For someone who has had the pleasure of one on one conversations with Baba thanks to the nature of my job, i couldn’t immediately explain why this one felt even more intimate and impactful.
Then I realized it wasn’t just about the amazing mind, experience, humility, capacity, and an unselfish willingness to share his wealth of knowledge that is President Olusegun Obasanjo; No, it was more than that.
It was the quality of other already brilliant minds who exhibited a thirst to learn that threatened to pale my own….and I have a very big thirst for knowledge. With zero bias for gender, tribe, or industry and armed with a unified drive to participate in delivering solutions; we explored our beautiful environment, our legendary host, the support of the OOPL Team, Emem’s immense calm amidst small chaos, Joseph Edgar’s brand of the unprocessed process (no curse me o) and each other’s minds. Days of fearless expression, sharing of ideas and opinions, left me wondering why the leadership of our beautiful country seems to make juvenile decisions when pockets of brilliance like ours exist in this country.
This leads me to state my biggest hope for what the results of this retreat would be – a true commitment to initiating a lasting update in the mindset and actions of Nigerians towards political leadership and impact.
To conclude, as packed solid as the trip was, I actually came off more relaxed than i was when we went in….and i was blessed with renewed hope for what this country might be, lest my lineage becomes “The Tobuns of Canada.”
