The Man Who Conquered The Terrain: A Tribute To Dele Alake At 70

By Olabode Opeseitan
At 70, Dr. Henry Dele Alake projects the kind of presence that years of public life either refine or expose. The well-manicured white beard, the carefully settled cap, the glasses that hold his gaze in firm focus, the composed carriage of a man who has spent decades navigating institutions, crises and competing ambitions. He does not announce himself loudly. Yet there is something unmistakably deliberate about his bearing, a quality that suggests preparation before performance and reflection before reaction.
His life has been a sustained rebuke to the idea that serious ability must remain imprisoned in a single profession. Journalism taught him that every human en...