Motorists on Ikorodu Road, Lagos, cannot
but notice the efforts of 66yr-old volunteer, Alhaji Tunde Owoyemi aka
Baba Isale-Eko, at easing traffic and his zeal to free the road of
impediments.
At the point where vehicles make turns
in front of the market, the man has a lot to contend with. Just as he
uses one hand to stop the ubiquitous danfo drivers, he uses the other to signal to commercial motorcyclists (aka okada riders) to give way to cart pushers ferrying heavy iron materials across the road.
Strikingly, his head and legs too are employed in the act, which he is doing as a volunteer.
From his appearance, he does not belong
to any military or paramilitary organization: He’s clad in buba and
sokoto, draping his traffic mayor jacket over the native attire. But
that does not hinder him from delivering a perfect control of the
nuances and norms of the traffic. And as unruly as many Lagos motorists
are, they cannot but admire his skills and obey his instructions.
The man is Alhaji Tunde Owoyemi, who is
popularly known as Baba Isale-Eko. Because of his zeal and commitment to
traffic decongestion, he was appointed a traffic mayor by the
leadership of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.
Apart from Owode Onirin bus stop, Baba
Isale-Eko operates at various spots between Ikorodu and Ketu, always
taking charge wherever there is a gridlock. Motorists on Ikorodu Road
cannot but notice Baba Isale-Eko’s effort at easing traffic and his zeal
to free the road of impediments.
Baba Isale-Eko’s case can be described
as selfless because apart from not waiting for the government to notice –
and reward – him, he sacrifices his time to serve humanity.
“I’m only trying to solve a general
problem on the road,” he says. “I was so surprised earlier today while I
was controlling traffic, one man whom I did not know from Adam parked
and said, ‘Baba, have this cloth for your birthday.’
“I was wondering how he knew my birthday until I remembered that he probably must have listened to me when I was hosted by Lagos Traffic Radio (96.1 FM). Yesterday (Oct. 21) was my birthday.”
When he said he marked his 66th birthday
a day earlier, our correspondent could not but wonder how he managed to
remain fit at such an age.
“I must give God the glory and at the
same time, my job directing traffic also keeps me fit. Since I started
doing this three years ago, I’ve found it difficult to stop, even for
one day,” he says, passion welling up in his eyes.
“My wife and children told me to stop it
and said they didn’t know why I took it upon my head to always be on
the road every day. I didn’t listen to them and when they persisted, I
said I found it difficult to stop insofar as we still have traffic hold
ups on the road. It’s a commitment that I see as a personal sacrifice
and want nothing in return.”
Yet, Baba Isale-Eko is a household name
at Owode Onirin, where he sells iron rod materials. All what one needs
to locate him is to mention Baba Isale-Eko anywhere in the vicinity of
the vast market. Everybody in the market seems to know him very well.
When you ask for him, they say, “That is ‘Fashola’s friend,’ or ‘LASTMA
friend.’”
But when Saturday PUNCH told
him that he must be a privileged person to be known as Gov. Raji
Fashola’s friend, he laughed and said people just assumed that he was
close to the governor based on what he does on the road.
“I must confess to you,” he explains, “I
started doing this thing because of the commitment displayed by Fashola
in making Lagos city a better place, but I have not met him. I don’t
think he knows me even though we nearly met during last year’s flooding
at Ajegunle.
“I tried to approach him whether he
could order his people to supply us rain boots to work inside the
flooded area, but I couldn’t reach him.
“In fact, many people think that I must
be on the payroll of Lagos State the way I work, but there is nothing
like that. I’m only doing what I’m doing for myself and for humanity.
During Sallah, people come to me and say they want their own share of
Fashola’s meat. I laugh but I still give them and money if my Sallah
meat has finished. Maybe people find it difficult to believe that I do
this for nothing.
“I’m a businessman but there is no day I
arrive at my office before 11 am. I live at Agric in Ikorodu, but I
stop my car at any spot to control traffic or settle quarrels on the
road between motorists. And immediately after my 4 pm prayers, I’m out
there in the traffic. Some of my customers quarrel with me that they
don’t always meet me in the office, but I tell them that whatever God
says will be my own will not miss me.
“I thank Allah, He is still sustaining
me and my family. There is nothing that gives me more satisfaction than
resolving difficult traffic problems on the road. I must confess that I
don’t know how it happens, whenever I arrive at any gridlock, in a
jiffy, vehicles have started moving. The LASTMA boss in Ikorodu one day
brought me the Traffic Mayor uniform and I thanked him for the honour.
“Whenever I leave home in the morning,
nobody wants to ride with me because I stop anywhere duty calls. Apart
from controlling traffic, I’ve diggers and shovels at the back of my car
for filling up major pot holes on the road.
“I call the attention of LASTMA to any
traffic problem that I come across on my way and they respond promptly
as we work hand in hand. I always tell people that traffic problem
should not be left for the government alone and when I wanted to start, I
called some of our colleagues to assist government on traffic, but when
no one seemed interested, I started three years ago. Since then, I’ve
not looked back.”
Baba Isale-Eko didn’t just start his
community service today. According to him, he’d always exhibited
leadership quality wherever he found himself.
As a taxi driver in the late ’70s and
early ’80s, his colleagues made him the president of Omotayo Taxi Park
in Adeniji-Adele on the Island “after I made a mark.” During his
leadership at the park, he was noticed by the late business mogul and
politician, Chief MKO Abiola.
“(MKO) Abiola once gave me a car when he
came to Isale-Eko and told me that he did that because of the reports
of our taxi park that he heard,” he recalls with pride. “Even when he
was preparing for his presidential ambition, he called me and asked me
to mention what I wanted him to do for me. I told him that I would
appreciate it if I was given an oil lifting licence.
“Many of my colleagues asked what I
wanted to do with an oil licence being an illiterate, but I told them
that it didn’t matter. Today, all my customers are white men and I
supply them iron without any problem. Yet, I’ve never been to school.”
How would someone born and bred in
Isale-Eko fail to enrol in a school? The iron rods merchant said his
parents did not send him to school.
“When it was time for me to learn a
trade, my parents asked me to mention what I wanted to do and I said I
wanted to train as a driver,” he says. “They agreed with me even though
it looked rather strange then for a young man to opt for driving.
“I was blessed because through driving: I
bought my own car, a Datsun 120Y in 1976 and started my taxi business.
And from taxi driving, I moved to Owode here to deal in iron and to God
be the glory, all has been well.”
No comments:
Post a Comment