Olusola Oke: from gratitude to greater heights -Boluwatife Sasaeniyan
Life could be unpredictable, filled with vicissitudes, and laced with uncommon occurrences that exist more in the domain of inexplicability. This is more so as human societies are predominated by beliefs in a Supreme Being that governs their affairs, even though there may not be unanimity about how to reach Him. With the colonial experiences in African societies adding up to the pre-colonial religious attributions that helped the people attain communion with their Makers, the religio-cultural practices of the people allow for appeasement that could procure uncommon interventions at critical moments.
Nigeria roads are endemically riddled with dynamites of potholes, sinuousness, and human errors that have accounted for huge avoidable losses of resourceful people. Olusola Oke, SAN was to be converted to a victim of the famished road between Ondo and Ore on Friday August 25, 2023, but miraculously survived an auto-crash that led to the vehicle he was travelling in going up in flames. The testimony of Olusola Oke at the interdenominational thanksgiving he held on 19th December, 2023, at the International Culture and Event Centre (The Dome), Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State, to appreciate God recorded how a careless road user bumped at his vehicle, leading it to summersault, and flinging him out. Oke confirmed that he landed on the middle of the road, and could have been crushed by another vehicle, if not for the supernatural that altered natural sequence on the very busy road.
Oke attested to the remarkable reversal of the fatality of the accident on him as an evidence of the ordinary conversing with the natural. He noted how he could have died as a result of internal bleeding that was not noticed on time, but for the mercy of God that halted a drift to the other side of the divide. The conclusion of Oke was that God used his awesome escape to prove His Almightiness, and preserve him for the greater assignment ahead of him, which is his decision to run for the gubernatorial seat of Ondo State, for the third time.
The Nigeria political space is filled with various weird myths of desperation at elimination, such as political assassination, staged accident, food or drink poisoning, etc. Very curiously, some political watchers were of the opinion that the accident could have also be a manifestation of supernatural manipulation, achieved through Satanism, but that the miraculous escape of Oke was indicative of the positive commitment of angelic agents to roll away the cup of death. Even though this was a possibility, Oke was said to have waived this proposition aside, arguing that man has the redundant propensity to attribute his failure to supernatural unseen forces. At any rate, Oke escaped by the whiskers, as the saying goes.
Just like the biblical David, Oke got delivered from this debacle, necessitating his decision to gather people together to thank God on his behalf. It is said by the Yoruba that a child gets new benefits when he shows appreciation for that of the preceding day. The thanksgiving service pulled a large crowd, with different unique shades of people across various interest; the then acting governor, cabinet members, law makers, clergies, traditional rulers, political associates, media practitioners, entertainers, family members, and caterers. However, unlike biblical David in the cave of Adullah, it was a gathering of hopeful people, longing for a better future. Oke was at his best when he comically and humorously charged anybody that was envious of his two wives, that stood at each of his sides, to go and marry a second wife. Oke has been unfairly criticised for marrying an Ibo woman as his second wife, even when polygamy is now considered profitable, as against troubling monogamy or bigamy, garnished with infidelity.
No doubt, gratitude begets greater heights, as enlivened by David and Solomon in the Bible. Oke has brought people together to praise God, and it is God’s turn, predictably, to stoop to raise him up, as the winds continue to blow in his favour, via the instrumentality of the mercy of God and the mandate of the good people of Ondo State. Oke has reiterated the fact that God wants him to give back massively to the people, and he is set to lead the rebirth that Ondo State dearly needs. May Olusola Oke enjoy the greater heights of gratitude!
