By Demola Ijabiyi
Each time that name is mentioned, I feel nostalgic. Chief Fasoranti. I remember the day I came to resume work as Governor Ajasin’s Campaign Manager on 3rd April 1983. I met the Governor at the Government House that morning. He picked up the phone and invited Chief Fasoranti who was his Commissioner for Finance.
They discussed privately for a couple of minutes and then Papa told me to follow him. We drove to Chief Fasoranti’s house at Omolere where he still lives. He never lived in the official residence provided for commissioners in the form of duplexes at the prestigious Alagbaka Quarters.
On getting to the house, he told me to start work with the status of a State Commissioner. I did not even know what it meant. But a week or so later, he bought me a brand new Peugeot car, the type of official car used by Commissioners. In tandem with a commissioner’s status, he rented a duplex for me in Ijapo estate, asking me to arrange for the furniture in line with my taste. I bought everything I needed piecemeal.
For example, I commissioned a furniture maker to make me the basic furniture and obtained an invoice. The Chief released the whole money to me without hesitation. That style or attitude marked our relationship all through the period. He trusted me completely but I think I earned the trust too. For I never inflated my bills or tried to cut corners. I suspect he soon noticed my “naivety”.
All true the campaigns, he was the bullion keeper. And he strictly informed me that no government facility was to be used. For example, I used to schedule meetings for premises of the Government House for prestige purposes but instead of using the foodstuff at the Government House, we bought our own.
Let me just fast-forward to say that we became very close even after we left government in December 1983.
In 2003, when I met Margaret that later became my wife, I found that she was the ward chairman of our party at Akure Ward 5 that extended from the NEPA area to Obaile Road which thus included the residences of Chief Fasoranti and now His Royal Majesty Olu Falae.
Therefore, she was the Chairman of these great men and it used to tickle me the way they deferred to her as she was their master. I soon realized that herself and Chief Fasoranti were like daughter and father. It was to him that she took me for endorsement. You can imagine the nostalgic scene during that introduction. Needless to add that the chief enthusiastically and joyfully endorsed the relationship. On the day of our traditional wedding, he came and treated himself to a very good dish of pounded yam.
I can go on and on but let me just add how Pa Micheal Adekunle Ajasin introduced him in his autobiography Ajasin: MyMemoirss and Memories.
“Chief Reuben Famuyide Fasoranti was from Akure, the capital town of Ondo State. Born on 11th Ma, 1927, he was an accomplished educationist. At different times, he was the principal of such reputable schools as Iju-Itaogbolu Anglican Grammar School; Baptist High School, Iwo; Olivet High School, Oyo; and Christ School Ado-Ekiti in 1973 and 1974.
*”I have known Chief Fasoranti for a long time within and outside politics. He was by any standard a solid personality. He was solid in capability, integrity, dependability, reliability, efficiency, effectiveness and loyalty. For this reason, I decided to put him in charge of Finance as my finance commissioner.” Happy birthday to our Papa.
Hon. Demola Ijabiyi writes from Akure, Ondo state.
