Today, Friday, September 12, 2025, by 10:00 a.m. (WAT), all roads lead to The Bar Centre, High Court Premises, Oba Akinjobi Way, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, for the maiden edition of the Adesina Ogunlana Memorial Lecture. Learned Silk, Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, will deliver the lecture under the chairmanship of Prof. Lanre Fagbohun, SAN. The theme, “Adesina Ogunlana: The Man, the Law and the Struggle for Social Justice”, could not be more fitting.

But for me, beyond the lecture hall and beyond the theme, today is about the man, my encounter with him, the adversity through which we met, the journeys we shared, the lessons his life etched into mine, and the legacy that outlives him.

Meeting in the Furnace of Adversity

I met Baba Adesina Ogunlana in 1991, a year after I gained admission into the prestigious Lagos State University. I was a 21-year-old hothead. It was the still of the night, during one of those midnight study sessions every serious student cherished, when terror suddenly descended on campus. A group, suspected cultists, dropped coffins, smeared blood, and left chilling signs in strategic places. Fear rippled through the school like wildfire.

The Student Union leaders came to assure us that it was under control and urged us to disperse to our hostels. But I, a newcomer, protested. How could safety be guaranteed by retreating into darkness? I voiced my fears passionately, giving the Union leaders a tough night. Unknown to me, one of its key officers, the Legal Secretary, Adesina Ogunlana, had his eyes on me, suspecting that I might even be part of the group. By morning, word spread that “the boy causing confusion” had been identified. I was accused of colluding with those who brought coffins and blood, of trying to destabilize the school. My name was tabled as a possible suspect.

Confused, innocent, and alone, I reached out to Akeem Ajombadi, a Union leader who knew me through my girlfriend. He became my advocate, testifying that I had been reading that night, that he knew where I slept, and that I was no cultist but simply a fearful boy voicing out. That intervention saved me from being handed over to the university authorities.

And it was in that furnace of suspicion, defense, and near-condemnation that I first met Adesina Ogunlana. From accusation, we grew into allies. From misjudgment, we forged friendship. Life taught me through him: never despise the doorway through which you meet someone. Adversity may introduce you to your closest ally.

A Man of Unusual Alertness

The first personal lesson I learned about him was his perpetual alertness. Once, outside our faculty, I crept behind him to playfully hold him. Without turning, he struck me squarely in the chest with his elbow. I crumbled in pain. When he realized it was me, he laughed and apologized, saying: “Taiwo, don’t ever play with me like that. I am always alert. Gbobo ara ni ja, my whole body is on guard.”

That vigilance defined him. At Law School, he told me he once changed his sitting position unannounced. His close friends could not find him. He explained afterwards: “If my friends struggled to find me, how much more my enemies?” This sharpened awareness was not paranoia, it was his philosophy of life. A man walking in struggles and battles must live alert, lest life catch him unprepared

A Man of Unshakable Faith

Baba Ogunlana was not only alert in body; he was rooted in faith. He would sit with me, open the Scriptures, and share verses with deep conviction: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof” (Psalm 46:1–3). Then he would add his own refrain: “Though the earth be moved, heaven will not fall.” That phrase, though not a Bible verse, became his signature slogan. It was no empty bravado; it was his creed. He lived with the certainty that no matter the storms, God remained unshaken, and our faith in Him remained unshaken as well.

Tireless Industry and Relentless Commitment

When he worked, he worked with all his might. He co-founded the Denin Chambers at Lagos State University, where we defended students’ rights in mock courtrooms and real battles. We once prepared a student litigation brief running into hundreds of pages, no half-measures. To him, anything worth doing was worth giving everything.

That tireless commitment marked every campaign we led together in student politics. Even after he graduated, he would return to coach me for Student Union elections, teaching, strategizing, even composing campaign songs with me. He demanded excellence, because he lived excellence.

His Humanity in My Hour of Need

When the time came for me to tell my uncle, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, that I would not be working with him, I lacked the courage to face him directly. Instead, I chose to write a letter. It was Baba Ogunlana who shaped that letter, editing it into the form and force I eventually presented to my uncle.

Beyond politics and law, he was a friend who showed up. When my brother and I lost our accommodation and became homeless, we turned to him late one night. Without hesitation, he began thinking of solutions. He sheltered us for a night and then drove us to another comrade, Kanmi Ajibola, who took us in. For over two years, we lived there. That night, Baba Ogunlana refused to let us remain stranded. To him, no problem was ever final. “There must be something we can do,” he would say. That was his way of life.

He also secured work for my brother in printing through his contacts. To this day, my brother remains grateful. Ogunlana was a bridge-builder, someone who refused to let a plea for help end without opening a door somewhere.

Courage for Awkward Conversations

He was unafraid of difficult truths. At one point, several years into my marriage, he called me directly: “Taiwo, what is happening? Is it that you and your wife don’t want to have children?” He asked not to pry, but because he had lived the pain of waiting for children himself. His courage to address sensitive matters stemmed from empathy, not intrusion. He believed silence around struggles only deepened wounds.

Depth of Friendship, Breadth of Memory

We once faced robbers together and escaped only by divine mercy. We weathered political campaigns, long nights of strategy, and endless debates. During COVID lockdown, we worked side by side on professional struggles, particularly in meetings connected to his bid for the presidency of the Nigerian Bar Association. I was delegated and instructed by Dele Farotimi to attend those meetings with him. Afterward, we often lingered deep into the night in conversation. I once said to him, “These insights are too deep not to be documented.” He smiled and replied, “It is not yet time. When we are older, we will write them.”

But time has cut short that promise. Now we are left to write them as memorials, lessons carved in our hearts.

His Humanism and Boundless Tolerance

He was a humanist to the core. Even online, where insults often flew, he never blocked anyone. I confess I do not share that level of patience, I consider the block button a tool for peace of mind. But Adesina was different. He would respond, debate, and still allow people their voice. He embodied tolerance, convinced that silencing others was weakness, while engagement was true strength.

The Last Conversations

The last two times I saw him remain etched in me. We sat for hours, from evening till late into the night, speaking of life, faith, struggles, the need to remain close. He told me: “Let us not be far from each other. We don’t know what could happen tomorrow.” Hours after those words, I had an accident. I thought of him immediately: he was right. Life is too fragile for distance.

The last photograph we took was by accident. After another long evening of conversation, as I was about to leave, he remembered: “We didn’t take a picture. Let’s take it, even in the dark. Better late than never.” That photograph, poorly lit, taken on December 11, 2023 at 10.30 PM became my treasure. It was the last we would ever take together.

Lessons of a Life Lived Fully

From his life, I draw these enduring lessons:

✅Adversity may introduce you to destiny helpers. Do not despise the circumstances through which you meet people.

✅Live alert. Do not let life catch you sleeping.

✅Hold unshakable faith. Heaven will not fall.

Work with all your might. Mediocrity dishonors the gift of life.

✅Be human. Never let another’s problem end at your ears; find a solution.

✅Speak truth, even when awkward. Silence can wound more than speech.

✅Stay close. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Take the photograph today.
Farewell

As all roads lead to the memorial lecture today, my own road leads to memory, gratitude, and grief. I grieve because I have lost a brother, mentor, leader, comrade, and friend. But I am grateful because I gained him at all.

Adesina Ogunlana’s life was not measured by length but by depth. He lived alert, he lived faithful, he lived committed, he lived human. And for me, he lives still, in the lessons he taught, in the memories we shared, and in the indelible imprint of a life that proved that heaven will not fall.

Farewell, sir. You fought well. You lived well. You taught us well.