Olorogun Eddy Olafeso: The Finger That Will Craft Change
Ondo 2020.
By TRIANGLE News Media
Olorogun Eddy Eniola Olafeso is no new brand on the nation’s political firmament, particularly within Ondo state political space. Eddy has been a sturdy and recurrent name in political transactions in the last three decades. He is a sturdy mind whose achievements in party management and political mobilisation are usually aglow. Presently, as the National Vice Chairman (Southwest) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Here is a genius whose tadte for intellectual finesse is second to none, whose drive for personal societal development has caused him to spread inclusive opportunities for all, has seen him braved the encumbrances of his humble background to inspire both the young and the old in his local environment, state and the nation at large.
Privileged to understudy the late Dr Olusegun Agagu, former Governor of Ondo State, to whose works he deployed his mobilisation skills and proved loyalty, traits which earned him the position of the Secretary of the state chapter of the PDP early 2007 and later appointed Hon. Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Mobilisation same year. Naturally gifted with the power of oration and profound ideas. And to his credit is a well articulated performance as the mouth piece of one of the most successful administrations in the State.
Eddy, who returned from the United States in 2002 where he lived for fifteen years to expand the base of his knowledge and business to participate in active politics, was appointed to chair the Board of Owena Motels ltd and later in that same year to head the Corporate Affair Division of the Ajaokuta Steel Company between 2003-2004. Olorogun Olafeso has truly lived Napoleon Bonaparte’s ageless assertion that, ‘’a leader is a dealer in hope”.
A profound patriot, he frowns at any form of imbalance or injustice, even those that has to do with appointments into sensitive government positions. And that is one reason he is an unrepentatant critic of Buhari government. Eddy would tell you anyday that everything that belongs to the country had been taken and nothing is left for other members of the federating units.
Born in Okitipupa, Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, to a civil servant father, the Late Chief Maclean Adenogun Olafeso, foremost community leader and administrator, who worked his entire career in the Local Government setup. Olorogun Eddy Olafeso, from adolescence has been wired to shoulder responsibility and inspire hope.
As the first child in a family of nine, he was co-parent to his siblings and motivator to his extended family and community in dire need of a trail blazer. As a child, Olafeso has always displayed academic brilliance and indisputable focus. He had to take the long route in his quest for higher education owing to paucity of fund at his parents’ disposal. He was admitted to the Teacher Training College, Ode Aye as a 17- year old and from there, he transferred to the College of Education, Ikere in present day Ekiti State.
His legendary ambition and unquenchable thirst for greater height saw him admitted to the then University of Ife in the late 1970’s where he bagged a first degree in English and Master of Science Degree in International Relations. A man of inimitable leadership and social talents, it was at the University of Ife that his leadership ability blossomed.
In the build up to the Students’ Union Government Elections in 1982, only a few gave him a chance! His inspirational conduct and innate leadership skills, however swung the tide in his favour, as his campaign slogan that caught the attention of the ever conscious Great Ife students was in tandem with John Quincy Adam’s battle cry, “If you inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”. It was this same inspiration that led to many laudable innovations of that era.
Although he holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in International Relations from the Atlantic International University, Hawaii, United States of America in 2008, Olorogun Olafeso has membership of other professional bodies like, the Nigerian Institute of Management (1990), Marketing Association of Nigeria (1991). His dexterity and dedication to duty has not gone unnoticed. He was awarded, certificate of Merit as the President of the Students’ Union, University of Ife (1983), Best Salesman of the Year, DHL International (1987), Long Service Award, DHL International (1991), Leadership Award, FEDEX/REDSTAR Express (1994) and Distinguished Alumni Award, Obafemi Awolowo University (2004), amongst others.
- His stellar involvement in the private sector saw him join DHL International in 1985 where he left to co-found RedStar Express in the 1990s. Olorogun Olafeso presently, Chairman/CEO Aegis Core Resources Limited since 2002, National Vice Chairman (South West), PDP since 2017, is well travelled, cosmopolitan, married and blessed with children.