What Manner Of Man Are You?

A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO SIR (DR) KESINGTON ADEBUKUNOLA ADEBUTU ON THE OCCASION OF HIS INSTALLATION AS THE NEW ASOJU OBA OF LAGOS.

Sir (Dr) Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu’s legs are already firmly entrenched on the sands of time. Few rich men enjoy this special accomplishment and recognition. Fewer still make the commitments that leave such strong impression in the minds of others. Money has never been the issue for many people, but unlike Sir Kesington, we keep it only to ourselves while we think less about the needs of others.

The following story puts the issue of personal benevolence in better context.

There was this rich man in the book entitled “Silas Manna”. He was a cobbler and an itinerant apothecary (a doctor in an old English county). Every money he made, he kept it inside a personalized safe, counting and recounting it every night to reassure himself of the growing size of his wealth.

One night, a young boy accidentally peeped through his window and discovered a huge heap of cash in front of him which he had just counted. The snooper, having observed Silas Manna keep the safe in a pit inside his room, accosted the “cash slave” the third day, appealing to him for financial assistance. Silas denied point blank having any money to give and went further to lie that he had not even eaten for four days. A day after this encounter, the young boy scaled the window into Silas Manna’s room, dug up Silas’s safe and bolted away with the hidden treasure.

When Silas came back later that evening, he observed that his window had been discreetly opened from outside. He rushed to open the pit where he kept his safe. Too late, the safe had vanished. He became instantly mad and ran straight to the boy’s house to challenge him for the theft of his money. Not only did the boy deny it, his parents were hostile and uncooperative. In defending himself, the boy asked Silas one question: “How come you lost so much money when you told me yesterday that you had not eaten for days because you had no dime to buy foodstuff ?” As he tried to answer the question, tears of sadness rolled down his cheeks. He collapsed and went into a deep coma.

The Manna story is significant to us as human beings because there are many “Silases” amongst us who, today, have so much money to feed an entire city, everyday for a whole year, yet out of self-centredness and urgency to preserve all they have for themselves, deny others the cash support that could give them a good head-start in life.

But why do human beings behave this way? Two postulations come up in quick succession. Some would say “If I give them what they want now, they will always come back to trouble me again for more!” The second trend of argument is this: “God did’nt give me stupendous wealth so I can spend it stupidly to help others who ought to work hard like me to create their own wealth!”.

Whichever way the argument goes, it is the height of unthinkable selfishness to see someone in need and then pretend that he doesn’t deserve your hand of fellowship to solve his pecuniary problems. People who worship cash this way end up as “cash slaves” but people who give unto others in their hour of needs end up with a special grace that is so enriching it leads to more surplus. There are so many people who think it is their ingenuity that creates wealth for them, forgetting that even the poor can be equally as ingenuous as the rich, except that they lack the opportunity and the grace to consolidate such value-driver into a potent financial cascade.

We must learn to give support to meet the needs of others so that God will continually expand our credit facility in multiple folds. Life is a loan from God, so also are the riches that come with it. Every excess we have in life (in cash or in kind) is a special credit from a divine vault and we must continue to support the needs of others to keep the world in a balanced state of social equilibrium. To demonstrate how useless it is to keep all you have to yourself, clench your fist hard and see if anything will enter it. Then open it briefly and see the avalanche of fresh air that comes across your palm. That is why tight-fisted people never flourish for long. They are always overheating. They soon wither financially like an unprotected tree in the desert. Life is a matter of give and take. If you don’t give, you don’t get. It is like playing the game of soccer: If you don’t pass the ball to a colleague when he needs it mostly to score a goal, he will deny you similar opportunitistic “passes” that should help you put in a header during a goal-mouth tussle. We need to change our mindset about giving. “Blessed is the hand that giveth than the one that taketh”, so says the Holy Bible.

We need to make “giving” a regular part of our daily life.

We need to emulate those who give perpetually, particularly, people like the celebrant of today, Sir (Dr) Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu who appears not to be able to differentiate between the colour code of the Naira from that of the dollar, pounds sterling, yen or deutschmark when help is needed from him. He simply gives whatever he has and is never tired of giving more. He gives according to the needs of those who approach him for assistance. He hardly says No!, except to those who want to play some stupid tricks on his intelligence.

He supports the aged, the young, the active and the vulnerable, yet the source of his wealth continues to expand. He never sits down to count his wealth, like Silas Manna, but rather, he countinues to let his benevolence count in the lives of others. He continuously and tirelessly helps others to wipe off tears from the bereaved, suffering, and swollen faces of the needy and encourages the youths in particular to become successful through hardwork.

He has put in place so many empowerment programmes and mentoring initiatives which create new millionaires out of ordinary citizens. His Lotto business has become the stock-exchange for the masses. Millions of Nigerians have benefited from this large-hearted man through scholarships, direct financial support for medical treatment both at home and abroad and the sponsorship of several programmes that are designed to better the social conditions of the people.

Through his Foundation, KAAF, he has donated close to sixty building projects to Universities, polytechnics, colleges of technology, colleges of education, primary and secondary schools, churches and mosques and several other general interest groups, in the last ten years, to ensure that society becomes better than was originally thought possible.

Only a man endowed with a special milk of human kindness can act in the manner Sir Adebutu does. Every Tuesday, he throws the door of his office ajar for the grassroots to seek help from him, according to each person’s needs and challenges and he is always personally on ground to attend to them all without turning anyone back. No one goes home disappointed or empty-handed.

He is a philanthropist of a special genre, a man with a robust sense of propriety whose conscience is the only key that fires his conviction, imagination and commitments. He is an incurable optimist who believes it is necessary for man to act benevolently, if he truly desires to see the good face of God throughout his life. He is the true portrait of a charity-driven optimist. A true optimist is not unduly confident, presumptuous or blindly euphorious. He sees the complete picture of a worst case scenario and still believes in the best outcome. He is strong and firm but can also be very flexible.

Sir Adebutu can sustain pressure without breaking down. He can resist great strain without being shattered. He is very tough in his substantial texture, but very soft in his relationship with people. He is very respectful, humble and cheerful. He enjoys good health and looks much much younger than his present age of 80 would suggest. He can sometimes react angrily to issues like everyone else, but mark you, he maintains a warm temperament and conciliatory disposition, once his anger subsides. He has no room for malice in his heart and forgives very quickly and permanently.

He reads people very fast and anticipates their motives quickly. He loves the good things of life too and assists others to get to the zenith of their ambitions. He regularly wears a smile, but changes his mood as soon as he senses the tendency for people to take undue advantage of his simplicity and benevolence.

Inspite of this, he loves to bear the burden of those who cross his path, believing strongly that God put him here on this planet to share the load of the less-privileged members of the society. He is full of humane sympathy, showing kindness and love to everyone he meets on his way. He has a listening ear and a special sensitivity that enables him to promote his business at all times without compromising his integrity. He makes friends easily at all levels. He has so much confidence in God that he believes he can easily overcome adversities through His grace.

Sir Adebutu is a godly man who loves God and whom God loves so affectionately in return because of his kindness and concern for others. If there is a lot to learn from the horse apart from speed, grace, poise, elegance and friendliness, then there is a lot more to learn from Sir (Dr) Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu too because he is graceful, elegant in style and can be very friendly to a fault.

At 80, he is a great example of “positive personality trait”, a value that radiates a freshness which inspires all who come across his path.

If it is good to be nice, then better still, it is nice to be good and Sir (Dr) Adebutu’s exemplary life has proved these two points beyond any doubt.

In life, it is not much of what we think we are that makes us what we are. What others think about us also counts in building our perception index which serves as a binocular by which others see us. Sir Adebutu is seen as a great man who lives an extraordinary life of service. May God grant you the grace to live very long so that you can help more people!

• Asiwaju (Dr) Yemi Ajayi is the Media and public Policy Consultant to the Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu Foundation, KAAF, and has closely related with Sir (Dr) Kesington Adebutu for over a decade.