KESSINGTON ADEBUTU Reveals His 50yr Friendship With OBEY
- How OBEYs Record On Him Shot Him To Limelight In 1967
When Evangelist Ebenezer Obey, the music icon and renowned music living legend made Chief Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu, the Premier Lotto boss, the Chief Launcher of his Ebenezer Music Foundation at his last 75th birthday held at the prestigious OOPL in Abeokuta, not many could fathom why this Juju commander would pick Chief Adebutu.
Is it because Chief Kessington Adebutu is stupendously rich? Or could it be because of his massive business empire which he has been able to build to a very enviable height? Could it be because Baba Ijebu is one of Nigeria’s Philanthropist who can be described as “Afunimasiregun“(he who gives without biase). We can tell you why. Permit us to tell you the many reasons why Obey decided to make his friend of over 50 years the Chief Launcher of his foundation.
Let’s feel you in? Do you know that Obey Commander is the official musician at any of Chief Kessington Adebutu’s events? He has been doing that for over 50 years. He is always on the band stand when Baba Ijebu has any event. He was the one on band stand when Baba Ijebu buried his late mother many years ago. He was also the one who performed when Baba Ijebu had his birthday along side with his first wife, Madam Caroline. So it is a aged long relationship.
Speaking at the event on how Baba Ijebu became close to Ebenezer Obey, he revealed that it started over 50 years ago. His words were “ Obey & I have come a very long way. We become close in 1967 when he did my first album for me. This made my business boom by over 100 percent. It didn’t only make me popular, my business boomed”.
The 82year businessman read his short speech in an eloquent manner even without glasses on. He dazed many when he donated 10 million naira in initial deposit to Ebenezer Obey Foundation.
Chief Ebenezer Obey in similar manner said during his closing remark that Chief Kessington Adebutu has contributed immensely to the contribution of my 60years old music career. His words were“ I want to use this medium to thank Chief Kessington Adebutu for his contribution to my musical career. I remember that I wax first record for Chief Kessington Adebutu in 1967. Though it was in an old CD but we had to modernize it into CD and we still have the last CD with us. Please can i see the Last copy”. He said the Black record was showed to the large guests while it was later kept as archival materials. What is Ebenezer Obey Music Foundation and Training Institute all about? According to Obey, it is meant to be a private initiative of Professor Evangelist Ebenezer Obey, Chief Executive of Decross International Gospel Ministries. It was born out of a vision to primarily impact and empower the teeming youths, the younger generation, that constitutes the greater percentage of Nigeria’s population on one hand and others who desire music training to equip them to be responsible citizens of our great nation Nigeria.
To achieve the objective, the foundation is committed to a policy of providing the best music education and training for the greatest number, and thorough training of each individual in the shortest time possible in accordance with internationally acknowledged and accepted best practices in every area of its operation.
The goal of the music foundation is to give equal opportunity for all in every aspect of its operation. To this effect, the foundation shall not discriminate on the basis of sex, age, religion, national origin, marital status or handicap.
The scheme shall focus at training beneficiaries for professionalism in music through performance. The administration of the foundation will concern itself with every aspect of artistic excellence and within a lively, lovely supportive and conducive environment in a closely knit community. The foundation is poised to operate a school system whereby the major academic units will be independent to carry out its activities under a central administration.
The Music Foundation and Training Institute is situated at RICC km 4, Ayetoro Road, Lafenwa, Abeokuta. Locating this in Abeokuta, our historic gateway city of 1830 is strategic for 2 reasons: (1) It is the town of my youth where my musical potential was birthed, to which I am nostalgically attached. (2) It’s geographical location makes it easily accessible to Lagos, our national commercial and industrial hub-104 kilometers away, while Ibadan the cosmopolitan Yoruba political hub- is 77 kilometers away.
The equal opportunity programme of the foundation is guided by Nigerian National Policy on Education (NPE) and international best pratices in skill and intellectual acquisition. This is accomplished through streamed programmes which is categorized into three:
- A six months, nine months, 12 months and three years full-time programme (ii.) Six weeks, nine weeks and twelve weeks crash programmes and (iii). Weekend programme which runs for 26, 52 and 104 weeks respectively.
The institute is operative within an established affiliation with Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) for standardization and accreditation purpose. It’s under a Governing Board chaired by an erudite, scholarly Professor of renown to ensure adherence to international best practices in intellectual and administrative
delivery.
This is a Youth Empowerment programme to give disection to our nation’s teeming youth population. It is an institute that national and international corporate bodies and individuals can support and invest.
Who is this Chief Kessington Adebutu? He is a billionaire businessman who makes money everyday. He is the founder of Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu Foundation, which caters for the less privileged and supports hospital patients and education. A philanthropist to the core, he went into the Pool betting and Gaming business in the 60s after working for a while. Though known largely in the polls betting and gaming business, he has over the past several years gone into several other areas of businesses including properties, agriculture and entertainment with notable successes in all. His Lotto business venture has brought hope to the hopeless and great support to the needy in the society. His managerial skills can be visibly perceived in his highly efficient workforce and outstanding organisational profile. His philanthropic gestures range from offering scholarships to indigent students, offering free medical treatment to less privileged, building schools, hospitals and developing mosques and churches for the masses.
Do you know that Kesington was a very brilliant student who came top of his class in the School Leaving Certificate Examination and was offered a scholarship to train as a Teacher at Iwo Baptist College but turned it down? He rejected the scholarship because he wanted to stay in the neighborhood for his studies and also wear school blazer and tie like other students. He opted for Baptist Academy in Lagos in 1951 and stayed till 1953 when he moved on to Remo Secondary School in Shagamu from 1954 to 1955. His classmates at the Baptist Academy included the late Chief Molade Okoya Thomas and Justice Holloway (Rtd.). He was a jolly good fellow in school and always in the company of friends whom he often took home to his mum after school hours. He shared the few things he had with his friends and never withheld from them. He was always eager to commit what he had to helping others. He grew up being taught that others were more important than himself where human needs were concerned. In spite of all these he was rascally and he was a truant as a little boy. His mother however, helped him to surmount these problems.
Before establishing his business ventures, he had worked at Cable and Wire as a Clerical Officer, and at Clafin Chemicals Limited as a Salesman. At Cable and Wire, he built up relationships with powerful expatriates and successful people who came to make calls in his office. From this job, he discovered that you could become anything you want to be if you were hard-working, sincere and honest. Those who made the strongest impressions on his mind were the young business entrepreneurs who were determined to make it in honest business and were honestly struggling to make headway. Through them he learnt to realise that industry was the key to success.
A natural administrator and born manager, Sir Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu is an astute businessman. Though he did not attend any of the great business schools nor did he pursue any formal training for business management; yet, he has made success of every business he puts his hands on. He is regularly guided by his personal values and instincts and his gift of the power of intuition rather than business theories.
Doggedness and Persistence have been the whetstone of success in whatever he does. This is the spirit that has seen him through difficult times. Even under the strongest emotional tempests and business failures, he remains steadfast believing that ‘where there is a will, there will always be a way’.
Chief Kesington Adebutu has achieved so much by dint of hard work and his intuition. Since 1969 he has been working so hard.
–ABIOLA ORISILE
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