Saturday 28th May marked the 50th birthday, the Special Adviser and Chief of
Staff to Asiwaju Ahmed Bolu Tinubu, the national APC leader, Sunday Dare. The event took place at Eko hotel Sky restaurant in Victoria Island. It was a well attended birthday which had most of the Lagos state functionaries, senators, important personalities from all walks of life.
The thanksgiving service was at Ikoyi Baptist Church and it was there Asiwaju revealed many things about his Chief of Staff and some of his close aides.
They have known each other for 28 years and he has been working closely with Asiwaju as his chief of staff for 6 years short 2 months.
The moment was an emotional one for Sunday as his boss eulogized him in a very
unique and mind blowing way.
In Tinubu’s words, “I thank everyone for being here today. I thank all the choristers and ministers as well. The celebrant and the wife, Kemi, To Sunday, my son, my friend, my co-conspirator, my confidant, I say congratulations.
“But first of all I must say well done Kemi, you have endured like my wife has, God
almighty can only be the one to reward you but no change is achieved or no success is accomplished without enormous sacrifices, that is what both of you are doing for this country and for all of us and for your children, may God almighty continue to be with you.
“Mama Sunday, we thank God for you, God that has spared your life will make you
celebrate more in life by his grace, anytime myself and Sunday talk, we talk about you, he will always say in our busy schedule that he is going to Ogbomoso, ‘Oga please kindly let me go and see my mother?, I have not seen her for a very long time, we are both passionate about our mothers even though mine is late, I pray God will spare your life and to the rest of the family, I say thank you.
“Otunba Femi Pedro thank you, that is a man you will call anytime any day and he will respond to you for meetings, only just yesterday, at late hour, I have to be in Sokoto and Zamfara to do some things. I called Femi Pedro and 2 others that they will be going to Sokoto the next morning and that was after 12am in the midnight the previous night. They said okay and in Zamfara they covered 3 local governments that one of them is a minimum of 200 miles apart by road.
“They did it and came back. Dr Abraham, I want to thank you too, we are in a race that you must not see me as personally endorsing individual as a leader.
“Dr Brian, a co-conspirator, up till late last nite, we were together still talking about Nigeria, and the world with Sunday.
“For Sunday to even excuse himself from me to go to the airport to pick up his wife on the eve of his birthday, he had to leave Brian behind. it is not about anything but about the country, about May 29th and what we are to do for the president. Sunday sneaked out and when he was half way out, I was looking for him, Dr Brian said, he is on his way to the airport, To know how deep and how close and how well I rely on him, many of you here, Tokunbo Abiru, Basheer, Waziri Adio, Segun Adeniyi, Simon Kolawole, Benson and others, God bless you.
“For Sunday I thank God for you, I have known Sunday as far back as late 88. I joined politics from the corporate world, It was the likes of Bayo Onanuga of The News, Sam Omatseye, Segun Babatope and many others on ground and we needed money to fight dictatorship, to bring democracy to Nigeria, these were people that sacrificed for it, When you are looking for a man who can live his life for others and persevere, look for Sunday Dare, when you are looking for loyalty, commitment to duty, confidentiality, look for Sunday Dare.
“If you are looking for a man who will do his job without seeking for reward, if you are looking for accountability, no matter how much you leave with him, he will account for every single of it, even when he is hungry, to touch your money to feed himself, he will seek permission, when you are looking for a man who is compassionate and committed to others, a friend, look for Sunday Dare.
“There is one man who will never forget his friends, only some days ago, up till the next morning, he was quoting an analogy on Waziri Adio linking it with what Segun Adeniyi has said before, I did not know Waziri will be here today, he said Oga watch out, that is Sunday Dare for you, he doesn’t forget friends.
“We have been together for many years. We left this country at the risk of our lives, we were in America, people can say what they want to say, but I am proud to stand here in the house of God, without people like Sunday Dare, there will be no democracy in this country.
“We suffered together but when we talk of loyalty, I was telling him to return home that he is needed in this country, we were still under the former administrator, even those in the opposition comes to the house, and when they need help, I humbly recommend one person to them, go for Sunday Dare.
“I told Sunday to go for one person, Sunday said aaah Oga, a PDP woman? And I told Sunday it does not matter, we are working for Nigeria not because of Jonathan, the person is passionate to work for Nigeria and succeed and the rest is history.
“She came to our lives and ever since one who can tell you is the SSG who is here today, Tunji Bello, he was one of the people to tell you how it all went.
“We discussed Sunday ever since. No matter how much we praise him today as a
leader, as a great team, as my chief of staff, my wife has said it all. You were living our lives, you reduce my load, and you take pressure off me at your own risk.
“He has a health challenge and many reasons, but we thank God, I felt guilty, I
said Sunday please go to America and treat yourself, he will say Oga no, we have this and that to do, I will say whatever it will cost, that I have many unexpired insurance, he won’t agree, he is always keenly ready to manage both human beings and resources with the challenge of the job, I say here today, without Sunday’s thinking and strategy, we wouldn’t have succeed bringing General Buhari about.
“To change a military man, a general and change his perception, dress him up,package him for the rest of the world, Sunday thank God for you.
“Your faith in God will continue to drive and keep you on. It is very very difficult for me, if anybody stands here feeling guilty, not been able to leave you to go to the federal, it is me, may God forgive me. It is because I don’t want to lose you. I know you are a hugely talented person, we work without looking back and for Remi, my wife who is here, very detailed, if you are looking for somebody that has gotten me organized a bit, it is my wife. I tried to always be there. For Sunday, I didn’t get to sleep until 5am on the morning of his birthday and that is why am I late this morning, that even if I have to do anything, I will have to celebrate with Sunday and attend the church service. That is how we run our family , my wife was already here all for you, but for you we will do anything that we have to do to make a success of our journey.
“This is just the beginning of the journey. I thank you and thank God for you. Thank you all his friend that showed up for him, many of the commissioners, if you are looking for another risk taker, an underground person, fighting government after government, he is the one, we did not know we will end up working for a man in uniform to civilize him but thank God we did this together.
“You will celebrate many more years in life, may God continue to spare you and
your family.”
