OMG! My Father Was a Cr.minal! He Should Have Been Arrested

By Wale Ojo-Lanre

His name was Akinsola Francis Ojo—a native of Usi Ekiti.
He brought me into this world.
But regrettably, he is now no more. Dead and buried, gone to meet his Maker some years ago.

Yet I declare, without hesitation, that my father should be arrested—yes, even in heaven!
Why? Let me explain.

Just the other day, while rummaging through his old wooden cabinet—his modest “library” filled with brittle papers and moth-bitten files—I stumbled upon some damning evidence.
Documents that reveal the depth of his crime.

One: Receipts showing that he consistently paid development levies to his home state—then part of Ondo, later Ekiti—even while living and working in faraway Abeokuta.
Two: Proof of his active financial membership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the party of progressives in those days.

You see, back then, citizens contributed to the growth of their state and the sustenance of their political beliefs.
They gave freely—not because of coercion, not for contracts or appointments, not to curry favour, but because they believed.
Because they loved.
Because they cared.

Unlike today, where members now expect political parties to “empower” them with money and contracts, my father gave without expecting a dime.
He was loyal to his State. He was committed to his party. He supported development without noise, without entitlement.

In today’s transactional political landscape, such integrity is alien.
Such commitment? Suspicious.
Such patriotism? Unbelievable.

And so I say again: he should be arrested in heaven!
Charged with the offence of dangerous patriotism.
Guilty of the crime of uncommon loyalty.
Liable for investing in a future he would never see—but hoped others would inherit.

That was my father.
That was Akinsola Ojo.

May his noble soul rest in peace.
And may we—his children, biological and ideological—learn from the footprints of this “criminal” who committed only one offence: lov.