It’s my privilege of celebrating someone who epitomizes leadership …someone whose life reflects a heart of service and commitment to faith, family, friends, and certainly those who wear Nigeria Colours Green White Green
ALHAJI HON MUHAMMAD-LUKMAN OYEWOLE LAWAL is a widely recognized expert in Finance, Strategy & Kindhearted Individual, Icon of Hope, Seasoned Politician and Organizational and Community Change Agent and Grassroot Mobilizer. An accomplished unconventional leader and proven status quo buster, he has successfully led several policies and transformational efforts and his award-winning work has been featured in a wide variety of articles and journals, including the National Assembly Review. In addition to serving our nation as an active duty Special Advisor Officer to the Honourable Speaker, Federal House of Representative, National Assembly, Abuja!
Let me share a couple nuggets from the Chief’s career that help reinforce my point…all taken from his performance reports.
I could highlight his being selected as the Top Special Advisor Envoy in the National Assembly from Surulere Federal Constituency—that would be Lagos State, not just the politics—but I won’t;
Or I could focus on the dozen of times he was singled out for his comitment to serving others in the community by supporting special and different National Sports and Humanitarian Services across the Nigeria through the Office of the Mr Speaker, partners in Education, and more…but I won’t; What I will share are a couple of my favorite lines from his astounding record of performance over few years of services that reinforce what a RARE BREED of Leader this Chief really is:
In his second performance report as a Young Special Advisor Chief, his Boss writes: “In 23 years, I have NEVER seen this caliber of leadership.” One of his early commanders writes, “Most knowledgeable and dedicated Special Advisor I have seen in my career.” One of my personal favorite lines is “ALARMINGLY INTELLIGENT” leader – this from a Senior Colleague in the National Assembly who must have quickly realized he would be very smart to watch, listen and learn all he needed to know about leadership from Hon Wole Lawal.
“Simply the best ADVISOR I have seen among any of those that I have worked with,” from the Junior Staffs of the National Assembly.
“Finest leader and warrior I have seen in little times years of service,” from the security Arm of National Assembly.
And the list goes on…and on…and on…
With such an amazing and sustained list of exceptional performance, we are left wondering what is this man’s secret to an astoundingly successful career and incredible effectiveness as a leader? I have come to believe it comes down to a single word: Love! …Not just any love, however. A very particular kind of love we term Agape Love…or self-sacrificial, others-oriented love…that places service to others as the foremost priority in one’s life.
The source for this definition of love derives from Prophet Muhammad SAW’s favorite book—what we both believe to be the perfect and greatest life and leadership handbook ever written by God Almighty—the Holy Qur’an.
Another Spiritual famous passage addressing this internal drive to selflessly serve others is written by Saint Paul and found in Chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians. Here is a part from that chapter that most of us are familiar with: Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Now I get we’re more likely to hear the passage quoted at a wedding than a battlefield or boardroom, but I am convinced it belongs there too. In fact, I would argue now more than ever.
What few people realize is that the passages immediately before and after the verses I shared with you talk about leadership and the power of working together. Love, the author Paul is saying, is the motivating force behind living and leading our lives in a more excellent way. Whether it is in our marriages, our personal and professional relationships, our workplace, or our worship space, love is what propels successful leaders like Our President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rt Hon Gbajabiamila and his present hardworking and down-to-earth Boss; Rt Hon Tajjudeen Abass to constantly be and do their best in service to others.
The easiest way to see why I believe this to be true is to simply substitute “a leader” for “love” in the above quote
Hon Wole Lawal enjoys helping people learn to walk differently in the world so they can become the best version of themselves possible. He is blessed to be married to the most humble, caring, and accommodating patient person on the planet and together, they have amazing sons.
KESHIRO Sulayman OluwaSesan ONILOGBO KSO,
Bibi’re Kose F’owo Ra,
Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria.
