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 organisation: 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.”
Source: Punch News.
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