Dotun Oladipo: I Tried, But Couldn’t Hold Back The Tears
By AZUH AMATUS
Sincerely speaking, with tears still cascading down my cheeks, I still cannot believe or process the thought that the amiable man I fondly called “My Leader,” Mr. Dotun Samson Oladipo, is dead.
In fact, I am still finding it extremely difficult to pen this painful tribute in memory of Mr. Oladipo, the soft-spoken and kind-hearted publisher of The Eagle Online, who affectionately called me “My Chief of Staff” whenever we met.
A name he gave me during his tenure as President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP).
Even after the shocking announcement on our GOCOP platform by the current President, Mr. Danlami Nmodu, mni, and the subsequent confirmation of the sad news after I spoke with Oga Gabriel Akinadewo, the affable publisher of Freedom Online, on Tuesday evening, August 25, I still could not believe that my dear Leader was dead and gone.
It was so bad that my wife kept checking on me throughout that Tuesday night because I could barely see through my tears.
However, it finally dawned on me that Mr. Dotun was no more when I visited his Isheri-OPIC home with my wife very early the following morning, Wednesday, August 26, to commiserate with his darling wife, Ayaba, his lovely daughters and the entire family.
I tried to hold back my tears when I sighted the condolence register, with Mr. Dotun’s photograph placed on a table at the entrance of the main door.
I tried several times to sign the register, even though I spent more than five hours in the house, but I simply could not.
I also could not stay long inside the sitting room because I was confronted by mourners drawn from family members and friends, many of whom were weeping.
I searched for Ayaba, Mr. Dotun’s wife, and was told she was sleeping upstairs after being sedated.
(God, please give her the strength to carry on).
I told a woman I presumed to be a family member to help me reach out to any of Mr. Dotun’s daughters.
After a few minutes, his first daughter came out and greeted me where I stood outside.
While consoling her and urging her to be strong for her mother and the entire family, she suddenly started crying.
And as much as I tried to hold back my own tears, I did not know when they started cascading down my cheeks. I had to walk away when the tears became uncontrollable.
She later brought her two younger sisters, whom I also commiserated with and encouraged to be strong for themselves and their mother.
I shared with them some very personal experiences of how their father impacted my life and my media outfit positively since our paths crossed in 2015, when I joined GOCOP after establishing DAYLIGHT Online.
I was about leaving around 4 p.m. when Mr. Akinadewo and a few other members of GOCOP who were present were informed that Ayaba had woken up.
We immediately went in to commiserate with her.
As I got closer to her seat, she was still weeping, and her tears increased as she thanked me and the others for coming to commiserate with her and the family.
I tried to hold back my tears, but my emotions in that tense and sombre room filled with sympathisers failed me again. The tears escaped my eyes and started pouring.
I had to step back immediately to regain myself from the grief that had enveloped me.
My tears for my Leader began on Tuesday, August 25, when Mr. Akinadewo confirmed the sad news to me on the phone, and they have not stopped flowing, even as I write this tribute, which I have struggled to put together for the past two days.
To say that Mr. Dotun’s sudden death devastated and shattered me would be an understatement.
I still cannot come to terms with the sad and painful death of my Leader at just 56.
A man so humble, loving, kind-hearted, compassionate and caring to a fault.
Since our paths crossed in 2015, Mr. Dotun had been exceptionally kind to me, my family and my business as an online publisher.
You cannot talk about the success of DAYLIGHT Online today without dedicating an entire chapter to the role he played in my journey.
Apart from regularly advising me, he facilitated and brought many commercial deals to my online newspaper, DAYLIGHT Online.
He even sent me a story for publication on DAYLIGHT on the morning of the very day he died.
As usual, he thanked me after receiving the link to the publication later that same day.
Little did I know that it would be our last exchange of a story and our last communication before the evil hands of death snatched him away from us in such a wicked manner.
I remember vividly in 2022, when I unveiled my two books, Famous Faces… Interactions With Nollywood Stars and Stakeholders. Mr. Dotun was out of the country but still sent me financial support because he could not attend the event.
No doubt, Mr. Dotun was an angel in human form, always willing and ready to assist those who crossed his path.
He often told me that I was one publisher he had come to love, admire and support because of my hard work and consistency in the digital media space.
Whenever we met at events, the first thing he would ask was:
“How’s Madam? Hope she and the boys are doing well?”
He regularly checked on me and told me he was proud of what we were doing at DAYLIGHT Online.
In fact, when I visited his office last month with my two undergraduate sons, who were home on holiday, for a very important meeting, he was extremely excited to see them.
While walking us to where I had parked my car outside, which I had earlier declined because there was no need for him to escort us, he insisted on seeing us off.
He jokingly told me to wait, saying:
“I will sack you as my Chief of Staff if you drive off before I return.”
He quickly returned and folded some cash into the pockets of my sons, saying it was for their lunch, which he could not buy for them while our visit lasted.
That’s Mr. Dotun for you, always giving, even when you did not ask.
I repeat: a rare and uncommon leader with a large and kind heart.
At his office that very day, he told me he had moved closer to me and was now living at OPIC, Isheri.
We promised to exchange family visits before the end of the year.
Now, he is no more.
Oh, death! Where is thy sting?
I worked very closely with Mr. Dotun when he was President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), from 2017 to 2021.
At all our annual conferences during his tenure, he would always ensure that I sat very close to him so that I could write, on the spot, press releases from our leading guest speakers for immediate publication by our members and other media houses.
That was the kind of leader he was: thoughtful, trusting, encouraging and always looking for ways to empower others.
Adieu, my detribalised Leader, mentor and benefactor.
