71 Garlands for “Baba Jeje”, the Quiet but Clinically Effective Technocrat in Politics By Engr. Dideolu Falobi

My first real encounter with the now 71-year-old Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola came during my tenure as Vice-President of the Ijesa People in Diaspora Organisation for Africa. We had donated medical equipment and consumables to State Hospitals in Ilesa, Osu, and Ijebu-Ijesa, and it was Alh Oyetola who quietly ensured they were moved from my Lagos office to their rightful destinations. That was my first lesson in his style: gentle in speech, relentless in delivery.

We met again during the “school classification saga.” Methodist High School, Ilesa—where I served as President of the Old Students’ Association—was suddenly downgraded to a Middle School. I raised the alarm. The then Chief of Staff of Osun State, calm as always, checked the records and assured me the school was still listed as a High School. Weeks later, the Principal called with the dreaded update: the downgrade was official. I phoned HE Oyetola immediately. To his embarrassment, the policy had been altered without his knowledge. With characteristic humility, he admitted the slip and encouraged me to escalate it. In the end, after lobbying Governor Aregbesola and Deputy Governor Titi Ponle, Methodist High proudly regained its rightful status. That full drama is a tale for another day—but if you ever doubted Alh Gboyega Oyetola’s humility, that episode tells you all you need to know.

This tribute, however, is not about my personal interactions with him but about celebrating an administrator whose prudence and empathy reshaped Osun’s governance.

As Governor from 2018 to 2022, he earned the reputation of a “quiet achiever.” He scrapped the unpopular modulated salary system, restored full wages, implemented the ₦30,000 minimum wage, and lifted long-standing promotion embargoes—actions that restored dignity to civil servants and pensioners. On infrastructure, he repaired key roads across the state and delivered the iconic Olaiya Flyover in Osogbo—proof that even a soft voice can leave a concrete legacy. In health, he launched the ambitious revitalisation of 332 Primary Healthcare Centres, one in every ward, and during the COVID-19 crisis, he balanced firmness with compassion.

In education, he reversed controversial reforms, restored the traditional 6-3-3-4 system, and allowed schools to reclaim their unique identities. He rolled out the Osun Food Support Scheme, providing monthly food packs to 30,000 vulnerable households, strengthened local security with Amotekun, and took on illegal mining with unusual resolve. Even though his governorship ended in 2022, his legacy of fiscal discipline, human-focused reforms, and steady delivery continues to speak.

Since 2023, as Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Oyetola has proven that “still waters” can indeed run deep. He has introduced new safety codes for inland waterways, distributed life jackets, recruited River Marshals, and procured modern tugboats for port operations. He has pursued reforms at Apapa and Tin Can ports, attracted financing for their modernization, and advanced the National Single Window to reduce trade bottlenecks. Beyond ports, he has invested in training fish farmers, maritime professionals, and identifying new coastal tourism hubs—turning the blue economy into a source of jobs, food security, and national growth.

As he marks his 71st birthday, we celebrate a leader who has always chosen substance over noise, empathy over ego, and results over rhetoric. Baba Jeje may be soft-spoken, but his footprints—in Osun and now across Nigeria’s maritime frontiers—are anything but quiet.

Happy Birthday, Sir. May your steady hands continue to steer Nigeria toward calmer and more prosperous waters.

Engr. Dideolu Falobi, the Bobajiro of Ilesa, is a Gubernatorial aspirant in Osun State on the Platform of APC.