The 26th United States president, Theodore Roosevelt, must have had Senator Iyiola Omisore in mind in his famous speech, “Citizenship In A Republic”. In the speech, Roosevelt elaborately elucidated the traceable attributes of a great leader and patriotic citizens, as both are the men in the arena. To further buttress his point, he said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; but who actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Today, it’s a common saying when people, by way of admonition, say, get in the arena or fight in the arena; and a deep search of a man in the arena further reveals it as someone who is heavily involved in a situation that requires courage, skill, or tenacity, as opposed to someone sitting on the sidelines, watching. It further emphasises the importance of action and striving towards worthy goal in life over idle criticism, laziness and inaction. In any political or secular organisation, building an enduring leadership tops the list of any iconoclastic leader who knows his onions, as the above leadership qualities are prerequisites of all time leaders. Great leaders have always summoned the needed strength to admiringly display the aforementioned qualities, and as such accomplished much by etching their names in gold. In the account of history, some political leaders are dead, both in life and death while some are alive both in life and after transcending to the great beyond. On account of his courage, tenacity of purpose, political wizardry, administrative effulgence, hard work, strategic execution of knotty issues, brilliance, uncommon demonstration of magnanimity, chastity, and puritanical discipline, Senator Iyiola Omisore belongs to the later.
Senator Omisore is not only a distinguished personality by virtue of his election into the Nigerian Senate, but he has distinguished himself in academics, business/carrier and politics. With an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and education, Omisore after his elementary schools in lle-Ife, attended the Federal Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State. Not satisfied with Polytechnic education, he sat for and passed his Full Technical Certificate Examinations, at the prestigious Technology College, Readings, UK, and he later obtained a Diploma Certificate in Electrical/Electronic Engineering. These double honours culminated in Senator Omisore holding two engineering degrees and a postgraduate certificate from Brunel University, Uxbridge, as well as a PhD in Infrastructure Finance from the International School of Management, Paris, France.
The distinguished Senator is also a DBA holder programme from the same Ivy League. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, England and Wales. As an erudite academic giant, Senator Omisore had several courses in different high-octane institutions like Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA, ABS Academy, Athens, Greece, University of Carolina, West London College, Harvard University. In early 2013, he completed and was awarded a doctorate degree by the International School of Management, in Paris.
Before his foray into politics, Senator Omisore was a successful businessman by every standard. As a young entrepreneur, he started his professional practice with Drake and Gordham, while in the UK, rising to the top management positions. After few years of distinguished professionalism, he was brought back to Nigeria by its Nigerian division, Drake and Scull Nig. Ltd., where he further honed his managerial skills. As a workaholic while with Drake and Scull Nig. Ltd., he adroitly supervised the construction of 19 airfields, including the Makurdi Air Force Base, and other projects like the Sokoto and Makurdi Rice Mills, Taraku Oil Mill, Sokoto University Teaching Hospital, Onitsha Flour Mills, Bank of the North (now Unity Bank) building, World Bank Assisted Health Projects for Plateau, Benue and Nasarawa States, and the Imiringi Rural Electrification project in Bayelsa State.
Having distinguished and found himself lost in the service of others, he went ahead to establish his own engineering firm- Mechelec Consultants, an engineering consultancy firm along with Chrisore Engineering Ltd., an electrical engineering firm. As a master political strategist, he served as the Deputy Governor of the State of Osun between 1999 – 2003. While on trial, he was elected as a member of the Nigerian Senate where he represented Osun-East senatorial constituency, and he was again reelected in 2007, resulting in his appointment into sundry committees such as Police Affairs, Housing, Culture and Tourism, Aviation and Appropriation. Being a political enigma, he was named as a member of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review, JCCR. Again, Senator Iyiola Omisore was also one of the Nigerian delegates to the 5th Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians in Santo Doming, Dominican Republic. Despite countless political onslaughts against him, Senator Omisore had always survived and came out refined and stronger. During the State of Osun 2018 re-run governorship election, he once again demonstrated his political dexterity in his senatorial constituency, most especially the Ife axis where he commands cult-like following. This he did and later became the darling bride of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
In absolute demonstration of gratitude for delivering the Ife axis during the 2018 governorship re-run election, he was appointed as the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the position he held until he voluntarily resigned. It is on record the avuncular role he played during the APC presidential primaries when the powers-that-be wanted to subvert the popular will of the masses by subtle anointment of a preferred aspirant. Senator Omisore stoutly stood against the political gang-up of his fellow Yoruba brethren. Going by his political sagacity, Senator Iyiola Omisore is a man of many parts who has walked where angels tremble and his political fecundity rightly positions him as the best man to retool the administrative incongruity in the State of Osun, in the 2026 governorship election. As an intrepid explorer, the giant feats attained must have actually tormented his traducers who had unendingly raised the ceaseless dust of scandalous campaign. Yet, he keeps towering above these malcontent frondeurs whose trade in stock is to peddle mendacity and mischievous falsehood for clout chasing. On the day of reckoning, Senator Iyiola Omisore will valiantly stand tall as a man who stood and fought in the arena.
Dapo Ipoola, a public affairs analyst, writes in from Lagos.
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