The death of Chief Olaniyi Faseyi, JP, a year ago, in September 2023 hit the whole Esa Oke community like a thunderstorm. He died of natural causes, after a brief illness brought on by old age.
The late ardent community leader fully settled down in his Esa Oke home after his retirement from teaching jobs. An avid writer and author of many books, he was the Co-Founder – with Dr Edward Omotoso – of the ESA OKE TODAY magazine. He served as General Manager of the magazine for many years, until his death.
Pa Olaniyi Faseyi, a true and genuine patriot, was fully committed to the uplifting of the Esa-Oke community. He was buried amidst a deluge of tributes from across Esa-Oke indigenes, at home and in the Diaspora.
His childhood friend, Dr. Edward Omotoso, described Chief Faseyi as a man who loved his hometown of Esa-Oke with a passion. In his words, the deceased worked for Esa-Oke selflessly from his youth and throughout his active professional years as an educationist, teacher, Principal, and Inspector of Schools. Dr. Omotoso attested to the fact that Chief Faseyi worked for the development of Esa-Oke even in his retirement, until his death last year. He described him as a very close friend from their primary school days at the legendary United Missionary School. There, the two showed signs of promising futures as they were competitors in the academic struggle. They alternated between first and second positions in their classes during terminal examinations.
The America-based Esa-Oke extraordinary compatriot mentioned instances of Chief Faseyi’s patriotic zeal towards the development of Esa-Oke, including: membership of the Esa-Oke United Society (EUS) where he served as a co-founder and the first president of the elite group in the community. Yet, on his contribution to Esa-Oke, he was also a co-founder and first publicity secretary of the Esa-Oke Central Union (ECU), an umbrella body of the unions, clubs, associations, and societies in the Esa-Oke community.
Apart from being a member of different development committees like the Esa-Oke Forum, which availed every Esa-Oke indigene the opportunity to meet and discuss matters related to the development of Esa-Oke, he was also a strong member of the Esa-Oke Council of Elders (ECE). This is a unisex group of Esa-Oke indigenes who are 60 years and above. The group serves as an advisory body to the Owa-Omiran of Esa-Oke. It also intervenes in conflict settlement between or among groups within the community. Chief Faseyi served for many years as President of ECE.
Another Esa-Oke patriot, Chief Samuel Ayoade Fadeyi (now late), described Pa Faseyi as a counselor who he would find difficult to replace in terms of daily counseling and the wisdom in his advice. He described him as a loving and caring brother and confessed that his generation was now reaping the fruits of his labour.
Honorable Yinka Oni Obalola believed that Papa was a progressive-minded man who Esa-Oke would miss greatly. Oni having worked closely with him as a Councilor representing Esa Oke in the 90’s, described the late community leader as a genuine patriot and a most selfless man.
Mr. S.O. Popoola paid tribute to Baba for his coordination of the ESA-OKE
TODAY magazine, confirming that it was publication of the magazine that brought them into close contact.
Honorable Kunle Ige simply stated that Papa was a gentleman par excellence. He further confessed that he admired Pa Fadeyi’s love for Esa-Oke.
To Chief Matthew Taiwo Ogunkeyede, a cousin to Chief Faseyi, he was a born teacher and vibrant scholar of repute, a lover of education. He attested to the fact that the late patriot had encouraged and provided avenues by which Esa-Oke indigenes could further their education. It was to the glory of Chief Faseyi that some of those he encouraged to further their education were now professors, nation-builders, and national integration agitators.
Chief Matthew Ogunkeyede saw him as an historian, a writer of repute who had authored a number of books.
In his tribute, TPL Ayo Adediran, a retired Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Civil Service, described Pa Faseyi as a mentor and coach. In his view, Pa was one of the greatest in Esa-Oke Community Development through education and human resource building, who had built a lot of patriots to assist him in ensuring that his vision became a reality.