Welcome to my page again today to complete a piece, which conclusion I reserved till today.
Now, here is where Evans comes into the mix. As I think about fatherhood and I saw the picture of the children of Evans(allegedly posted by their mother), the recently arrested billionaire kidnapper crying in the company of their mother, claiming to regret their father’s sins and requesting for forgiveness, I began to think what a legacy of abnomality. Call it an audacity of hope, audacity of foolishness or show of shame, your conclusion may have pitched its tent in the very heart of the truth.
And I asked what lessons is his life teaching his children as a father? What legacy is he leaving for his children? Did he think about the consequences of his actions vis a vis his five(5) precious children? So, is he a father in the real sense of it?
I think as we celebrate Father’s Day, we must ask ourselves a genuine and soul-seaching question to which we must find credible answers, reaching to the deepest side of our collective conscience: would our children be proud or humiliated about your actions or omissions either now or in the near and far future, even if you are in your graves?
My street is adjacent to the street where Evans lived and was arrested and less than two minutes walk from my residence in Magodo. I have taken actual notice of the opulence of the house, thinking it was a rewarding product of dignity of labour. In December 2016, I testify that it was the most decorated house in the area. I was again opportuned to witness his arrest first hand. He was arrested without a fight from the police. He was caught so cheap like Lawrence Anini, in a manner not commensurate with his celebrated invincibility and smartness as a king to reckon with in the underworld.
I saw him manacled, looking sober and carried into a police vehicle not through the lenses of a camera but with my korokoro eyes. It was indeed the end of the road and the end of an era all rolled into an eventful one for an alleged notorious kidnapper.
As he was arrested and paraded the second day I kept musing to myself that there is no fast lane in life. Life answers to processes and procedure carefully outlined by the Creator of all things in the Holy Writ. Again as I see his children, I ask what does a father truly owe his children, opulence and comfort or the best he can afford through dignity of labour, under God without compromising his integrity, dignity and honour? I ask what would the children have preferred a quiet and a life of contentment or this stupendous opulence, ending in classic who of unquantifiable shame and undue exposure to public ridicule?
On Saturday, June 17, 2017, the Discovery for Men and Discovery for Women under the leadership of my father in the Lord, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya hosted a perfect gentleman in our Secret of the Journey Series, Mr. Olu Onakoya, first, a quality and humble man of God, second, an successful family man and third an accomplished professional, who retired at the age of 57 as the first Nigerian to attain the position of the CEO and Chairman of Mobil Nigeria. He shared many invaluable secrets with us but I am most blessed by one of his conclusions. He said I am leaving for my children a legacy of integrity, noting that he would be 66 in October and there are no complications in his life at all. He warned us to avoid the pleasure and wrong decisions of today, which may lead to regrettable complications in our old age when we need our peace most as our most invaluable retire benefit and a priceless gain of our labour as family and career people.
That last submission hit me as my core takeaway from the program. As I told my wife later, I want to be able to make his kind of declaration as his age and beyond, even when I appear before my Maker.
As a father, I think in terms of generations in terms of decision and time. Decision, here refers to my belief that generation does not only answer to time but also decisions. I mean a man can decide to break away from an old generation and genealogy, which promises nothing but error and by a decision create a new one pleasing to God and embedded in His Glory. This generation by a decision becomes the foundation for a new generation defined by time.
As a father, I think posterity above prosperity. The means is more important to me than the end. Yes, a righteous man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, says the Holy Writ. Yet, the Holy Writ defined the first and superior grade of inheritance and says, ‘a good name is to be desired more than silver and gold. A good name, which is a product of positive value system under God is preferred as the best legacy God’s estimation.
As a father, I see myself an a forefather and an ancestor in years to come. Therefore, it has become my unalloyed commitment under God to live my life today in a way that my children, their many generations to come and humanity will be proud of.
I am conscious of the fact that the ones yet unborn are watching me. Therefore I must embrace caution to build an invaluable legacy of an unimpeachable integrity under God.
So help me God.
Do have an INSPIRED Father’s Day.
Think the FAMILY…Thin the CHILD…Think TODAY…Think the FUTURE™
(C) 2017 by Taiwo ‘ODINAKACHUWU’ AKINLAMI (The Preacher) All Rights Reserved T: 2348033620843, 08056979605 W: http://www.taiwoakinlami.com B: http://www.taiwoakinlamiblog.com T: @taiwoakinlami
Taiwo AKINLAMI 
Well said sir.
Thank you sir. What has now become more difficult is to teach effectively the virtue of hard work. We must continue to stress its importance. Students no longer see the point in working hard. It is almost always about what they see. Who were Evans’ teachers? We already know the parents failed woefully. What happened to all the other relatives? Even more important to me is how his wife was brought up. Since she has claimed ignorance. Yet, she was reveling in opulence without asking her husband questions. She is the typical example of the woman who has only been taught to take. The thought of it all is really depressing.