Oba Dr. Olufemi Ogunleye, (In immaculate white agbada), the Towulade of Akinale, Owu, Abeokuta, Ogun State, and Oba Dr. Funsho Makanju, the Aragberi of Iragberi in Osun State, at a wedding feast in Ikeja, Lagos State, Saturday, 6th January 2024
Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most cherished pleasures. This scenario was the experience of two great friends of over sixty years who met at a wedding party of one of the friend’s grandsons. The excitement of the two jolly octogenarians is better left to vivid Imagination
The meeting was at the marriage ceremony in Ikeja, Lagos State, on the first Saturday of the year 2024, of the grandson of Oba Dr. Funsho Makanju, the Aragberi of Iragberi in Osun State. He was joined in celebrating the joy of the day by a bosom friend, Oba Dr. Olufemi Ogunleye, Towulade Akinale, Owu, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Both friends who no doubt are aging like fine wine met in 1964 as part of the pioneer staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Pay Office, Jos, Plateau State.
As the vicissitudes of life would shape an individual’s odyssey in life’s ocean, the young and vibrant Funsho Makanju later joined Shell Petroleum company. A few years later, he left the shores of Nigeria to study medicine in the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic of Russia, USSR. Then Ukraine was a very strong member of the union.
The young, purpose-driven Funsho with an unwavering determination completed his academic pursuit in record time and by 1969, accomplished his house-manship/residence to become a bonafide medical practitioner. Hence, the young accounts staff of six years ago returned to Nigeria in the mid-1970s as a medical doctor.
On settling down, the tall, lanky, and ebony black Dr. Funsho Makanju, got engaged as a Medical Doctor with the Federal Ministry of Defen. There he served the nation diligently until his retirement. And later mounted the royal throne of his forefathers and was installed as the Aragberi of Iragberi in Osun State.
While the young Funsho moved to Shell, his pal, Femi Ogunleye, also left the Ministry of Finance to join the Post and Telecommunications, P&T, also in Jos. The highly inquisitive young man in Femi, an avid reader of books with an uncanny appetite for current affairs, also left P&T and chose journalism as a career.
In giving vent to his newfound love for journalism, the New Nigerian Newspapers, NNN, offered the young Femi Ogunleye the opportunity to start a career in news gathering, news and feature writing, and editing. After cutting his teeth in NNN, Mr Ogunleye moved to Daily Times where he worked on various beats until he joined Nigeria Airways, NA, in 1976. He was saddled with the media and public relations image of the then-leading airline in Africa, NA.
As it is wont to say in one of the Yoruba dictums, “several showers of rain had fallen which the ground drank effortlessly”. The young, and dynamic PR Officer, fresh from the field as a news hound, was compelled to learn a new curve in media practice at Nigeria Airways where he was reporting to the Managing Director.
A good history to relate is that both friends rose to the pinnacle of their careers, retired, found worthy as king in their respective communities, and continue to positively impact humanity in their new roles.
Oba Dr. Funsho Makanju, presently the substantive Aragberi of Iragberi in Osun State. Oba Dr. Olufemi Ogunleye, the substantive Towulade of Akinale, Owu, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He is a veteran journalist, and a Public Relations, and PR icon, but now a scholar in legal jurisprudence.
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