OBITUARY - Alagba Paul Olatoye On March 22 in response to my status update on AGING he wrote: Eye mi, as we say it in Ekiti State. You are fighting the inevitable...The fight back my sister is for you to go down to your root. Bless them in whatever resources you can afford. Try to institutionalize your imprint and set your mind how it will survive you and go on when you are no longer here. Thats my observation from sojourns to other lands. Simply put your mind to how the next generation will do better than you. Sunset came for Mr. Paul Olatoye early this morning, Friday April 4, 2014 (two days after his birthday). I met Mr. Olatoye on the foremost Nigerian Internet group - Naijanet in 1996. He was humble, self-effacing yet firm. He never joined the roforofo fights. He was a dependable ally in the fight against Abacha. He hated all the ills that defines Nigeria. He was a committed patriot! What makes any person great? It is certainly not wealth, power, fame, beauty or any of those vain, ephemeral attributes you are blessed with or that, which you achieved. True greatness is in those things that endure and what endures more than good character? Good character is the currency in heaven, without which anyone will be rendered poor in heaven without it. Mr. Paul Olatoye had moral currency, he had character, he was one of the most humble persons I have ever met. His death is a reminder yet again, that the shortness of life and the certainty of death ought to remind us to live life fully in the service of others. His commitment to the development of Ekiti saw him come to Nigeria to work with Kayode Fayemi (I did not know this until I heard the news of his death).The shortness of life and the certainty of death ought to remind us to express our love freely, Mr. Olatoye loved freely. Someone said, A noble character is the sum of many ordinary days well used. That his secret. He left a legacy of humility, character, service and leadership to his Okemesi people. He chaired the Olatoye Foundation where scholarship are given to deserving candidates pursuing postgraduate studies. His death came to me as a slap in a series of slap I have received in the last month owning to the death of close friends. Writing this is my balm; a way to assuage my own pain and my sense of loss. Dietrich Bonhoffer, who died at the hand of Adolf Hitler, once wrote: Nothing can make up for the absence of someone we love ...It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap, he doesn’t fill it,but on the contrary, he keeps alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of pain... The dearer and richer our memories, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy. The beauties of the past are borne, not as a thorn in the flesh, but as a precious gift in themselves. Alagba Olatoye I will miss you dearly. Your old buddies on Naijanet will miss you. May God make your death a rest from all evils.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 00:29:24 +0000