▪︎Collage of Dotun Oladipo, Publisher, The Eagle Online, (left), and Rotimi Olaleye, the mechanic.

I write this from the point of ‘Pain’ and ‘Gratitude’.

Pain because of the death of a hardworking and honest man, Rotimi Olaleye, who was both a great father, as attested to by his children who he has been taking care of single-handedly since his wife died about five years ago, and an honest and diligent auto mechanic, as confirmed by his clients, including yours truly. 

We met less than a week before his death, but he left an unforgettable impression on me, even in death. Gratitude?

I was less than 10 seconds away from where Mr. Olaleye was when the fire that took his life occurred with my wife and first child.

Let me start from the beginning. I met Mr. Olaleye on March 8, 2025, following a need to change my mechanic.

I was introduced to him by the best car air conditioning technician I had ever met, Mr. Akinola Ayeni. We drove the car together on that day.

He spotted some issues, including the fact that the former handler was as careless as not putting the knots that should be holding the connecting ABS wire to the wheel of the driver’s side, by just driving the car.

That was quickly fixed. And he told me, very honestly, that other things had to wait until Monday. That he needed to finish some other jobs. I left happily.

On Monday, I took the car to him. He appeared meticulous. Aside from the fact, that I told him that on completing the work on the Highlander, which my wife uses, I was going to send my car for servicing, he was not in a hurry to declare the vehicle fit. people behind me.

One woman came out of her car and started banging ours: “Move, move.”

She did it a second time and I wound down the back glass, addressing her and my wife who had also become agitated: “We have a man down there. Let’s see if there is still something we can do before we go too far.”

And then his line stopped ringing. My head immediately told me to call Mr. Ayeni. As soon as he picked it up, he asked me: “Have you collected your car? Rotimi has parked by the gate and is waiting for you.”

He did not even hear me saying there was trouble at the workshop until I shouted at the top of my voice.

Mr. Ayeni, who was at Agidingbi, immediately turned back. He, alongside others, discovered the remains of Mr. Olaleye, lying face down. His apprentices who were with him said as the truck crashed, he told them to flee that he needed to “save his customer’s car”.

Meanwhile, his own car was just behind mine. He succeeded in turning the car around to face the workshop. But that was as far as he made it. I cried that night. Something I have not done in several years. I wept bitterly.

In the short period I knew Mr. Olaleye, I learned a lot of lessons.

He left an impact I would never forget. But it was a pity he didn’t pick up my last call, which was to tell him to abandon the car and flee to safety.

His meticulousness on the job was second to none from what I saw in the three days of being with him. He also knew his job. Adieu Mr. Olaleye.

■ SylvaNews

Carl Dean, the husband of Dolly Parton, has died Monday, aged 82.

The couple were married for almost 60 years, but the country music superstar kept out of the spotlight.

Dolly Parton said “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together.

“Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” Parton wrote in a post on X.

Dolly met Dean in 1964 outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, she was 18 and he was 21.

“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” she said.

“He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about,” she added.

They married two years later in May 1966 in a simple ceremony attended only by Parton’s mother, the preacher and his wife.

Controversial Nigerian Singer Habeeb Okikiola, popularly known as Portable, has surrendered himself to the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Yaba.

This follows an ongoing police investigation into allegations of violent conduct and assault on government officials in Ogun State.

The surrender was confirmed by Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer Benjamin Hundeyin on Wednesday.

“Portable just turned himself in at the SCID Yaba. We have contacted Ogun State Police Command to come pick him up,” Hundeyin stated.

Portable was recently declared wanted for allegedly leading a violent attack on government officials who were carrying out their lawful duties.

The incident involved three officials from the Ogun State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Ota Zonal Office—TPL Onabanjo Abidemi, TPL Raymond Lateef, and TPL Ridwan Oyero Akinlesi—who were on an enforcement mission at Oke-Osa, Tigbo Ilu Ota.

According to reports, the officials were in the area to enforce government regulations when they were confronted by Portable and his associates.