For ‘a man of the people’ Dapo Olorunyomi, at 60

By Chido Onumah

Dapo, ‘Daps,’ ‘Dapsy’ Olorunyomi who turns 60 on Wednesday, November 8, 2017, is your quintessential humanist. It is impossible to spend an hour with Dapo without being smitten by his humility, compassion, sense of humour and deep appreciation and concern for his environment, including its human challenges and foibles.

Since Dapo is not one to talk about himself, much less celebrate a milestone, it is only fitting to do this tribute—for the sake of the younger generation of Nigerian journalists—in a country where true heroes and heroines are in short supply and charlatans and scoundrels, whether as lawmakers or chief executives, have taken over our political and social spheres.

I met Dapo about a quarter of a century ago through another revolutionary humanist, journalist, and mathematician, Edwin Madunagu. Dapo had just left the African…