Humble Beginnings: Dayo Israel on living his dreams as a speaker, philanthropist, diplomat, talk show host…

Dayo Israel welcomes the STM team with enough gusto and a broad smile, making it easy for the team to relax and interact freely. Few minutes spent with him amidst his busy schedule and constant ringing phone, Dayo Israel, a lawyer turned activist, talks expressively on choosing a Career and Living a Fulfilled Life. He leaves no doubt in our hearts as to how he has carved a niche for himself in his chosen career, having such a rich portfolio of being an astute Speaker, Philanthropist, Diplomat, Minister, Youth Advocate, Talk Show Host, Ambassador amongst many others. He has proven his worth despite his growing up without a father in Mushin, a remote part of Lagos State. Get ready to learn from him.

KNOWING DAYO ISRAEL

My name is Dayo Israel. I am a young Nigerian, and I think that is about it (Chuckles). I am a young Nigerian, proud of Nigeria. I left Europe to come back home and play my part in the development of my country. I love this country. Growing up was interesting. I think it was the best part of my life so far. I lost my father when I was eleven. I grew up in Oyingbo, Ebute-Metta. I was born in Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria, in Papa Ajao where my family house is. Then I grew up in Kano Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos. I went to about six secondary schools (Laughs). I had a good childhood. I enjoyed every bit of it. Yes, I had some challenging periods in my childhood, but that did not move me, for some reasons, I had some hidden aspirations.

While I was a teenager I used to attend Redeemed headquarter in Ebute-Metta, I was always moving closer to the people who were successful in the church. Association determines your elevation. I used to sit around Kojo Williams who was the former NFA chairman. I moved around people that were successful. I remember walking to Yaba those days and sitting down there to read Ovation Magazine or soft sell magazines and newspapers. I would just sit and stare at the pictures in the magazines and that is why I love pictures because I grew up looking at pictures. It was pictures that God used to shape me, pictures of Fernandez with his house on a yacht in an island in America. Wealth, affluence – I do not think there is anything wrong with wealth oh.

Now the point is when you are in the poor community or the emerging communities, there are things that you will see, and when you are among the rich there are things that you will see and that is why we encourage people in the grassroots to expose themselves. If you stay in Ebute-Meta you will have the mindset of Ebute Metta. While I was in Ebute-Meta, I was going to Methodist High School in Victoria Island. In the church, I moved with the rich children so I would be exposed. You cannot have what you have never been exposed to. I wanted to live a better life. My mother always encouraged us. We went to church. We did not have a choice because if you did not go to church, she would beat the hell out of you. Oh yes! My mother was tough.

I am a diplomat to the Glory of God. I am involved in international diplomacy at the UN level, at the ECO soft level. I am also a public service officer, a public servant. I work as the Senior Special Assistant to a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I also work as the Chief Executive of an international organization with an African office in Nigeria called Gleehd Foundation. It is a UK organization and I oversee the African operations, Middle East. I am a public servant.

FINDING A PATH

I never chose a career, it came out of me: from childhood. It was before I went to school and I consciously built my career. I started my NGO when I was eight in the nineties. I joined Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) around 1996/1997. As a young child growing in the military era, I just felt that things were not right. I was always reading. I loved reading. So I was reading a lot of books and materials. I will take all the human rights reports. I hated injustice; I despised injustice. I was very involved in human rights advocacy. I was involved in Gani Fawehinmi’s “One Million Man March” against Abacha’s ”Five Million Man March” and from there Gani inspired me to study law. I had my first degree in law.

I do not think anyone needs a career path. What you need is a purpose path. It is not necessarily a career. Career kills sometimes (laughs), let your purpose become the career. What is your purpose? God made man in his own image, not to go and find a career. He gave man dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and said: “have dominion”. You are expected to have dominion in a particular sector of your life. In private sector, in public service, have dominion. Dominion is a process. According to Myles Munroe ‘Kingdom’ means king’s domain, a place you have control over. So you have control and dominion over something at a particular time of your life.

My mother wanted me to be a land lawyer because there is so much money in land. She wanted me to be a petroleum lawyer because there is so much money in marine law. All I wanted to do was to fulfill my purpose. Now, I am a friend of presidents. I am a friend of heads of state. I have met the Queen of England not once or twice. I pick up my phone and I call governors and presidents around the world. I do not think I would have done that if I was a practicing lawyer. So, find purpose and the career will show up.

There are two things; whatever course you study in the university must be linked to your purpose. If not you will be frustrated. TY Bello has a degree in something else. What does she do? Where does she find purpose? She finds purpose in music and in arts, in pictures. Lepacious Bose is a lawyer, she is a barrister, she is called to bar. She has a degree. Funke Akindele is an actress, she is a lawyer and she has never practiced for one day. Lepacious Bose makes money from comedy. I am a lawyer and I have Masters in International Relations. Never used my certificate for one day, but I use the legal knowledge for other things that I do. What I am saying is that your career path must be in line with your purpose. Always ensure that. Do not let your parents tell you they want you to have a degree in this. It is good when you have a degree in the area of your purpose. Some people got a university degree before they discovered their purpose, that’s also nice you can now use the knowledge and the skill you have gotten and make them applicable in the area of your purpose.

THE LEADING MAN

Leadership is a strong backbone of our society. Leadership in the church, Leadership in the community, we are born leaders, we are made leaders. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar priesthood. You were born to be a leader. So, you must lead; but to lead, you must be empowered and equipped. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate on it day and night and thou shall have good success and then shall thy way be prosperous.” Leadership is all about fulfilling your mandate, taking responsibility, letting the leader in you live. God made us as leaders, he gave us dominion.

There is a lot of progress and growth now. A lot of young Christians hear different words than our parents did. Our parents heard different kinds of words such as “do not get into politics, it is evil!” Prosperity is bad! I know a young lady who is a publisher of a magazine called STM. So, I know young Christians who are blazing the trail and they are breaking the leg of the enemy. They are shaming the devil, those are our joy. Those are exemplary leaders that we can showcase.

To be a leader you must have mentors, men who you can learn from their mistakes and successes. I have many Government leaders, Presidents and Business leaders as my mentors and I always make it a duty to go and see them and sit with them. Every year, to the glory of God, I take the time to go and see Ex-President Obasanjo in his house in Ota. I think last year or this year I have been there about three times. I sit down and I just listen to him. I go to see Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, my Senator Babajide Omoworare, Brian Tracy and a few leaders. I just go, chat with them. I talk with them, learn from them.  There are some, I read their books.  I once wrote a letter to the Queen that it was my birthday and I wanted to come and visit her for my birthday, they wrote a letter back and they said ‘Happy Birthday, but you know because of my busy schedule’. I said, okay my time is coming. In life, it is a matter of time. I do not count that as rejection! To the Glory of God, when the time was right, she herself invited me to come and meet her at Buckingham Palace after then, I met her over and over again. I was with her a few weeks ago and it was a great moment. This can only be traced to God.

My greatest mentor is Jesus because every morning I have to read from him and learn from His life. I think the people who mentor me the most are from the scripture. I used to have a mindset about prosperity, until one day when the Lord showed me a story. Jacob was running away from his brother, went to Laban served there and on his way back, he sent his animals and his camel, divided them into four parts and told them to go ahead of him, he was coming to meet his brother Esau, peradventure Esau would want to kill him, but when he saw the gifts he would calm down and forgive him. So when Esau saw him, he embraced him and he said ‘please all these gifts I saw on my way who are they for?’ Jacobs said ‘they are for you Sir’, Esau said “do not be silly my brother. Ha! I have plenty of everything. I do not need your gifts”. Esau had plenty of everything, this same man who did not even have a blessing, his blessing was too large and they said there was no blessing left for him, but in the process of time, he said: “I have plenty of everything.”

In order words, no matter what you are, no matter what you have gone through, God wants you to have plenty of everything. Two cars are not enough in your compound, do not let anybody tell you that. I want to have eighteen cars in my compound. I can choose a car based on what I am wearing today. Okay, I am wearing a black shirt and nice jeans, I can say let me take the phantom and in another situation, I may be wearing a native tomorrow and it is a cream native, I will say let me take the Bugatti, the colour goes with it.

God wants us to have plenty of everything, yet helping others. There is nothing wrong in helping others, some people will say, “go and sell the Bugatti and give it to poor people”. No, there will always be poor people but you must always be able to help. When you have plenty of everything, you will have enough and enough to also help them, but you cannot help every poor people in the world. You can only play your own part.

I count it a privilege because everything I have achieved came from God. We did not get here by sign….you can only be proud and arrogant if you did it by yourself. When you did not do it yourself, (Chuckles) you can only be humble enough so that the person who helped you will not give you up. No man can prevail by strength.

I believe leadership to be the core of my being. From the first day I entered London Metropolitan University, I knew I had a purpose there. I knew God had a plan for me in the school. My sole goal was to find the purpose. The first day I got there, I stood at the front of the university building, pointed and said, “The Lord has made room for me and I will be fruitful in this land” that was all I said. When you have a light you must let it shine. I kept my light shining. I was President of the Nigerian Society in my university. I was President of the Human Right Society in my university. I was an executive of the Law Society in my university. I became a student ambassador for my university. I became a language ambassador for the UK National Center of language in the UK through my university. I also became an ambassador for my local government in the UK – Legislative Bureau. I started serving also in my community.

When it was time, I felt that there was a need to influence policies and God laid it on my heart to run for an office, it was a tough one. Every position in my university at that time was run and led by Asians, Pakistanis, Indians, and Bangladeshis. All the ten executives of the student union and the student council were held by Muslim Pakistanis because they will always come out and vote their nationals while Nigerian Christians and Muslims do not get involved in those things. We were so lackadaisical and I saw that a lot of people laughed and said that this young man was just disturbing himself, or this young man was just making noise around. They thought I was a joke. So, I was not bothered. An American guy supported by a British Muslim lady who was opposing me said “who is this Black Nigerian Negro that wants to run for student council chair in this university” No it is not possible. He must be a joke. The British lady was my friend, but she felt I was not good enough. I first contested for international student officer the result was rigged. As a result of this, the election for that year was canceled. We did not have a student in the Union for that period. The university staff had to manage the student union. I ran for the presidency, I won, but they rigged the election. We appealed, it was mad, it was crazy, it was something else. Against all odds, I became the president.

I am not the president of Nigeria, but if I were to be the president of Nigeria, there are so many things to change in Nigeria oh! You start by showing leadership that feels the heart of the people. The government is disconnected from the people. People need an impactful government. A transformational and impactful government is what the people need. That is one thing that I want to change, that I would love to change. I am saying I want to change – like I am campaigning for the presidency (laughs).  Another thing is if I were president of Nigeria, I would drive away poverty. It is the first thing that needs to be done. I will create systems that will build a sustainable livelihood.

LIVING THE LIFE

(laughs) Life has been good. I have many great moments, so it is very hard to pick any particular one. Was it when I met my Bella, not Bella Naija, she is married to my friend Wole Pedro. Was it when I met the Queen or was it when I went on CNN life for one hour. To the glory of God, I have had a lot of best moments. I have always had the best moment. Every time I wake up in the morning is the best moment. When I wake up every morning, it is to the glory of God. I am hale, hearty and sound. I always look forward to tomorrow. I have a lot I want to offer to the world, so I always thank God each time he gave me the chance to wake up the next morning to do more for the world. We take it for granted sometimes my sister, so I thank my God every time I wake up. I am excited that I am alive and I am still here. I don’t joke with those moments and that is why I make it a point of duty to enjoy my day and do the best I can do as if there is no tomorrow.

When you are a leader, things happen. So nothing is discouraging. Yeah, there are best moments. I did a fundraising dinner some time ago, some years ago. I invited people: Governors, leaders, and people who would have come on a normal day. That day happened to fall on an election day, so a lot of them could not come. It was a four hundred and fifty million dollar fundraising dinner and we made only fifty thousand naira and we had spent money. We had spent about half a million to organize the dinner.

People I had collected money from started harassing me. I was a teenager. I was probably fifteen or sixteen. The Yorubas will say “melo la fe ka ninu eyin adepele” (too much to speak of). It is just part of the journey. We do not see them as anything anymore. That is one of those things.

I will say it has been adventurous. I have had an adventurous and eventful life. It is fun. The greatest fulfillment is when you go do something that has killed other people and you are still surviving. This office you have come to today is a multi-million naira building, I am sure you can see where it is situated right on the expressway. You can see the facilities, it is a twin building, there is another one at the back and the whole compound can take a minimum of five hundred people and we have exclusive use of everything. It is a project I have the privilege to oversee. We have taken risks, people come here and say how do you do this? It is multi-million, to renovate it to the standard we wanted. I am talking about a fifty million naira project. It is part of life, the pursuit of happiness. When it works and we are happy we are like we made it and we are never scared of the days of little beginnings. You can see we are just here with this small wood by the time this place is furnished, you won’t know this was where you came to. It is to the Glory of God.

I try not to always make it about work. I try to find time to relax. When I am not working I watch African Magic Yoruba. I watch African Magic, then Mnet action. I love action films, shooting films (laughs). Well, that’s all I do, I love reading too, but I do not take it as a hobby. It is not fun because I do not have fun because I have a lot of work. So what I do for fun; I watch TV, I love to come out of my house. I do not go out much except for work, so when I have time for myself, I just want to lay down on the bed and watch African Magic, watch Friends, watch My Wife and Kids and all of those dramas.

THE WOMAN IN HIS LIFE

I would keep you all in suspense about my relationship life but there is that special someone and when it is time for marriage we will take that step. Are you thinking of finding someone for me? When the time is right, there is a time for everything.

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Excerpt from STM family edition