BACK PAGE ‘Captain: In The Storm Of Life’

 

‘CAPTAIN: IN THE STORM OF LIFE’ is a biography of ISRAEL ADEMOLA GBADEBO HAASTRUP, who the author, OLAKUNLE ABIMBOLA described as a living legend –a treaties into the history of the Haastrups, a ruling family in Ilesa, beginning with their great progenitor, Oba Frederick Adedeji Kumokun Haastrup, Owa Ajimoko I.

Ademola Haastrup could have been yet another Ijesa prince living on old glory like a faded coin. Or used this privileged connections to join the wheeler-dealers, gorging on easy money in Nigeria’s rent-driven economy that he chose neither is the story of his illustrious life.

Structured into three parts, Cradle, Career, and Charity/Religion, Captain x-rays the life odyssey of captain Haastrup, a man of immense means, yet humble mien; a shrewd businessman with interests in real estate, international shipping, aviation, hospitality and banking.

Captain Haastrup has bountifully reaped from the material and the spiritual, thanks to his industry in business; and total devotion to his Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) Christian faith. More importantly, he has lived a life without stain. To the younger generation, he is a study on how integrity is the real success story.

The Author, in the preface to the book had said that Captain Hastrup’s profile fitted the series concept of projecting genuine heroes and role models in this era when people of integrity are rare.

With the project afoot, the author said no one deserve bigger appreciation than Captain Hasstruup himself, as he sat through three long interviews and a couple of short ones to supply information, despite his busy and punishing schedule. To show how tight for time he was – and always is – one of the interview sessions held on Christmas Day, 2004, “when we talk almost for the whole day, in the captain’s magnificent country home at Alatise Village, Ilesa, Osun State”.

The biography is “a celebration of Captain Haastrup, a rare species among the tribe of the rich and the affluent. Still, enough care is taken to do some cold, serious analysis  of his life and times”.

About The Series

The biography is the second in the series of the Continental Gold Network Communications (CGNC) Modern Nigerian Leaders Series (MNLS) to celebrate Nigerians of high integrity, in an age waiting for the harsh pronouncement of history as the High Age of Turpitude. But even with this sweeping moral paralysis, many Nigerians have held up banners without stain. Though this tribe may seem few, they hold a profound lesson for the younger generation: you don’t have to be crooked to count among the successful. CAPTAIN: In the storm of life (2007) is the second in the MNLS. Chartered Teacher (2000) was the first.

About The Author

Olakunle Abimbola, author, columnist and public affairs analyst, is a journalist of many years standing. A Language Arts graduate of the University of Ibadan, Abimbola earned both PDG and MSc. in Mass Communication with stress on print journalism from University of Lagos. A career journalist, he is at present a visiting member of the Editorial Board of New Age and The Nation newspapers.

CAPTAIN: In the Storm of Life’ is Abimbola’s second  published biography. The first was Chartered Teacher: A Biography of Ganiyu Adio Akintola, which he co-authored with Bola S. Disu.