We love you but God loves you most, my blood brother, a care giver and highly cerebral rare gem, Elder Zacceheaus Adekunle Bayode. September 5, 2005 was still like a dream to many of us when the grim reaper brutally struck, I was far away in Langtang South, Magama village in Taroc community in Plateau State (North Central) where there was no means of communication to pass the unthinkable message to me.
The painful news of your tragic death and the shocking circumstances around how you were cut-off in your prime apparently threw the entire family into grief and unimaginable agony especially our parents and of course our dad who was still alive during that period of intense sorrow, though later passed on, five years after you.
As the first born of the family, you were a good example to us your siblings, you even took fatherly roles over us, you were an amazing ‘fulcrum’ everyone truly leaned on. Growing up you laid good examples for us, you were very hardworking, resilient, forthright, brilliant, and showed strong commitment to the evangelism of the works of Jesus Christ throughout your lifetime.
I can recall vividly that you were a disciplinarian, a man of one wife, very generous but also prudent with your resources and you equally boosted your self esteem and moral virtues so high that you became a sensation and inspiration to lots of people in the community. You were highly industrious and believed in investing for the sustainance and security of the future, socio-economically.
History is deeply replete on how you invested in transportation business, how you built a soap-making factory and injected huge capital in it, how you invested in properties and how you creatively placed high premium in buying Shares, Bonds, Treasury Bills etc. You recorded many feats through merit, sacrifice and divine guidance whilst possessing the sharpest organisational mind. I must also add that you were a fashionista with panache, finesse and style.
However, it is my prayer that God will continue to be with the children you left behind, Oluwatoyin, Oluwatomilola, Oluwatosin, Daniel and Toyosi. May God bless and prosper them and make them do you proud and fulfill their dreams, destinies and purpose in life. I also extend my prayer to your wife too that God will sustain her with sound health and long life with abiding fulfillment and to us your younger brothers, Peter, Akinola and my goodself, Emmanuel we shall succeed in our endeavours and live a life of distinction and greater achievements.
Today, 15 years after losing you is indeed an emotional moment for me. Honestly grieving over and missing someone you love is a big deal. It’s not always easy to give voice to the thoughts and emotions inside you. These swell up to tears and down to numbness, but again who are we to question God!
If you were alive today you would have been 63 years old, since you were born on February 22, 1957. May your precious soul continue to rest in perfect peace. Should you have the power to look back you will realize that you are not forgotten, your amazing legacies live on.
