By Wale Ojo-Lanre
Ibadan is a city inhabited by many people different kinds of people. There are extremely good men and women of brilliant brains, geniuses. There are also grand men of shady characters, local and intercontinental thugs, thieves, fraudsters, idiots, useless people of no gender, hopeless urchins – some who look like angels but whose acts, deeds and words are of the devil incarnate.
And the names of these people ring bells in social circles where they do their fake impressions, daze, dazzle and oppress the gullible. It is not only in Ibadan but everywhere except in Usi, the abode of Angels, of Saints like the writer!
Be that as it is, I don’t know whether you know a guy called Kola Eleja in Ibadan. I learnt his real name is Kolawole Adeleye. He has a sprawling complex in Oja Oke-Ado in Ibadan, sharing a fence with the defunct Savvanah bank, but he changed his name to Kola Eleja to proudly associate with his trade.
This Kola Eleja is said to be a corporate fellow. The evil men do live with them and the good also stay to tell the world! But kola Eleja is a different case. I learnt he is a fish magnate with several fish farms, big, very big, large, spreading all over Nigeria; having over 45 selling offices in Oyo State alone with outfits in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ilorin.
He has in his payroll over 386 Nigerians who he refused not to pay his workers regularly. Kola Eleja is said to believe that workers pay must be paid before the sweats on their faces ever stroll out.
I learnt that Kola Eleja is not only into fish merchandising; he has veered into the Hospitality sector, planted hotels in Ibadan, Dubai and a lounge in London.
He has also raised up several men and women in fish farming, selling and trading. His Entrepreneurial ability and sagacity have earned him the African Excellent Entrepreneur Man of the year, an award from the prestigious African Indigenous Entrepreneurs Foundation (AIEF), which has enlisted his Letter of Investiture in the Archive of Achievers. He will be formally decorated as a member on a date to be soon announced.
Always think of good news to happen to people. Congratulate Kola Eleja if you know him, he has just gained continental recognition for his good work. He is not a criminal. Congratulation to a friend.
“Ojo-Lanre sent in this piece from Ibadan.
