18 •
The Lion King
• July - September 2017
The emotionally laden words of a
young athelete who dreamt about
running at the Olympics and today is
the fastest man in Nigeria. This is the
story of the dogged determination of
Seye Ogunlewe who at a young age,
dreamt that he would excel.
Adeseye Ogunlewe was born 25 years
ago to Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe
and Mrs Folakemi Ogunlewe. He is
the last of five children and grew up
almost like an only child because his
older siblings were much older when
he was born. ‘When I was growing
up, my older siblings were already
either at boarding school or out of the
country. We moved to Abuja because
my father was a politician. I have no
clue what happened when we got to
Abuja but someone told my mum that
there was this great missionary school
in Jos and it was a good Christian
school with foreign teachers’. Seye
moved from Lagos to Abuja and then
to Jos at the age of 8. An experience
that he says was to change his life
forever. ‘I think that time of my life
moulded me. It was tough. I learnt a
lot. I was sad and lonely and home-
sick. There were a lot of tears. We
would have two weeks of school and
then a weekend exeat but for some
strange reason, my parents sometimes
missed the exeats and I found myself
at school for long stretches before I
would go home’.
Seye toughened up early and began
to learn to look out for himself at a
very young age. ‘I was not that little
kid whose parents would read books
to at night before bed time. At the
time, it was just what it was. I am not
saying that my parents didn’t take
care of me because they really did. I
saw my Dad everyday after he came
back from work, but it felt like being an
only child.’
Seye grew up with lots of friends in Apo
Village where all the Senators in Abuja
were lodged. He played with the kids
of the other Senators and some of
them today are his best friends.
Living in Apo village as the son of
Senator Ogunlewe wasn’t all bad
though. ‘Living in that political environ-
ment made me good at politics and
I represented my country’s
colours. Everyone was
messaging me after that. It
felt absolutely phenomenal. I didn’t
understand the magnitude of what
it was. We always forget what we
were thinking before we got to a
goal. You get to a goal and you set
the next goal. But I never want to
forget the process of getting there.
The feeling of getting there. It was
emotional, hard work, dedication. I
put my mind and soul into it and I
don’t ever want to forget that.”
