There is a much longer story behind my relationship with Chief Nduka Obaigbena.
For almost two decades, I worked closely with him at a very high level. There is a field report I have been promising myself I will write about those years because, frankly, some of the things that happened during that period sound almost unbelievable when you recount them.
Through him, I had the privilege of interviewing four serving Presidents.
I travelled with him in his private jet.
He sent me on assignments to different parts of the world—some of which, at the time, I could not even understand what he was trying to achieve.
That was part of his unconventional way of developing people.
Looking back now, I can say that God used him to do something very significant in my own life: **he helped to banish fear and timidity from me.**
But that is another story.
For now, let me talk about the night.
## I NEVER FOUND HIM SLEEPING
During the years I worked closely with him as his Chief of Staff, I honestly cannot remember many occasions when I stayed late with him and found him sleeping.
He was almost always there.
Laptop open.
Phone beside him.
One screen leading to another.
One conversation leading to another.
One instruction followed by another.
There always seemed to be something happening.
But there was one particular experience that took my respect for the man to another level.
It happened about four or five years ago.
## “YOU ARE IN CHARGE”
One day, Chairman simply asked me to report at his Ikoyi office.
When I arrived, he gave me a terse instruction.
There was no long briefing.
No PowerPoint presentation.
No elaborate explanation.
He simply told me:
**“You are in charge of all the guests coming from different parts of the world for the ARISE Fashion Show.”**
Then he asked me to work with Fauzi, a remarkable lady who was part of the operation.
That was it.
Assignment received.
So I resumed at the international airport for the duration of the programme, receiving high-level guests arriving from different parts of the world and ensuring that they got to their assigned hotels.
It was a demanding assignment.
But there was something else happening behind the scenes.
Chairman was indisposed.
He had been admitted to hospital and was receiving treatment on a drip.
Anyone who knows Chief Obaigbena understands one thing about him:
**When he is organising an event that is dear to his heart, it is almost impossible to keep him away from it.**
And ARISE Fashion Week was certainly one of those events.
So, somehow, I learnt that the Chairman had left the hospital.
Apparently, he had somehow managed to get out with his drip concealed beneath his flowing Agbada.
I cannot independently verify exactly how he did it.
But knowing the man, I wasn’t surprised that he had found a way.
## 4 A.M. AT THE CONTINENTAL
One morning, at about **4:00 a.m.**, I went to meet him at his suite at the Continental Hotel.
I walked in and found one or two of the people working with him on the fashion show.
We assumed Chairman had finally gone to sleep.
After all, he had been ill.
He had been on a drip.
He had been running one of his biggest events.
Surely, this was the time to rest.
So we began talking among ourselves.
We were actually concerned about him.
At one point, someone said something along the lines of:
**“What is Chairman doing here sef? He should be sleeping.”**
We laughed and continued talking.
We had no idea that the man we were discussing was listening.
Then, suddenly, he stirred.
He looked up.
And said:
**“Who told you I am sleeping?”**
Silence.
Complete silence.
We were stunned.
But the real shock was still coming.
To prove that he had not been sleeping, Chairman repeated—almost verbatim—what I had said during the conversation.
Everything.
He had heard us.
He had apparently been lying there quietly, eyes closed, while his mind remained completely engaged with what was happening around him.
I don’t remember anyone having much to say after that.
Then he turned to the assignment he had given me.
And delivered his verdict.
**“Ayo, you messed up immediately, but you did very well ultimately.”**
That was Chairman.
No long speech.
No emotional drama.
Just the assessment.
We quietly left the room.
## THE MAN BEHIND THE NIGHT
That encounter changed something in the way I looked at him.
I had already known that he worked extraordinarily hard.
I had already seen the laptop.
I had seen the phones.
I had seen the constant movement.
I had seen the intensity with which he pursued his ideas.
But that morning at the Continental Hotel, I saw something else.
**The man was not merely awake.**
He was mentally present.
Even when his eyes appeared to be closed, he was listening.
Even when his body was supposed to be resting, his mind was apparently still processing the operation.
That, perhaps, is one of the most misunderstood things about extraordinary entrepreneurs.
People see the finished institution.
They see the television network.
They see the newspaper.
They see the events.
They see the international guests.
They see the glamour.
They see the red carpets.
They see ARISE.
They see THISDAY.
But behind every institution are thousands of hours that nobody sees.
Hours of planning.
Hours of thinking.
Hours of telephone calls.
Hours of reading.
Hours of negotiations.
Hours of watching.
Hours of making decisions.
And sometimes, hours when everybody else thinks the man is asleep.
## WHY THIS MATTERS
So when I put Chief Obaigbena alongside Col. Peter Obasa and Bishop David Oyedepo, I am not suggesting that the three men have identical routines.
They don’t.
Their journeys are completely different.
Their motivations are different.
Their fields are different.
But all three have taught me something about the **value of the hours that most people surrender without a second thought.**
For Col. Obasa, the midnight hours became a sanctuary of prayer and spiritual reflection. His night vigil began in the extraordinary circumstances of prison and eventually became a lifelong discipline.
For Bishop Oyedepo, the night became an extension of the working day—a period for meetings, planning, thinking and execution.
For Chief Obaigbena, the night appears to have been another part of the battlefield of ideas and execution.
And that is where my fascination with these three men begins.
Perhaps the lesson is not that successful people sleep less.
That would be too simplistic—and probably bad advice.
The lesson may be that **extraordinary people become extremely intentional about their time.**
They find hours for what matters to them.
They protect those hours.
They work when necessary.
They pray when necessary.
They think when necessary.
They read.
They plan.
They listen.
They execute.
And sometimes, when everybody else assumes they are sleeping…
**they are still at work.**
That morning at the Continental Hotel, I learnt one more thing about Chief Nduka Obaigbena.
Never assume that because Chairman’s eyes are closed, Chairman is sleeping.
There is much more to the story of how this man shaped my own journey.
There is also the story of how, through his unconventional coaching and mentoring, he gradually pushed me out of every corner of fear and timidity until I became a different kind of professional.
And there is the story of how I eventually became a permanent member of his inner circle.
That one will have to wait for the field report.
For now, I simply say this:
My respect for the Chairman remains profound.
