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Writing someone’s obituary is a difficult thing for me to do. Yet, I would be remiss, if not a self-inflicted psycho-emotional pain that has the potential to remain in my subconscious for the rest of my life if I refuse to say a word or two about Mr Jonathan Adewumi.
Mr Adewumi’s death is especially painful for me not because he was a family member but because he was a stranger I met in the course of the job given to me by His Excellency Dr Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State who had demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that he wanted me to succeed in the job. His passion for the development of Ekiti State met my own enthusiasm to make a difference in my job.
He found me and chased me around just so that Ekiti would grow!
Mr Adewumi walked up to me in the evening of September 27, 2019 in the hotel ballroom at Princeton, New Jersey where Governor Fayemi was being honoured as the recipient of the 2019 Quintessence Award, a prestigious award for emerging African political leaders. He introduced himself as the President of the Federation of Ikun Amure Ekiti Descendants Overseas and a businessman with a couple of businesses that maintains presence both in Nigeria and the United States. We exchanged pleasantries and I gave him my card. Two days after the event, Mr Adewumi sent me a WhatsApp message wanting to know if it would be possible to host the governor and his entourage at his Nigerian restaurant in New York where he claimed he had played host to Oba Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife and other prominent Nigerian personalities. I replied him that it would have to be some other time as I would soon be on my way back to Nigeria.
On October 8, 2019 Mr Adewumi sent me a mail to formally congratulate me on my appointment. He expressed his satisfaction for the event and said, having observed me and listened to how I addressed a cluster of Ekiti indigenes at the event that the state truly needs them, that he was ready to help as he has always been doing. He attached some photos of his several engagements with Ikun Amure Ekiti, his hometown. I was highly impressed.
On December 2, 2019, Mr Adewumi sent me a WhatsApp message, wanting to know if I was still planning the Ekiti Diaspora Homecoming which he reminded me that I had intimated them with at the New Jersey event and I answered in the affirmative. A few hours later he sent another message that he would not be coming but would send a couple of representatives who were already in Nigeria at the time to the homecoming event. He asked me to follow up with Ms Sandrine Kabanguka and Mr Michael Dada, also a diasporic Ekiti indigene, as he had spoken to them. To my surprise, both of them showed up at the event. They were among the very early arrivals at the Ekiti Diaspora Homecoming on December 21, 2019.
On January 11, 2020, Mr Adewumi sent me another WhatsApp message that he has 10 wheelchairs, 10 Walkers, 10 Crutches, 7 Hospital Beds, 47 Stacking Chairs and 3 Blood Draw Chairs he was ready to ship to Nigeria if I could be responsible for clearing these items at the port and distribute them to whoever pleases us, as a government, in the state. It was no doubt a kind and wonderful gesture, but I told him to tarry a little because there was also an Ekiti gentleman in Texas who promised to send a container load of books to the state. The thinking then was that I would instruct him to join these medical items with the books when they’re ready for shipment to save on the cost of clearing.
After listening to a video clip on social media in which I had expressed my desire to link emerging Ekiti small scale entrepreneurs with the international community at the inaugural summit of the Diaspora Focal Point Officers in Abuja on Tues, February 3, 2020, Mr Adewumi sent me a message that he was greatly encouraged and would like to assist me in making my desire a reality. On the 16th of the same month, he sent another message that he has already spoken with an American company who’s ready to make an internet platform available for things produced in Ekiti state and that he would be waiting for me to give him the green light. Himself in New York, Mr Dada in Florida, Prof Aluko and myself in Ado-Ekiti had scheduled a teleconference for March 2nd so that this thing and a solar power project could be discussed. But Mr Adewumi sent me a message a day before our teleconference asking for a reschedule as he would be having series of meetings on that day and I obliged.
His last message to me was “Congratulations! Forward and Onward” on March 15th when he saw a photo of my being presented with the Business Plan of the Odua Progressive Union (OPU) in the presence of Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland who is also the convener and patron of an organization with (Nigerian) members in about 87 countries.
Jonathan Adewumi, a selfless Ekiti man from Ikun Amure succumbed to COVID-19 in New York around the middle of April. Though you have transited, I have no doubt in my mind that your spirit will continue to assist in marching us “Forward and Onward” in Ekiti State.
Rest on Mr Jonathan Adewumi. Goodbye!
FEMI ODERE
SSA (Diaspora Affairs) to Ekiti State Governor
