Salaudeen Latinwo: We’ve Lost A Compassionate Community Leader- Segun Olawoyin

I got to know Baba Salaudeen Adebola Latinwo more closely after the passing of my father, late Chief Joshua Olawoyin  in October  2000.  Former governor Latinwo was a reassuring presence who played a pivotal role to rally the support and participation of the Offa Community in the funeral activities of my father, Chief J.S. Olawoyin.

Calling himself the ‘eldest child’ of my father, former governor Latinwo spared no efforts in ensuring that J.S. Olawoyin was accorded a befitting rite of passage. I remain eternally grateful to him for that. Notwithstanding the gap between us in age and life attainments, Baba S.A. Latinwo took me under his wings, and he became a cherished mentor till his last moments on earth. I am indeed thankful for the privilege of finding me worthy of his trust, both personally and in my calling as a lawyer.  

It is a fact universally acknowledged that baba did not suffer fools lightly! It thus, gladdens my heart that baba sought my views and counsel on a wide range of issues from Offa community matters to legal issues and national political discourses.

 I recall the day, some years ago when, without prior warning, baba called me to meet him in his house in Lagos by 10 am the next day! Thank God that I dutifully obeyed that summons. Setting out from Offa at 5 am the next day and I arrived at his house some 7 minutes to 10 am. Baba was waiting for me. It was after the meeting that he told me the notice was deliberately short because he wanted to see whether I would give a ready excuse not to make the appointment. That episode, no doubt, further endeared him to me. He was God’s gift to mankind. 

I know for certain that he was not unprepared to meet his creator. He had actually once predicted to me his due time and month. When the time was altered by inscrutable divine working, baba called from the UK and urged that I should hasten up on some piece of legal work he had asked me to  handle.  

I will miss his steadying influence in my life. The Offa community will miss him. 

I am consoled knowing you are with the Lord.

 Adieu, Chief Salaudeen Adebola Latinwo— Chief Olusegun Olawoyin,  a lawyer and a politician, who is the Akinrogun of Offa, writes from Ilorin, Kwara state.