Last weekend, Professor Emeritus, Theophilus Oladipo Ogunlesi, Nigeria’s first professor of medicine was laid to rest in his hometown, Sagamu, Ogun State. The late Ogunlesi who died in January at the age of 99, was also the first Nigerian to head the Department of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan.
To ensure that he got a befitting burial, one of his children, United States-based businessman, Adebayo Ogunlesi, flew in and feted members of the social, corporate and political scene at his father’s final farewell party. Present at the ceremony was a federal government delegation led by vice president Yemi Osinbajo amongst several others. Like his father, the younger Ogunlesi is a very accomplished man.
A member of former President Donald Trump’s economic team, Ogunlesi is a lawyer, an investment banker and the current chairman and managing partner of private equity firm, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). In 2006, he led GIP to acquire the majority stake in London Gatwick Airport in a deal worth £1.455 billion. He also led GIP to acquire Edinburgh Airport in 2012 and Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori in February 2018. He is also the lead director of Goldman Sachs. The younger Ogunlesi has had stints lecturing at Harvard Law School and the Yale School of Management.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
