Two great Nigerians said goodbye to this plane of awareness recently, after leaving many indelible marks on the sands of time. First was Senator David Omueya Dafinone, OFR, who was born on March 12, 1927 and died on September 30, 2018.
An Urhobo icon, Senator Dafinone was often referred to as “a Jack of many trades and master of all” as he was a chartered accountant and politician who embraced every challenge that came his way and excelled in everything that he touched.
David Dafinone was actually an economist. He studied Economics in the university, but he was globally known as a Chartered Accountant and was one of the few lucky men who made it into the Guinness Book of Records as his family has the largest number of accountants in the world.
Dafinone attended Abeokuta Grammar School. He later worked in the colonial service of Northern Nigeria where he was at the Northern Secretariat in Kaduna. He worked in the Records and Registration Department. When his immediate superior was promoted, he was appointed administrative officer in an acting capacity at the Finance Department. There, he was charged with making treasury estimates of the funding needs of the native authorities in the Northern region.
He later left Nigeria for studies overseas. He studied Economics and bagged his first degree in Economics and equally passed his final papers as a chartered accountant. On returning to Nigeria he worked as a manager for Delloittes, Lagos from 1963 to 1966. In 1966, Dafinone founded D.O. Dafinone & Co (now Howarth Dafinone), a chartered accounting firm. From that position, he worked on various fact-finding committees during the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon.
For example, he was as an arbitrator for the government under the Ports Amendment Decree of 1969. His work paved the way for the acquisition and compensation of port facilities owned by United Africa Company (UAC) in Warri and Calabar. He was a member of another tribunal constituted to probe the Apapa road project.
Also in 1971, he was appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate the corrupt practices at Niger Pools, officially known as the
Nigerian Pools Company, a Federal Government-owned company. His report uncovered unethical practices in the organisation such as forging of winning coupons after results had been announced. His report led to the closing of the firm and the imprisonment of some employees.
Senator Dafinone was a member of the National Party of Nigeria in the Second Republic and was also a senator for Bendel South during the period. He was highly respected across the various political parties of that time. In 2003, the Federal Government conferred on Senator Dafinone Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic .
All through his working life and till his death, Senator Dafinone lived an aristocratic life in consonance with the meaning of his name “Dafinone” which means “today’s wealthy man.” He lived a diligent and dignified life and carried himself as an aristocrat.
Mr. Allison Ayida is also dead, a former super permanent secretary and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation during the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo. He was born in 1930 and was said to have died at St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos in the afternoon of Thursday, October 11, 2018 at the age of 88 years.
Not much is known by Nigerians about this exemplary retired civil servant because of his quiet disposition. In fact, the entire super permanent secretaries of that time such as Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Chief P. C. Asiodu and Mr. Allison Ayida were known to be technocrats of quiet disposition but very effective in their work as public servants. In fact, the super permanent secretaries were the silent hands that crafted most of the policies and programmes of the military administrations of that time.
They were also the silent voices behind the military programmes and policies of the time. Corruption was not rife in the system as it is today. Most of the permanent secretaries of that time had the privilege of working with the white men in the colonial administration and were not exposed to corruption. Besides, there was fear of God at that time.
