When we celebrated my boss and mentor Sulaiman Aledeh’s 49th birthday last year, I couldn’t but wonder how fast he has aged but still looks younger, since then I already had it in mind to see much difference he would be in his age at 50.
Now he’s fifty and looking more “takeaway” – to borrow the Gen Z’s sociolect.
I grew up watching Sulaiman Aledeh on Channels, and then Political Stew on TVC, I have always admired the way he speaks, especially the way he pronounces his name with passion and grit.
If I was told I would have the chance to work with him later in life, I wouldn’t believe it, because I have so many people I grew up loving on TV but never met them.
But providence laughed at me when I was asked by a UNILORIN Alumnus, Philip Ibitoye if i would love to work with Sulaiman Aledeh, I instantly said yes, i submitted my CV and the rest is a story for another day.
Since then, I have worked with Sulaiman Aledeh at close quarters and benefited from his immense knowledge, experience and intellect.
At the early stage, I had serious doubts about his love for me because he was always on my neck, I contemplated resigning and even reached out to our COO Mr Taheer Momodu that I can’t do anything right by Sulai as we fondly call him, so I wanted to just leave.
He is a perfectionist and my background was in Quantity Surveying, so I had serious issues settling down with the copious in-house style and depth of investigation before publishing.
I had fire in my blood as a young journalist and being an Editor-in-Chief of a Kwara-based media outfit, I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread and do not need further direction on what is and what not.
But I was mistaken, Sulai began to pipe down; he started by encouraging me to pay more attention to details even though with little words I deemed harsh at the time, but I was getting it. And I discovered they were words needed to see where he’s headed.
Within 6 months, I graduated from that “Always doing mistake boy” to “Someone that read Quantity Surveying is even doing it better” it was then I realized that he just wanted me to be better.
He then recommended books for me to read on grammar and lexis and I can’t thank him enough for the lessons.
When he noticed that I love political reports and I find them more interesting, he started to channel political news to me even though I still send to the star-studded in-house group (I got inspiration for the title of this piece from one of our editor at the time) for vetting.
So when he eventually gave me the outright authority to publish without any final imprimatur from the editors, I knew that’s it, I can feed myself without shaky fingers.
Away from his penchant for training the young ones, his incredible energy amazes me, if you text him at 2am, he would reply, try at 5am, he would still reply.
While on-air broadcasting, he would still send news to the group, sharing them and still trying to correct a thing or the other.
There were times when he would be driving from Island to the mainland after being on air, preparing his questions for his Sundays classic on Classic FM and he would still join us in meetings and pay attention to every detail. What a man!
To all fond admirers, friends and family of Sulai worldwide, it is an extraordinary moment of inestimable joy to see an icon of this magnitude clock the ripe age of 50.
This is not the moment to nit-pick about his life or start documenting his shortcomings. This is a period to soak ourselves in unadulterated joy as we commemorate a quintessential asset, father, husband, uncle, mentor, visionary, philosopher and juggernaut.
Wherever you are today, please fill your glass and let us toast to the good health and longer life of this incredible achiever and mentor.
Congratulations! My boss Aledeh, You’re halfway to a century but still full of fiery energy! Remember, age is just a number, and in your case, it’s a milestone worth celebrating, considering the number of people you have impacted with your knowledge.
The next half-century would be even better. Turn up the fun, keep the spirit high, because your best days are yet to come. Happy Golden Jubilee, The Quintessential Sulai Aledeh.
Bagbansoro Uthman Olamilekan is a reporter at Gatekeepers News, Nigeria.
