Between Hakeem Muri-Okunola and Folly Coker
Winds and reigns and rapport, everything eventually comes to an end. Sometimes, the question to mind is not when the curtain drops, but how it drops. With the friendship of Hakeem Muri-Okunola and Folorunsho Folarin Coker allegedly on its last legs, there is a call to savour what remains.
The paths of Hakeem Muri-Okunola (HMO, for short) and Folorunso Folarin Coker (Folly Coker, for short) cannot have been more different. And yet to have both of these trails converge at the same terminal, as top dogs in their respective ministries, is something of a wonder. The friendship might be an indication of this convergence, even an indication to how they got up top. But how did this friendship come about in the first place?
To those in the know, HMO and Folly Coker have always been tight. In fact, before they were fully heralded into the Nigerian gentry, they were both allegedly already chummy. That was before the trinity with a certain royal boss, and much before they started plucking from the ancient tree that is politics.
At any rate, HMO and Folly Coker have both distinguished themselves as gentlemen and peers, together and apart. HMO, for example, is one of the most revered personalities in the Lagos government – partly on account of being the Lagos State Head of Service. In fact, he has unwittingly earned himself the title of being one of the most powerful men in the cabinet of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. On a side note, a few birds have tweeted that this is so, as there is a fairy godfather watching over HMO.
Folly Coker, on the other hand, also sits on the administrative High Table. A politician through and through, Coker’s career has seen him through assistant positions, Special Advisory stations, even Commissioner status. At the moment, he is the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), a post he has excelled at.
Aside from being serving members of the government, HMO and Folly Coker also have a fairy godfather in common, a man of timbre and a man of calibre, who has always watched out for the duo.
With this friendship reportedly taking a dunk, what is there to do but appreciate what was and anticipate what is to be? Thankfully, the alleged dimmed camaraderie did not emerge as a result of a tussle or disagreement – although tweeting birds report an imbalance in status; both men, it seems – if the gist is to be believed – have moved on and keep a respective distance from each other.