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Pa Fasoranti: A man of indelible footprints

By Adedotun Ajayi

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It was a roll call of eminent personalities at the 95th birthday celebration of Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
Dignitaries converged at the newly built chapel at Anglican Grammar School, Iju Itaogbolu which was built by the Old Student Association and dedicated to the nonagenarian.
There are men in this world, but not many leave their footprints in the sand of time.
One of the men who will forever be remembered and has left his footprints in the sand of time is Pa. Reuben Fasoranti who clocked 95years old on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.
Pa Reuben Fasoranti who is the former leader of the Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere is a great man who have the interest of the Yorubas and Nigeria at heart and has achieved greatly before becoming leader of Afenifere. The dominant character of Chief Fasoranti’s life has always been his calmness, his cool striving to understand fully the nature and turns of events, and his calm but unwavering courage in the face of calamity.
Chief Fasoranti is one of the brightest lights illuminating the Yorubas race,. Calm in most challenging situations, diligent in ascertaining the facts of every development, brave in battle, selfless, self-effacing, and never running away from making sacrifices, for ever ready to accept the Yoruba failings in whatever mistakes the group might make. Forever capable of leading to provide answers to such failings, always solid as a rock no matter what the Yoruba’s adversaries might throw at them or at him, Chief Fasoranti has led the Yorubas in these parts through the political life of Ondo Province, the larger Ondo State, today’s smaller Ondo State, and through the nation’s successes and vicissitudes in the rocky politics of Nigeria
He is a pride to the Yorubas. It is imperative for all Yoruba both home and abroad to recognise the activities of Pa Fasoranti and also to commend him for purposeful and unbiased leadership while serving as Afenifere leader in Nigeria.
Baba Fasoranti and his wife Mrs. Fasoranti founded Omolere Nursery School and St. Frances Grammar School, Igoba in his hometown Akure , two schools that have contributed tremendously to the development and quality of life of people up to this present time. Even today at the age of 95, Chief Fasoranti, the dedicated school principal, still goes to St. Frances Grammar School to do the job he loves most.
His greatest mark as a school principal was his firm maintenance of self-respect and discipline among the students. It was an expression of his own life of thoughtfulness, calm and discipline. At lju-ltaogbolu Grammar School, and at other schools where he later served as principal, he earned accolades as a very successful builder and upholder of discipline among his students.
To commemorate this living icon, on his 95th birthday, that was attended by dignitaries from all walks of life, the newly built chapel in Anglican Grammar School Iju-itaogbolu by the old students, was dedicated to him. Some of the dignitaries in attendance were Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, The Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi, Oba Idowu Faborode, Ogbolu of Ita-Ogbolu, Archbishops Simeon Borokini, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, political chieftains and members of the old students association of the Anglican Grammar School, Iju-Itaogbolu.
Rt. Revd Simeon Borokini of Akure Anglican Diocese who thanked God for letting the celebrant saw the light of the day, also described him as a principled and honest man. He said the chapel was dedicated to him because of his selflessness towards the church and the school in general in his words, “throughout the days of Chief Reuben Fasoranti as the Commissioner of Finance in old Ondo State, there was never a case of embezzlement or mismanagement of government fund against him, that is a typical example of a true leader, mentor and father to many”
Dayo Ogunniyi, President of Old Students Association of the Anglican Grammar School, Iju-Itaogbolu described the celebrant as a patriotic citizen of this country. In his words, “He’s my father, mentor and my maker, I was a little boy when he admitted me into this school 62years ago, he taught us to be patriotic and to be honest in all our doings, to be hardworking, never failing, he doesn’t accept failure, he’s a man that gives his total life to this place, This school was in a bush but he decided to put us in the bush, lived with us, taught us to be dispassionate about things. He has done so many things in our lives and instead of us spending 6years for secondary school education, he made us spend 5years by working hard at Akure and make us sit for WAEC when we spent barely 5years here. Ever since then he has been following our progress, many of us are now Generals in the Army, Archbishops, politicians of high repute in Abuja, business moguls and many other things. So, he is a man we have decided to celebrate by immortalizing his name with this church, the church is dear to his heart and that is why we are here. Chief Reuben Fasoranti can never be forgotten in history books, in politics he distinguished himself, in religious and education, he distinguished himself, when he was a Commissioner for Finance, he was the most honest of all under the Ajasin regime and has kept Ajasin’s reputation of honesty, hardwork and good governance since then till now”
Sanya Oyinsan, former chairman of OSRC board, and one of the first set of Anglican Grammar School Iju-Itaogbolu in his words said “He was the pioneer principal of my school, and I started living with him not just as a student, he took me in as a son at the age of 12, he’s 95, so you can tell how much of knowledge I can be credited with. This is a very disciplined man, the likes of Ajasin, The likes of Awolowo, they are very rare, highly principled but kind and extremely sensitive to his environment, a lover of the poor, if not for him I’ll not be where I am today because he started helping me about my schooling and finance, he was instrumental to my going to higher school, University of Ibadan for my 1st and 2nd degree up till now and I was the first old student of this same school to be a teacher directly under him. So, it’s being a long journey, and all I can tell you is if Nigeria can have just one person like Pa Fasoranti in position to help in each state then this country will be a better place to govern.

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