To our beloved Niyi Osundare, I wish to join your fans, friends and admirers across all continents of the world in sharing with you the joy, the pride, and the honour of being the lone winner of the 2014 highest and most prestigious award your homeland can and does bestow on its citizens — the Nigerian National Merit Award.
I am doing this not just because I am a senior Ikere citizen but more because God gave me, among others, the honour of being one of your teachers at school. I recall my arrival in Amoye to assume duties as a teacher in 1964. I was assigned to teach English in Form 3, your class.
I remember your class as certainly the most precocious class I ever taught—- always asking questions, always anxious to know more, always tasking the teacher to prepare himself before entering your class! I love your class for all these and more.
I recall today Niyi that you stood tall among your peers and have remained so all thro’ up till today. To those who watched you grow we are not surprised that you are today a summitter for your morning showed the day!
You are a pride to Ikere, to Ekiti and to Nigeria. Keep this up by remaining at the summit. Ori aba re, whom I knew as loving and caring for you and your siblings, a ro ti o o. God bless you.
It’s your friend, admirer and teacher, Olusola Bayode.
Source: Dr. Adu