Mr. Gamaliel Oforitsenere Onosode, OFR., a Man of God, a Deacon and elder in the Nigeria Baptist Convention, Board Room Guru, Corporate Titan, Scholar, Sage, Orator, Wordsmith, Teacher, Statesman, Politician, Icon of Integrity, Apostle of God in the Market Place, Husband, Father of my brother, fellow Kingsmen and friends,
Ese Onosode and Dr. Chris Onosode, and their siblings, the Treasurer of the Parents-Teachers Association of King's College, Lagos, in the 1978/1979 Academic Session, the Special Adviser on Economic Affairs to Former President Shehu Shagari during his three-month second term which was cut short by the coup d'etat of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Former President of the Nigeria Institute of Management, Former President of the Chartered Institute of Stock Brokers of Nigeria, Doyen of the Nigeria Banking Industry, Doyen of the Nigerian Capital Market, Doyen of the Practice of Professional Management, the Czar of Corporate Governance, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of several quoted and unquoted companies, my Life Coach, my All-round Mentor and elder Friend, one of the seven Promoters and the the largest Shareholder of Pharez Ltd. in our early years, Pioneer Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pharez Ltd., Citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a Giant of Africa, a Servant of the Most High God, a Gentleman, a Real Man who served generations according to the Will of God.
I first met Mr. Onosode sometime in October, 1997. God had led me to resign my job as a Senior Bank Examiner at the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation to start Pharez and I felt led of Him to invite Mr. Onosode to invest in the Company and be the Chairman of our Board of Directors. I went to his home which also served as his office at 44, Adelabu Street, Surulere, Lagos, and requested that his Secretary should give me an appointment to see him.
Mr. Onosode was a very busy man even in retirement. It is unbelievable how many people regularly sought audience with him for diverse reasons. He was the Choice Pick to chair company boards, University Councils, Weddings, Seminars, Lectures, Conferences, and all sorts of business, corporate, governmental, religious, political, community and social events. He was also popular as the Keynote Speaker at Lectures, Conferences and Seminars. And many Churches across several denominations eagerly sought him to minister God's Word to their congregations.
By divine favour, I was given an appointment to see Mr. Onosode by his Secretary despite his tight schedule. Every day in his diary was taken up by some activity. His wife, Mummy Sarah Onosode, was in effect his Chief "Security" Officer: she tried her best to stop him from committing to the engagements her husband was always being called upon to be involved in. She obviously did not succeed much despite her best efforts. Mr. Onosode was a "junkie" to helping people and pouring himself into anything that was worthwhile. I am sure his dairy has programmes scheduled for him for 2017 and beyond! I guess many people did not quite believe he was actually mortal!! He was so full of life.
Meeting Mr. Onosode for the first time was like entering the presence of some Grand Monarch. One felt like it would be appropriate to take off one's shoes in reverence! As I stepped into his office, he stood up and stretched his hand to shake mine. "Good morning sir", I said. "Good morning", he replied in that his peculiar voice that never was affected by age. He motioned for me to take a seat.
His office is on the top floor of his one-storey Boys Quarter. It is a three-room suite; the outer room served as the reception, the inner room is the Secretary's office and the innermost room was his L-shaped office which adjoined his residence. His desk faced the door from the Secretary's office and there was a conference table on the right-side corner of his office. A huge book-shelf lined the entire left-side of the conference area which had a door at the end leading to his residence. All the times I met with him over the seven year period he served as our Board Chairman and many years thereafter, I do not recall him ever sitting at his desk. He preferred holding his meetings in the conference section of his office.
After a little chit-chat, he asked me why I wanted to see him. I gave my best performance marketing the business concept of Pharez and the Unique Selling Point. He listened without interrupting. When I was done he was quiet for a while as one in deep thought. Finally, he spoke. He was fascinated by the name Pharez. As a Bible Student and Teacher, he knew all too well the story in Genesis 38 about Judah and Tamar, his daughter-in-law, and the circumstance which resulted in Tamar becoming the mother of the twin sons of her father--in-law. He knew that Pharez miraculously became the first-born even though his twin brother, Zarah, had initially brought out his hand at birth thus compelling the midwife's presumptuous declaration that he was the first child upon whose outstreched hand she tied a scarlet thread to so indicate. But by Divine Orchestration, Zarah withdrew his hand and Pharez mysteriously exited the womb first. The midwife exclaimed out of surprise, "How have you broken forth for yourself!" and she named the child "Pharez". Pharez means "Break forth" in Hebrew.
Mr. Onosode said the Business Idea of Pharez which I had shared with him was interesting but he would like me to meet with him again in the company of one of the other persons I had approached and who had already committed to invest as a co-Promoter and Director. He would tell me his decision after that meeting. I went to see him some days later with my close elder friend and brother, Dr.
Austin Ebhomielen. Interestingly, one of those I invited to invest in Pharez was so cynical that he told me that if Mr. Onosode did invest in the company I should call him and he would do so too. Mr. Onosode took up 20% of our start-up equity capital and we appointed him the Chairman of the Company during our Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Directors held in April, 1998. My cynical friend did not make good his "promise" to follow Mr. Onosode's lead.
I cannot now write all I have to say about Mr. Gamaliel Oforitsenere Onosode. He so influenced my life that at a time I parted my hair in the middle like his for a couple of years! I wanted to look like him. I wanted to be him! He taught me so much. I had the privilege of writing some of his speeches and representing him at some events. For someone who was a perfectionist, it was very fulfilling to be entrusted with such assignments especially when he never had cause to even edit the speeches which I wrote for him. I spent many hours in private with him in his office and in his home. We spoke for many hours via the telephone when we could not meet physically. He treated me like one of his sons. He was my father. I drunk directly from his Fountain of Wisdom.
Mr. Onosode's involvement with Pharez conferred instant market recognition and even fame on the Company from Day One. My proudest moments were when he attended meetings in our office and participated in our public events: Seminars and Workshops. People wondered how I succeeded in persuading him to buy shares in Pharez and chair our Board knowing how hard it was to impress him with business ideas.
Mr. Onosode came to personify our core twin values: Integrity and Excellence. Pharez has never paid a bribe to secure business from inception till date. Curiously, Mr. Onosode had such an unusual sense of integrity that he turned down my several requests that he should introduce me to his numerous corporate contacts for business patronage. He said to me: "Eghes, just go and say 'I am from Mr. Onosode' and I have a business proposal that would interest you". I told him: "Sir, things do not work that way in Nigeria" (as if he did not know!). LOL! I told him he should give me a written note to the people I wanted to solicit business from and that he should leave the rest to me. I would follow up aggressively to prove our competence to deliver on mandates. He refused. He said it was immoral for him to exploit his name and reputation for monetary gain. He wanted me to go about our business development professionally and secure patronage on the merit of our value proposition. Recall he held 20% of our shareholding; I never understood what was immoral about leveraging one's relationships to generate business for one's Company. I still do not. But that was vintage Onosode.
Mr. Onosode is a unique breed. His being called "Mr. Integrity" was not for nothing. In life, Mr. Onosode was a Phenom: a Living Legend. In death, he is a Colossus.
Mr. Onosode aspired to be Nigeria's President in 1999 using the platform of the All Nigeria's Peoples Parry (ANPP). He passionately campaigned all around the country. Many people across tribal, religious and political divides expressed support for him. He sold his Vision for Nigeria which he had documented in his Presidential Manifesto. Most of the people felt he was the best candidate........but "if only the political class would support him" and "if only his political party would give him the Presidential Ticket".
When he failed to win the ANPP Presidential Primaries, many of us who were close to him were apprehensive how he might take it. He had given his campaign his utmost. But Mr. Onosode was unperturbed. He said: "God told me to join a political party and aspire for the Presidency of Nigeria. That I have done. Before I entered the race, many people did not think a born-again Christian should get involved in politics. They believed that politics is dirty and not for decent people. But how do you expect "dirty" people to clean up politics. Jesus said 'a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit'. But we somehow expect that bad politicians would deliver good governance for us. God has somehow used my aspiring to be President of Nigeria to substantially change the mindset of most people that good people should not be involved in politics. Maybe that was God's intent. Maybe God just wanted to use me to influence and change how Christians perceive politics. I believe that is the case. So I have obeyed God and I am happy I have done His will".
The leadership of the All Nigeria Peoples Party requested that Mr. Onosode should lend the party N10,000,000 (Ten million Naira only) to finance its activities in with a promise to repay him within a short time. Mr. Onosode took a loan from his bank and lent the money to the ANPP. But the party reneged and did not meet its debt obligation to Mr. Onosode till he died. Now, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and his peers in the leadership of the ANPP owe it as a sacred duty to ensure that the money owed to Mr. Onosode is paid to his estate. It is the very least that they can do to redeem themselves for betraying the trust of such a noble man.
MR. GAMALIEL OFORITSENERE ONOSODE WAS THE BEST PRESIDENT NIGERIA NEVER HAD AND CAN NEVER HAVE.
What a shame. What a pity.
Mr. Onosode rested in peace over six decades ago when he made Jesus Christ his personal Lord, Saviour, King and God. He fought a good fight. He kept the faith. Now he has received his Crown of Glory and he is in Glory. He has entered the Joy of his God. He has joined the Saints Triumphant! Praise the Lord!! HALLELUYAH!!!
Waoh! What a Man!!
I am blessed indeed. I knew Mr. Gamaliel Onosode.
