferent times. Throughout these years, the group suffered many hard and near-devastating punches from the unrelent­ing blows of the powers of the day. To­gether with the board members and the management team, Ogunsola saved the group from extinction, albeit at a great cost and risk to himself and others. He brought the company from a state of virtual bankruptcy to one of buoyancy with the Group’s newspapers becoming widely read all over the world – thanks to the internet. The sacrifice that he made is unquantifiable; but for that sacrifice and the sacrifices of his big brother, Chief Moyo Aboderin, his cousing, Dr. Lekan Are, and other family members, the Punch would have been no more. To ensure that the legacy left by his brother, Olu, the founder of the Group and up­held by him, lives on, I wrote the follow­ing letter, dated October 8, 2011, to Wale Aboderin, Olu’s son, and Jibola’s succes­sor as Chairman.
“Accept my rather late congratulatory message on your becoming the Chairman of Punch (Nig.) Ltd. When your uncle, Chief Ajibola Ogunsola, retired from this posi­tion earlier this year, I sent him a text mes­sage from the U.S.A. congratulating him on his many years of meritorious service to the company. I went further to tell him that Olu, your late father, wheresoever in God’s uni­verse he may be today, would be proud of his meritorious services to the company es­pecially to the Punch group of newspapers.
It was this noble achievement as well as his giant contributions to the profession of actuarial science, among others, that earned him an honorary doctorate degree in Man­agement Science of the Olabisi Onabanjo University some years ago. He could not have achieved this much without the support of some people around him, especially some family members notably Dr. Lekan Are, a long-time friend of mine and Ibi, whom I do not know very well and possibly others not known to me. Of course, the cooperation of the management team must also have been helpful to him. I pray that you will continue to tap from the pool of wisdom of these el­ders.
Perhaps I should briefly mention to you my long-standing association with the trio of Aboderin-Are-Ogunsola families. It started dating as far back as 1950, when I first met Lekan in Government College, Ibadan. I subsequently met Olu in 1955 when he lived with your uncle, Chief Moyo Aboderin, in Oke Bola.
I had the privilege of teaching Jibola (a most brilliant student) at the Government College during one of my long vacations from the University College, Ibadan. I must let you know that the association, which I very much cherish, has been most rewarding. This much you will notice in the enclosed copy of my award-winning book, In His Hands: The Autobiography of a Nigerian Vil­lage Boy. Lekan Are is mentioned on pages ix, 42, 74, 84, 115 & 117; Olu Aboderin on pages 111, 132 & 302; and Jibola Ogunsola on page 302.
It is just possible that you may have come across the book as Jibola generously pur­chased many copies sometime ago.