Olaolu Olusina Puts My Feet in Donne's Shoes
29 July 2026 By Abiodun Giwa
Olaolu Olusina
I could not believe it when I read the report of Olaolu's death. The last time I learned of him was when he was editor at The Will magazine. And I planned to connect with him. However, learning he died in 2025 after a protracted illness threw me off. He may no longer be with us here; still, I will never forget him and the angelic role he played in my life when faceless, powerful people stood determinedly between me and the future. Olaolu's advise saved me. He was not only a reporter's reporter, but he was also an angel before his heavenly journey.
We were in Insider magazine's newsroom together with little or no interaction, save the time when we worked together on a story. He was a quiet fellow who bothered no one. But he knew about my frustration that management refused to give me an employment letter and that the editor used his office to ensure I was paid my traveling allowance. At the same time, while he, the editor, said he was working on my offer letter.
Then came the time for the initiation of the magazine's chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, at Insider. The editor, Charles Obi, assigned me the responsibility to write the ceremony's report. However, someone stepped forward and said I was not among the reporters to be initiated. My name was not listed. Olusina called me aside after the ceremony and said something was wrong that was officially questionable, confirming that some powerful forces sat upon my offer letter., the same people are making the editor's decision of no effect. He said if the editor had made me do the ceremony's report, why would anyone say I was not to be initiated as a member of the NUJ? He asked why I could not get a job with the Newswatch magazine, which my brother co-founded and worked as the chief executive and editor-in-chief before his death. My answer was that ongoing family issues prevented me from entertaining such an idea, which may have compelled him to suggest that the same family members could be responsible for my plight at Insider magazine.
"Giwa, can you go to a Church for prayers? The same forces that killed your brother are at work against you. If any power could stand between you and employment, such power could kill you if they had the means." "I have been churchy and don't think going to Church could be a solution to my problem," I responded. But Olaolu was resolute. He expected my approval. He looked up into my eyes without blinking an eye. I did now want him to feel I underrated him. I shruggingly gave his suggestion my approval. And he gave me the name of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries and the 'Prayer Rain' program along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway of the church and the location, written on a piece of paper. I took it and kept it in my folder. After a deep thought about my predicament, I went and attended the program. Shortly after, I became devoted to the Oshodi branch of the Church. He was glad that I listened to him with his usual wry smile when I told him the day that I believe I saw him last at Insider. I saw him clutch his backpack and went his way. Olaolu did his best for me, more than what money could buy.
I became busy in the Church, attending all the prayer programs, and temporarily stopped working, since the job offer letter was not forthcoming. Obi have me a job, and someone needed to sign his offer letter, who decided not to. Olaolu probably had wondered what had happened to me when he no longer sees me in the newsroom. He was unaware God answered my prayers within a short period. I joined the MFM, the church he advised me to go and pray in December, and I miraculously got help that financed my journey out of Nigeria the following September. i did not have the room to return to Insider to inform Olaolu of the miracle I had. I did not forget about Olaolu. I followed the story of his journalistic successes in Nigeria as I went through years of education abroad and working at the same time. I thought that I would one day have a plan to reconnect with him for journalistic engagement.
Death has taken a good guy, an angel, in fact. He saw what was in my life based on my short meetings with him and experience at the Insider. He did not hide his feelings. He called me aside and said I needed to do something to save myself the embarrassment. He said the editor wished to employ me, but some powers were working to stop the editor. He was right, as I learned and confirmed later; a particular power in my family took $10,000, arranged for someone to go abroad with the money to influence my brother's American wife to withdraw a letter of consent she gave for me to represent her children in the management of my brother's estate. Would people who sponsored someone across the ocean to stop your family role be incapable of frustrating your efforts to be employed?
Instances such as this made John Donne write, "Death, Be Not Proud." I wore Donne's shoes when I lost my brother in 1986, and also following my mother's death in 2013. Now, here again, I find myself in Donne's shoes. If I cannot forget a guy like Charles Obi, the editor at Insider who offered me a job at a most precarious time in my life, how then can I forget Angel Olaolu Olusina? I was unaware of the evil my family members were capable of; Olaolu saw what I did not see. He was touched. I pray that God will look down from heaven to comfort Olaolu's children. Now for the power in my family, you knew what you did. My brother's wife in New York told me she received the $10,000 you sent her and the reason she withdrew the letter of consent for me to represent her children, and that the money was accompanied with a threat. Olaolu saved me from your foolish and deadly power play.
We were in Insider magazine's newsroom together with little or no interaction, save the time when we worked together on a story. He was a quiet fellow who bothered no one. But he knew about my frustration that management refused to give me an employment letter and that the editor used his office to ensure I was paid my traveling allowance. At the same time, while he, the editor, said he was working on my offer letter.
Then came the time for the initiation of the magazine's chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, at Insider. The editor, Charles Obi, assigned me the responsibility to write the ceremony's report. However, someone stepped forward and said I was not among the reporters to be initiated. My name was not listed. Olusina called me aside after the ceremony and said something was wrong that was officially questionable, confirming that some powerful forces sat upon my offer letter., the same people are making the editor's decision of no effect. He said if the editor had made me do the ceremony's report, why would anyone say I was not to be initiated as a member of the NUJ? He asked why I could not get a job with the Newswatch magazine, which my brother co-founded and worked as the chief executive and editor-in-chief before his death. My answer was that ongoing family issues prevented me from entertaining such an idea, which may have compelled him to suggest that the same family members could be responsible for my plight at Insider magazine.
"Giwa, can you go to a Church for prayers? The same forces that killed your brother are at work against you. If any power could stand between you and employment, such power could kill you if they had the means." "I have been churchy and don't think going to Church could be a solution to my problem," I responded. But Olaolu was resolute. He expected my approval. He looked up into my eyes without blinking an eye. I did now want him to feel I underrated him. I shruggingly gave his suggestion my approval. And he gave me the name of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries and the 'Prayer Rain' program along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway of the church and the location, written on a piece of paper. I took it and kept it in my folder. After a deep thought about my predicament, I went and attended the program. Shortly after, I became devoted to the Oshodi branch of the Church. He was glad that I listened to him with his usual wry smile when I told him the day that I believe I saw him last at Insider. I saw him clutch his backpack and went his way. Olaolu did his best for me, more than what money could buy.
I became busy in the Church, attending all the prayer programs, and temporarily stopped working, since the job offer letter was not forthcoming. Obi have me a job, and someone needed to sign his offer letter, who decided not to. Olaolu probably had wondered what had happened to me when he no longer sees me in the newsroom. He was unaware God answered my prayers within a short period. I joined the MFM, the church he advised me to go and pray in December, and I miraculously got help that financed my journey out of Nigeria the following September. i did not have the room to return to Insider to inform Olaolu of the miracle I had. I did not forget about Olaolu. I followed the story of his journalistic successes in Nigeria as I went through years of education abroad and working at the same time. I thought that I would one day have a plan to reconnect with him for journalistic engagement.
Death has taken a good guy, an angel, in fact. He saw what was in my life based on my short meetings with him and experience at the Insider. He did not hide his feelings. He called me aside and said I needed to do something to save myself the embarrassment. He said the editor wished to employ me, but some powers were working to stop the editor. He was right, as I learned and confirmed later; a particular power in my family took $10,000, arranged for someone to go abroad with the money to influence my brother's American wife to withdraw a letter of consent she gave for me to represent her children in the management of my brother's estate. Would people who sponsored someone across the ocean to stop your family role be incapable of frustrating your efforts to be employed?
Instances such as this made John Donne write, "Death, Be Not Proud." I wore Donne's shoes when I lost my brother in 1986, and also following my mother's death in 2013. Now, here again, I find myself in Donne's shoes. If I cannot forget a guy like Charles Obi, the editor at Insider who offered me a job at a most precarious time in my life, how then can I forget Angel Olaolu Olusina? I was unaware of the evil my family members were capable of; Olaolu saw what I did not see. He was touched. I pray that God will look down from heaven to comfort Olaolu's children. Now for the power in my family, you knew what you did. My brother's wife in New York told me she received the $10,000 you sent her and the reason she withdrew the letter of consent for me to represent her children, and that the money was accompanied with a threat. Olaolu saved me from your foolish and deadly power play.
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