Afolabi Dahunsi , a deaf advocate, speaks on his activities as founder and president of Deaf Supporters Group (DSG), clocking 50 and his recent appointment as Special Adviser by Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola. He spoke to Gboyega Alaka through his interpreter.
Afolabi Dahunsi stands tall today as a champion of deaf people in Nigeria. Of course he is also deaf. He’s been deaf since age five, after a major illness robbed him of his hearing capacity. But rather than disappear into the rank of other deaf or people with hearing impairment, who’ll just take whatever comes their way or live life accepting just about anything the world would concede to them, Dahunsi chose a long time ago to stand up to his right, take his best shots at life’s opportunities as they come and make the best for himself in a world that is harsh enough even for the hearing.
Such is his spirit that in 1986 and at just 22 years of age, Dahunsi broke free from a paid employment in Lagos, to register his company, Dahunsi Enterprises and delve into the world of import and export, dealing in clocks, stoves and the likes. In no time, he’d established his capability despite his disability, and soon earned more trust and confidence in the wider business circles. Soon after, became a contractor with First Bank and his restless nature soon drove him to meeting with the likes of the Late MKO Abiola, late Alao Arisekola and Umaru Shinkafi, whom he proudly announced, “became my friends.”
Lest he forgot, Dahunsi frantically tapped his interpreter to inform our team of how he also worked with the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, during the second republic, adding that the day he died remains one of his saddest. His experience with Chief Awolowo, inculcated in him an interest in politics that he says has refused to go away, such that he is today recognised in mainstream political circles in Lagos and around Western Nigeria geopolitical zone, as a voice and a rallying point for the deaf and other people living with hearing impairment. His Deaf Supporters Group, which he founded to seek development assistance and training in various skills and vocations as well as co-ordinate and harness the interest and aspirations of all people living with hearing impairment is also at the fore-front of advocacy and politics, well recognised, well-regarded and well respected. And his activism has not gone unnoticed, as he was recently named Special Assistant to Osun State Governor, by the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola himself.
To underline his involvement in progressive politics, Dahunsi clocked 50 in April this year, but said he differed the celebration “because it fell into the thick of Governor Aregbesola’s re-election campaign.” He recalled that his relationship with Ogbeni Aregbesola dates back to his days in Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s administration in Lagos. “I and my Group members have the good fortune of having close political relationship with him since his time as DG of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Campaign office at Sunday Adigun Street. Ikeja. We have kept our relationship going through those years till today. We were active participants in all political campaigns and meetings and his Excellency is one of those APC candidates that we actively campaigned for and supported at all occasions.”
Dahunsi also revealed that his group has always been politically active in Progressive parties, citing how they started since the days of the now defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), MKO Abiola and the Hope 93 campaign. Thereafter, they shifted allegiance to the Action Congress (AC) and now the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was therefore no surprise that when he finally decided to belatedly celebrate his golden jubilee last week at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, a part of the city literally stood still, even if it was for a few hours. Members of the Deaf Supporters Group, were also there in large number to make the event somewhat of a carnival. So also was a cross section of the larger society, who deemed it imperative to honour a man well deserved of honour.
Says Okikiade Adeyemi, his long-term friend and partner in the advocacy on the occasion of his birthday, “Dahunsi is an icon of deaf people aspirations. With him, you have to take deaf people affairs seriously and with dispatch, otherwise our ‘Icon’ will give you the treatment that will be a lesson to you and others of your disposition.”
Indeed Dahunsi’s philosophy is that “if you give respect to hearing people and treat them courteously, why can’t you do the same to the deaf person?”
Commenting on life at 50, Dahunsi said “it is a landmark worth celebrating,” adding that “the secret of my life is trust in God, confidence in my abilities and readiness to learn new things.” He spoke of his unending interest at improving in knowledge and a huge faith in other people with whom he interacts on a daily basis.
He also revealed his strong conviction that every problem has a solution; his unwillingness to ever take no for an answer, which have culminated in his lion-heart and readiness at all times to help others get things done. Most importantly, Dahunsi says being recognised among his peers is a great motivation for him, adding that this is mainly due to the grace of God and partly because of his diligence in whatever he embarks on.
In his words, “being a hearing-impaired is not the end of one’s life. I strongly believe that there is ability in every disability. And since no condition is permanent, I believe that there is a better tomorrow. I just have to be steadfast and focused on my life.”
Indeed the better tomorrow might just have come knocking, as Dahunsi prepares to take the oath of office as Special Adviser in Ogbeni Aregbesola’s cabinet. Without hesitation, Dahunsi says his appointment as special assistant to the governor is an opportunity, saying “I’m ready to serve my people and country by discharging my duties satisfactorily. It is a call to more and higher services to both my disabled people community as well as the general society/public.”
He also said the appointment will avail him the opportunity to further “prove that there is ability in my disability. Yes I can and will perform creditably as SA to his Excellency by the grace of God.”
A pacesetter, Dahunsi formed the Organisation of Deaf Businessmen & Women in Nigeria (ODBMWIN) to further the interest of his kinds in the business world in 1988. He recalls that his venture into forming the NGO gravely affected his savings, owing to various expenses incurred organising meetings and programmes, but he never relented until it became officially registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. He revealed that it was the ODBMWIN, which has now grown bigger, that gave birth to the Deaf Supporters Group (DSG). His qualities and doggedness at leading and pursuing the group’s interest has also ensured that he’s been returned as president in every election the organisation has conducted. The Deaf Supporters Group at the moment has its office on Kakawa Street (old Daily Times office), well equipped with state of the art IT equipment, with which it trains members of the group, produce bulletins and carry out its various advocacy campaigns. The organisation especially has a white American lady, Erica to thank for the equipment.
Born on April 7 1964 in Igbaja, Kwara State, Afolabi Dahunsi’s health problem that resulted in his deafness ensured he never tasted primary school education until he was eleven (1975). He recalls his parents’ efforts at ensuring that he got his hearing ability back, as they took him all over the medical facilities in and outside Kwara State, to no avail. Of course, he was inevitably condemned to a school for the deaf. After primary school, he had a taste of secondary school education before migrating to Lagos to learn business. He got his first paid employment opportunity in 1985, at Mam Nigeria Limited, where he worked as a clerk. He quit in 1986 to venture into the business world, from where he navigated his way into advocacy and activism.
Dahunsi is married to Bosede, who also suffers from hearing impairment, but proudly announced that “our children are normal hearing persons. They have learnt to communicate with us in sign language and now serve as interpreters whenever we have to communicate with our hearing neighbours and friends.”
