The historic town of Ondo stood still as distinguished personalities from all walks of life from all over the world paid their respects to one of their most illustrious sons, the Late Ambassador Ernest Ola Adefemiwa who passed on last August.
A glorious and befitting Thanksgiving Service was held last month at the Oba Adesanoye Centre, Ondo in honour of the late Ambassador which was attended by Royalty, diplomatic community, media as well as family and friends.
He rose rapidly and became an Ambassador at a relatively young age of 42 years. He was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Benin Republic and High Commissioner to India.
Ambassador Adefemiwa, attended Christian Primary Schools in Ondo State in his formative years, Government College Ibadan for his Secondary School education and the University of Ibadan from 1963 to 1966 which included an exchange program at the Université dé Dakar, Senegal from 1964 to 1965. He spoke fluent French and was multilingual during his career as a distinguished diplomat.
He joined the Nigerian diplomatic service soon after graduation, which was generally reserved for the best, brightest and luckiest.
He also served at the High Commission in London, the Nigerian Embassy in Warsaw-Poland, Sweden, Ethiopia and Mozambique.
His work as a diplomat took him and his family around the world where he made lifelong friendships, lasting impressions with those he touched with his warmth, charisma, grace and generosity.
He was a true Nigerian patriot and an eloquent, dedicated visionary who humbly served his country.
In 1984, while serving in Sweden as Deputy Chief of Mission, he was appointed Ambassador.
In the course of his distinguished career as Foreign Service Officer (Special Grade) and in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), he was posted to England, Ethiopia, Poland, Mozambique, Sweden and the Republic of Benin In 1991, Ola Adefemiwa was appointed Nigerian High Commissioner to the subcontinent of India serving concurrently in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh.
Ambassador Ola Adefemiwa retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 24th 2001 and from 2003 to 2005, he was Director of Training at the National War College.
He was a very agile sports loving man whose zest for life was contagious.
He is survived by his wife, Olutoyin and four daughters, Eniola, Adeola, Abiola and Abimbola, and his extended family of siblings, cousins, in-laws, nieces and nephews.
My beloved Father had a truly befitting send-off. Thank you to Ondo for showing up and showing out for the truly great and wonderful man that I simply called, “Daddy”.
God bless you all ??