Torchbearers honour Olawoyin

By Isaac Taiwo

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com

It was a day to remember as Professor Gabriel Adesiyan Olawoyin (SAN), Chancellor, the Diocese of Ife (Anglican Communion), was honored by the Torchbearers Society of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral (AVMCC).

Olawoyin, at the event, reminisced his life experience in the laudable programme tagged: “God in my Life”.

He asserted that his life had been directed by God from childhood, which to him, was the only explanation for the way he had been able to overcome those hurdles and challenges in life.

Olawoyin was born on Monday; July 31, 1939 in Ile-Ife, in what he said could be loosely described as an upper middle class family.  His father, Joseph Adekanmi Perry Olawoyin, belonged to the Giesi royal family of Ile-Ife while his mother, Julianah Waleade Olawoyin (nee (Adewuyi) was a princess in the Oshinkola royal family of Ile-Ife, who spent part of her adolescent years at the Palace with her uncle, the late Ooni of Ife, Sir Adesoji Tadeniawo Aderemi.

Olawoyin said:  “God is a God who does the impossible whenever He desires to achieve a purpose.”  He said this because he lost his mother at a little over eight years.

“The trauma of the loss of our mother at a tender age was largely cushioned by the love and support of our father and our grandmother, Madam Comfort Oni Adewuyi and the significant role played by both of them was divinely inspired in many ways.

Olawoyin, who went to Oduduwa College and later Ogbomoso Grammar School where he emerged as the best student at the final examination, described his secondary school days as the period he also felt the fingers of God in various situations that came up while he was there.

He was sworn in as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 1998.

He became the first Nigerian Professor of Business Law in May 1978 was Chairman of the Ife/Ijesha Zonal Health Board and a member of the State Health Council in Oyo State, current Chairman of the Osun State University Council which he described as divinely inspired.

“The circumstances of my appointment as the Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Ife remain shrouded in some mystery as I could not readily remember any previous interaction with the then Bishop of Ife, Rt. Rev. Oloniyo,” he said.

He recalled his Mount Sinai experience as another potent pointer to divine manifestation of God in his life.

Olwoyin, who described his marital life as relatively stress-free, which has positively impacted on their children, said he met his wife when he was only 12 years old and their courtship started while in secondary school.

Olawoyin thanked God for the grace given him to trust God with all his heart, who alone has been His fortress and wondered how he could have sailed through the formidable challenges in life.