THE OTHER MIND: A TRIBUTE TO DELE ALAKE @ 70

*THE OTHER MIND: A TRIBUTE TO DELE ALAKE @ 70*

_*By Oloroogun Sola Ajisafe. Sunday October 11, 2026*_

When I learnt that Oga Dele Alake will be 70, I sent him my best wishes and dropped a line that he deserved a word from me. But for reasons I will keep, I held it back. I am dropping it today, Sunday, because he deserves it. And because he is one of my most avid readers in my public engagements. He reads, he remembers, and he engages. That alone tells you the kind of man we are celebrating.

In several decades of public life, few men have earned the description that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu used of Dr. Henry Dele Alake on his 70th birthday “a steady hand, forthright, upright, loyal and committed”.

To be called a steady hand by a man who has navigated the storms of Nigerian politics is itself a doctorate in character. To be called forthright by a leader who values clarity is to be certified as a man who does not prevaricate. That, in one sentence, is Dele Alake.

Dele Alake was not made in politics. He was made in journalism. From Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation as a youth corps member, to Lagos Television, and then to the National Concord where he rose to Sunday Editor and Editor, he learned early that every serious calling demands mastery. You cannot reform what you do not understand.

But Dele Alake was not content with observation. When history demanded courage in 1993, he stepped forward as Communication Adviser to Chief MKO Abiola. I know this because I was there, a cub reporter attached to the Hope 93 Campaign headquarters by my media house, CityNews. We were in the trenches together during the struggle. When the mandate was annulled, he did not choose the comfort of silence. I monitored, I listened and followed in my own corner.

The Abacha junta hounded him for his candour, and he went into exile where he joined NADECO alongside Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Professor Wole Soyinka, Lt. General Alani Akinrinade and others to keep the democratic flame alive. He was a journalist who believed that justice is the first condition of humanity, and that is why his pen was never just a tool. It was an instrument for equity and social justice.

And here is what few will say publicly but all know privately. It is that Dele Alake is one of the most feared journalists in Nigeria. Not feared because he is loud, but feared because he is not afraid to engage anyone who crosses his path, especially his colleagues. His armour is always truth, courage, and institutional memory. He engages with the fearless conviction and grit that the moment deserves. A clear example was the buildup to the 2023 election when a section of the Nigerian media wanted to blackmail Asiwaju, the candidate of the APC, to appear before AriseTV owned by a known supporter of one of the main opposition figures. Dele Alake went after them and with grit and institutional memory that was cogent and compelling, he opened their case and exposed the agenda. That is Dele for you.

Also, he is not a friend to many journalists, and this in itself could be a reason why some established voices are against Asiwaju. They felt his presence was too intimidating, too protective of his principal, and that there was no space to turn the principal into prey as they had done with others. Yet in all these, they accept that no one could do a better job for Asiwaju than Dele Alake.

This is why his progressivism cannot be mistaken for costume. It is not the constant wearing of the Awolowo cap, nor the Tinubu cap, nor the public swearing by Asiwaju’s name. Dele Alake’s progressivism is of the old Awo hue. It is intellectual, welfarist, unsparing to falsehood, and allergic to half-truths. It is the inheritance of his father, Pa Michael Ojo Alake, the philosopher of Fourah Bay who helped design Jakande’s free education. It is the progressivism that prefers 500 schools to 500 billboards, and substance to slogans.

From 1999 to 2007, as Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos, he redefined government communication. Throughout that period I never saw him or went to his office even though I was in Lagos and always at Alausa as a student union leader in LASU. We met again during the presidential campaign of candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Democracy Park in Akure in 2023 where I was the official Master of Ceremony. Since he became a Minister, I have not visited him but we have always communicated on WhatsApp. His writings in National Concord formed part of the basis of my interest in public intellection.and engagement.

In unfamiliar and uncharted territories Dr. Alake has shown an inexhaustible capacity to function and deliver results, which is why today as Minister of Solid Minerals he is earning local and global admiration and why his colleagues across Africa trust him as Chairman of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group.

But beyond office and title, this is the truth that must be placed on record, Dr Henry Dele Alake is not your usual political supporter or follower. He is the unseen extra oxygen tank, the Ogiri and condiment kept in the kitchen rafter for the rainy day, the ever present and reliable family spirit readily available to be called upon when the family needs it. While others support for whatever reasons, Dele Alake is the unannounced but known other mind of Asiwaju. Whether during the struggle, whether as governor, and whether as President our Republic.

At 70, he joins the Club of Septuagenarians not with noise but with gravitas. A man of letters with, a decorated columnist, a technocrat, and a template of duty. His life teaches that courage is not the absence of fear but the decision that truth matters more than comfort. That loyalty is not sycophancy but fidelity over time. That character is not announced, it is demonstrated.

As we celebrate Dr. Henry Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister for Solid Minerals, my prayer is the same as Mr. President’s, that the Almighty grants him more years in good health as he continues his service to God, country, and humanity.

Happy birthday to my role model, to a confidante, to the man who chose intellect over noise, conviction over convenience, and duty over display.

Ariwo ki n’pa Ojo
Okiki ki n’pa Osu
Wa d’agba ju awon Agba kan, Agba kan ti won yo iko dide lori yetu-yetu bi Omo Olofin ni Iledi.
Ogbo ato o Baba.

*_Oloroogun Sola Ajisafe writes from Akure_*