A mentee of the former governor of Kwara state who was his Commissioner for Education, Dr. David Atte, has said he witnessed on several occasions how the late former governor rejected huge amounts of money that would have made him rich as a minister in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

Atte, who spoke with a Blueprint.ng reporter in Ilorin on the sideline, during the week-long activities of funeral rites in honour of the former governor, also revealed how his late principal handled the December 31, 1983 coup that truncated the then civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari.

Atte, who was a lecturer at the University of Ilorin, said the late C. O. Adebayo lived for his people which explains the basis for many of the hard-line posture he took while in office.

“I was witness to how my Oga declined an offer to make £500,000 for himself, not only because it was wrong in principle to do so, but also because it would have detrimental effect on the people of Kwara state.

“He made no money in the Senate and by the time he became governor, he hardly owned a kobo to his name. He rejected bribes as governor and not only the one I narrated earlier.

“Because he was a highly admired man, a very senior military officer alerted him that there was going to be a coup on 31 December 1983. He faced the reality that he was going to be in office for three months only. Any normal human being’s heart would crumble. Not C. O. He had made no money at all. He would face a bleak future but that was not his concern.

“David, don’t worry. We have done our best. The only worry I have is that we will not be able to do all we planned to do for the people. That was C.O.’s main concern at that point. It took the strong arm-twisting intervention of Simon Daramola and a very few others to bundle him out of Nigeria for his personal safety.” Nigeria investment opportunities

Dr Atte said he will write a book on C. O. Adebayo and his principled simple life. (Blueprint, but headline rejigged)