Dr. Olawale BABALAKIN (B.O.B)
Dr. Wale Babalakin is passionate about his friends. He is fond of them and deliberately creates time for them.When he is in their company he lets down all airs. He is never tired of listening and lending helping hands to them. These friends span all walks of life.They include his childhood friends, where he grew up in Ibadan at the Sacred Heart Private Primary School, those he met in high school at Government College Ibadan and the Universities, first the University of Lagos where he got his first degree in Law in 1981, before the Nigeria Law School for the call to the bar in 1982. And thereafter, as one of the only three Africans admitted for the Masters degree in Law at Corpus Christ College of the Cambridge University and he got a Ph.D to boot, in 1986, on the eve of his 26th Birthday. Wow! That’s some 34 years ago.There are those he met along his career paths, from working in the chambers of Chief F. Rotimi Williams to setting up his law firm, Babalakin and Co. He owns Stabilini Visinoni, one of the best known names in Nigeria’s Construction Engineering and BiCourtney Ltd, owners of the only private commercial airport in West Africa. Some of his friends are also people within his social circles and others simply inherited from some other friends. They don’t distract him, neither do their problems and he is never tired of lending a helping hand. He gives without questioning and expects nothing back but trust. These are his family so to speak, his extended family.
In return they pray for him, stand by him, celebrate him and above all, share in his dreams. And that is the strongest bond. But Wale Babalakin doesn’t have patience for little minds. All those around him are always a part of articulating the way forward for our society.
Today Dr. Wale Babalakin comes of the golden age. He turns 60. It’s a day his family of friends had looked forward to. A day when they planned to celebrate him in pomp and pageantry. But GOD redefined what manner of celebration there is today. While we might brood and fret over our inability to party and jollification we must be very thankful to the Almighty GOD for Life particularly in these times. And the larger than life achievements remain monumental That to me is the Greatest Birthday Gift to our friend. He loves GOD, and no doubt, GOD loves him. It shows in all the strides he takes in life, even in adversity as in the period of his incarceration by the Abacha regime, GOD ALMIGHTY Stood for him and was the Strength that saw him through.
Dr. Wale BABALAKIN is the result of strong family ties. His family pedigree more than anything else assured the good men and women that became his friends. They were not courted or chosen deliberately, they just came naturally, attracted by like goodness He is the eldest son of Supreme Court Judge, Bolarinwa Oyegoke BABALAKIN, the Original B.O.B, if you like. His father is his mentor. With all his enviable wealth he wishes always, that he had his father’s discipline. But they don’t make them like this anymore. So Wale remains our own B.O.B, ebullient, outgoing, restless and very adventurous. He adores his mother, late Mrs. Ramotu Ibironke BABALAKIN, and he’s never tired of reliving those motherly memories they share. The pioneer female hospital proprietress was also very fond of Wale apparently, and provided a lot of succor from his imagined dad’s highhandedness. Today he dotes over his immediate family. His adorable wife, from a Lagos Royal Family, she too a lawyer and daughter of Justice Jinadu together with their three children of two daughters and a son form the bedrock of his strength to achieve. They have all come a long way together. And together they are marching on.
Marching on means being appointed in 2005, into the National Political Reforms Conference where he became the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Sub Committee. He was once the Pro Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Maiduguri between 2009 and 2013. He is Chairman of the Committee of Pro Chancellors of Federal Universities in Nigeria. Chairman of The Federal Government Committee to renegotiate the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and the University Unions He is currently the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos.
Wale’s large heartedness is legendary. He gives as if there is no tomorrow and recipients have no boundaries. University of Ilorin got an 80 bed hospital named after his father.While in memory of Mrs. Ramotu Ibironke BABALAKIN, his mother, Ogun State also got an 80 bed hospital.
He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria at age 42 and was conferred with the National Honour of the Officer of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, OFR, in 2007.
Wale has a huge appetite for the breathtaking. He became the first individual this side of the world to own and operate a public commercial airport, the Murtala Mohammed Airport Terminal 2, in Lagos. By the time he turned 50, he had conquered his dreams and reaching for the skies. 60 is just a number where Wale is concerned. So turning 60 today may as well be just another day. What his friends and family hereby celebrate today July 1, 2020, is to give thanks to THE ALMIGHTY GOD FOR KEEPING HIM ALIVE IN THESE TIMES .THAT, IS ENOUGH PROFIT