By Prince Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu
Demola Seriki climbed all the possible hills of politics with great elan, with genuine devotion to a good cause and with utter simplicity and with the panache of a Lagosian original.
Seriki spoke softly, truthfully, but with stern stability to what he believes in. You hardly hear him shout in angry denunciation. He was as humble as humble could be.
Seriki harbored no malice, no malignant flourishing. He sprung from the very fount of Evans Street in Lagos Island, his place of birth and the very street which now bears his name in deserved honor and approbation.
He worked hard for every position he got. Minister, ambassador, strong party apparatchik, adherent of Asiwaju, promoter of the greater good of Lagos, he never looked back on God’s holy calling.
I knew him as a friend, as a brother, who was always respectful and swept in deference to me.
He had served well. He had lived a good life. God is all our abiding judge. Demola Seriki was good man. He was one instinctively invoked in philanthropic articulations, giving to the poor and the needy without hesitation.
He was atypical Lagosian, indifferent to sectarian or tribal differences. He acted as the good Lord pushed him.
He was one of our own; a Lagosian with sterling purity, unfailing, unyielding, devoted to the brightness of a greater Lagos and invariably the Nigerian state. We at Omo Eko Pataki pray that the good Lord will harbor him in Aljannah Fridaus. Ameena.
•Shodipe-Dosunmu, the OlórÃẹkùn of Olowogbowo, writes from Lagos.
