When Bode Ojajuni travelled from Lagos to Ondo State with money he had borrowed from the Police Cooperative to renovate his father’s house, he expected his gesture to be warmly received.

Instead, his late father asked him a simple but profound question: Where did the money come from?

Ojajuni explained that the money was a loan from the Police Cooperative, but his father refused to accept it until his son returned to Lagos and obtained a certificate of indebtedness to prove that the money had been legitimately borrowed.

For Ojajuni, that experience became one of the defining lessons of his life, teaching him that good intentions could never justify questionable means.

Now the Commissioner of Police in Ogun State, Ojajuni says the lesson has remained with him throughout his career and shaped his uncompromising position on integrity and corruption.

“I have never, in my life, demanded or collected a bribe, he declared while speaking during the administration of the Sacrament of Confirmation at St. Martin Catholic Police Chaplaincy, Ogun State Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta.

He attributed his stance to the moral and spiritual upbringing he received from his late father, whom he described as a lay preacher.

“My father was also a lay preacher. He placed my feet on the path of the Lord and taught me to live with integrity,” he said.

According to Ojajuni, his father’s insistence on knowing the source of the money he brought home taught him that integrity must guide a person’s choices, regardless of circumstances.

“Now you can see the reason why I said I don’t demand or collect bribes. Why would I? It is my home training and background, and because my father put my leg on the path of the Lord,” he said.

He used the occasion to urge parents to take the moral and spiritual upbringing of their children seriously, stressing that the values instilled in children would eventually have an impact on society.

“You have put your children on the path of the Lord. You will reap the fruits of your labour,” he told the parents of the confirmands.

Ojajuni also recalled his father’s frequent reminder that “you are working for yourself,” saying he now appreciates the responsibilities, privileges and honour attached to his position as a Commissioner of Police.

The ceremony also brought back memories of his childhood in Ondo State, where he grew up as a Methodist in a community with a Catholic Church located opposite his own.

He recalled how the two congregations supported one another during harvest celebrations and exchanged choirs despite their denominational differences.

Those experiences, he said, taught him the importance of religious tolerance, fellowship and peaceful coexistence.

Ojajuni also recounted an experience at a church service in Mosafejo shortly before his appointment as Ogun State Commissioner of Police.

He said a gospel singer performed a song that deeply moved him, prompting him to tell an Assistant Inspector-General of Police sitting beside him: “Sir, that woman is ministering to me.”

Five days later, he was appointed Commissioner of Police in Ogun State.

He described the experience as a reminder that people should remain attentive to messages that may come through worship.

The Confirmation ceremony, presided over by the Catholic Bishop of Abeokuta Diocese, Most Rev. Dr Peter Olukayode Odetoyinbo, also featured the blessing of the newly constructed Grotto of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and the foundation-laying for the Catholic Chaplains’ House.

For Ojajuni, however, the ceremony was more than a religious gathering. It offered him an opportunity to reflect on character, responsibility and the enduring influence of parental guidance.

His story is a reminder that integrity is not acquired when a person assumes public office. It is cultivated at home, reinforced by faith and demonstrated through choices.

For the Ogun CP, perhaps the greatest tribute he can pay to his late father is not merely to remember his lessons, but to continue living by them.