Opinion: Adelusi-Adeluyi At 80: The Giver’s Hand Is On Top, By Louis Odion
Not until playwright Sophocles sired character Oedipus in his definitive Greek play was human imagination tempted to consider the fact of pre-ordained parricide. Pushed by forces beyond his control, the heir of ancient Thebes ended up felling his own patriarch in the chilling fulfillment of a grim prophecy.
Doubtless, pharmacy taught him the ancient secrets of medicine. But in choosing instead to engage the Nigerian public at a much deeper level in the last half a century, Pa Adelusi-Adeluyi has amply demonstrated that the duty of care to society is much more than administering injection or dispensing medication. He is obviously one of Nigeria’s surviving doyens of medicine and arguably her most iconic pharmacist in the past five decades.
Note, in our society, when the appellation of “Daddy” is invoked outside biological affiliation, it is often an emotional submission to the authority of another and emplacing such individual on a higher social pedestal. It is undoubtedly the highest form of cultural veneration. Of course, it presupposes a hand that provides daily-bread and direction, a voice which resonates for compassion and solidarity.
Through him, we learnt the great power in little things. Being visible without being voluble. Accessible without being cheap. That there is a stark distinction between being in the service of society and indulging in the vanity of a socialite. It is possible to be sociable without being vain. Even then, his objection to our proposal was lovingly expressed. To him, any form of revelry would be utterly meaningless at a time of great distress in the land, again confirming an abiding understanding of the third social sin Mahatma Gandhi talked about – “pleasure without conscience”.
When offered to be Sunday editor of start-up Sun newspaper in 2002, he didn’t hesitate in encouraging me to take the risk of giving up the certainty of being deputy editor of daily Thisday. His golden words: “Never become content in your comfort zone. Fortune awaits the brave and the daring.”
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