Their bond outlasted teenage years, growing stronger through adulthood, long-distance, and life’s many transitions
Rare Photos: Inside Adedayo’s Soulful Salute To Sanwo-Olu At 60 In Timeless Story Of Brotherhood – Report
As friends, they met as boys. As brothers, they became inseparable. Now, 49 years later, ace photographer and culture chronicler, Dayo Adedayo, has offered a deeply personal tribute to Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on his 60th birthday — a tribute that is both a reflection of time and a reminder of timeless friendship.
In a message titled “A Golden Thread of Brotherhood for Oga Jide”, Adedayo shared an emotional narrative that traces their bond from the dusty school fields of Ijebu Ife to the corridors of power in Lagos — a journey built not on ambition or influence, but on loyalty, shared memories, and unbreakable brotherhood.
“It all began on a quiet Sunday, September 5th, 1976,” Adedayo wrote, recalling their first meeting as students at Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School in Ogun state. “You were just 11. I was 12. And in that ordinary moment, an extraordinary journey began.”
From visiting each other’s homes in Surulere and Mushin by 1978 to becoming football pilgrims during holidays — never missing a match at the old UAC football ground or the National Stadium in Lagos — their youth was shaped by shared values and joy.
In one particularly tender memory, Adedayo spoke of Sanwo-Olu’s mother, who worked at Cadbury and treated him like a son. “Through your provisions, I tasted my very first cornflakes and Bournvita,” he recalled. “I came with gari, sugar, and Nido — things you never quite fancied. But in those little differences, our friendship only deepened.”
Their bond outlasted teenage years, growing stronger through adulthood, long-distance, and life’s many transitions. When Adedayo moved abroad in 1987, Sanwo-Olu’s support never wavered — from buying festive rams for Adedayo’s mother to selling shares so Adedayo could return to the UK during a difficult period.
“You never let distance steal our rhythm,” he wrote. “Your children call me ‘Second Daddy.’ Your wife is family.”
Accompanying the tribute is a photograph that speaks louder than words — a captured moment that reflects a friendship aged like fine wine. The image, shared quietly but powerfully, holds the weight of the past and the warmth of the present — two boys who became men, and then family.
“While the memories live on, my face rarely appears. I was always the one making sure yours did,” Adedayo wrote. “And I wouldn’t change a thing. Because every flash of that camera was a celebration of you, of us.”
The tribute moves gently from personal memories to public reflection, acknowledging Sanwo-Olu’s rise in leadership but pointing to a deeper legacy.
“People celebrate you not just because you’re a Governor,” he wrote. “They celebrate you because you are ‘Oga Jide’ — a true Omoluabi, a man of honour, of grace, of depth.”
At 60, Sanwo-Olu is seen through the eyes of a man who knew him long before the office, before the spotlight. A man who calls him “my brother, my hero, my twin soul.”
“As you step into your 60s,” the tribute concludes, “may God crown you with greater peace, deeper wisdom, and everlasting joy. May your light never dim. May your legacy rise higher than the tallest mountain.”
In a world of political optics and public relations, Adedayo’s story is a quiet but powerful reminder that behind the title of governor is a man whose greatest achievement may be the lives he’s touched — starting with one he met on a quiet Sunday in 1976.
Credit: Society Now NG
