"About an hour later, he and Segun were seeing me off, when he told me he had a testimony. He then told me how as he was seeking the Holy Spirit’s leading concerning his driver’s licence, he felt led to go to a pile of books right inside his office. He obeyed, took the one right under the pile, opened it and lo and behold, his licence stared back at him! His boyish face lighting up in a smile, he said: “I wish I could live my life this way.'”
I
was still home on the morning of March 5, when I got a call from my friend,
Tunde Fagbenle, the political activist, now of the Kick Out Siddon Look campaign, columnist and entrepreneur. Have you
heard, he asked and before I could respond, he told me how that “Bad Meat” was
dead; that he died in a flood that resulted from the heavy downpour of the
night before; and how it happened virtually in his own car on his way home, right
there on Agege Motor Road, a mere ten minutes’ drive to the warmth of home and
the embrace of his waiting wife.
My
heart almost stopped. “Bad Meat”, as Dele Odegbami, elder brother of Segun, had
been known since his days as a no-nonsense, hard-tackling defender on the
football pitch, was not just my friend’s brother, he was my friend.
Yes,
I know there are a thousand and one others across the length and breadth of
Nigeria who have better claim to that title, but that is the nature of the man.
Whenever you were with him, he made you feel special. That explains why those
who’ll miss him are legion.
Let
me tell you just one of the many things that I would never forget about this
man, who died prematurely that Monday night in Lagos. When I was ordained a pastor
many years ago, Dele was the ONLY one of my friends who did not ostracise me!
Although, I have since been restored, virtually all else simply stopped calling
me; stopped inviting me to even family events. It was as if I had contacted
leprosy! Although, I now understand the spiritual import of the development, I
didn’t then and it hurt!
Dele
didn’t just kept in touch, he responded to my invitation to the many Christian
Men’s Network Nigeria events, which had become my passion, he would send me the
Thursday Showers newsletter of his church, Fountain of Life Church and
materials from Radio Bible Class. He was an encourager then and he remained one
till the very end.
Our
last two one-on-one interactions would remain evergreen in my memory. The very
last one was about two weeks before his sudden departure. We sat in his office
as he told me about his experience at the Pastors and Leaders retreat of
Fountain of Life Church, where he had become a strong member of the Abraham and
Sarah fellowship and a respected leader. He was humbled, he said, by what he
learnt. He spoke about being better able to understand what it meant to be a
pastor and how much better he now appreciated pastors.
A
month or so earlier, on one of my visits to the Oweh Street office of Worldwide
Sports, where he operated from, he, as he wont to do, told me how he had been
stopped by a traffic officer the day before and asked for his driver’s licence.
He looked everywhere in his car and couldn’t find it. It took the officer’s
grace at recognising the Odegbami name to let him off.
As
a result of that he had spent several hours since then looking for the license.
As we spoke, he said he had sent his car to the car wash with
instructions to turn it inside out and, if necessary upside down, all in search
of the licence. Innocently, I asked: “have you asked the Holy Spirit?” No, he
replied and proceeded to do so, immediately. I left him to meet with Segun.
About
an hour later, he and Segun were seeing me off, when he told me he had a
testimony. He then told me how as he was seeking the Holy Spirit’s leading
concerning his driver’s licence, he felt led to go to a pile of books right
inside his office. He obeyed, took the one right under the pile, opened it and
lo and behold, his licence stared back at him!
His
boyish face lighting up in a smile, he said: “I wish I could live my life this
way.”
This
brings me to my puzzle about the manner of his death. As Segun put it in his
beautiful tribute to him, “Only God, his creator, actually knows what happened”
when he found himself in that flood-induced traffic jam. “Through the ordeal of
that night he was first on the phone with Otunba, his friend. After that,
several times, he ran the ‘commentary’ of what was happening to him inside the
car particularly how the water level was rising and the flooded environment. At
one point during their conversation she screamed at him to abandon the car and
get out to save himself. For some reason he assured her to stop worrying,
that he would be fine, and remained in the car.”
Then
he gave this poser: “Why did he not get out of his car and wade through the
floods to safety? Why did he not break the windshield of the car if he
was trapped and could not open the door of the car due to the pressure of
rushing water outside? Why did he not do any one of several possible things
that everyone that hears the story thinks he should have done?”
And
I am wondering, did he ask the Holy Spirit? I know there’s nothing he would
have wanted at that moment better than to hear God’s voice at that critical
moment. Did he? My guess is he did and he must have heard Him say “come home,
son.” He obeyed and some of us are the lonelier for it. As his body is
laid to rest this Friday at Wasimi, all I can say is thanks, “Bad Meat”, for being
an exemplar in more ways than one.
