Trials to Triumph: Dr. AbdulHakeem Oyeniyi Bello Shares His Inspiring Story of Overcoming Adversity

Trials to Triumph: Dr. AbdulHakeem Oyeniyi Bello Shares His Inspiring Story of Overcoming Adversity
JOEL OLADELE, Abuja

In a recent interview with National Periscope, Real Estate Mogul and Philanthropist, Alhaji Dr. AbdulHakeem Oyeniyi Bello, recounted various challenges he faced on his journey to success marking his 50th birthday anniversary.
Dr. Bello emphasized that life is fraught with difficulties, particularly moments surrounding accommodation while living in Abuja, and a distressing phase involving investigations from the police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) due to a petition against him.

During his accommodation struggles, he was left without a stable home and was even ejected from a relative’s place.
In a time of need, he contacted Mama Alhaja Raliat AbdulRazak, a compassionate figure in his life, who provided him with lodging in her home. Her support helped him regain his footing and restart his entrepreneurship, beginning with selling kerosene in Gwarinpa, despite facing more challenges as he rented illegally from security personnel.

The full story as narrated by Dr. Bello on the occasion of his golden jubilee:
“Life is not a bed of roses. There have been a number of challenges, too numerous to count but the ones that were really trying time for me were the ones that had to do with accommodation or my continued stay in Abuja. And again at a particular time when my business had advanced, I had some issues of investigation, police, EFCC, court, here and there, basically on just one matter. But the petitioners went all out after me. Those were the two most memorable trying moments that I had.

“When I was faced with that accommodation, I had concluded I was going to leave Abuja because I was living with a relative and for some reasons I was tactically ejected. So when I left, I was squatting with a friend somewhere around Area 11. And one day that one just called me too and gave me a 2-week ultimatum that by so so date you need to leave. I thought it was a joke, so I tried to beg him, I asked his wife to beg him, I asked his mom to beg him. I even wanted to know what my offence was but the guy refused to talk. The only thing he said was that I should just leave his house.

“So while I was running helter skelter to look for the next thing to do. I came to the conclusion that there was no way I could stay in Abuja again because I had nowhere to stay. But there is this mama that whenever I remember her, I see her like a mother in Israel. She’s a mother to a lot of people. And I was always visiting her before this encounter.

“So that time that I was in this predicament, I didn’t have any stable mind so I didn’t even remember to call her. Until when it was a day to the ultimatum I set for myself to leave Abuja. So I just called her, and I said, mama, I will be traveling tomorrow. She said to where? I said, I’m going back to Ilorin. she asked, why? I said, I have an accommodation problem. I’ve applied for jobs here and there, none have come through. So when I get a job, that job will at least come with accommodation or give me enough money to rent a place. So when I have a job, I’ll come back.

“She said, when do you say you want to go? I said, I want to go tomorrow. She said, okay, don’t go tomorrow. See me tomorrow, you can go the day after. I said, okay. As God would have it, tomorrow came but the day after that I was supposed to leave Abuja, never came.

“So when I got to her, mama said, you said you are leaving tomorrow. I actually wanted to give you something to add to whatever transport money you have with you. But before that, in this house, there are two rooms, boys quarters. One of the rooms is occupied by one guy who was PA to her daughter who was a senator representing FCT at that time. Senator Khairat AbdulRasaq Guadade. But that PA had a fiancee. So there was no way she could peer me with that one because where would I be when the fiancee comes?

“For the second room, the driver and the gardener were sharing that one. So she asked me if I would not mind going and joining them. I was more than happy to go and join the driver and gardener in their room. Mama dignified me by giving me a brand new mattress and a bedspread. So that was how I was able to remain in Abuja. Otherwise I would have left. Mama Alhaja Raliat AbdulRazak. She earns my respect forever. I’m eternally indebted to her.

“That was where I was living before I got my footings back. So from there, I started my entrepreneurship. Because before I got to Abuja, I was a vibrant entrepreneur. So everything went down before I came but I knew I was going to pick it up. So while I was living with my mama, I started selling kerosene. However, when I was selling kerosene in Gwarinpa, it became difficult for me to come from Asokoro, Mama lives inside the Villa complex. So I had to go and get an accommodation in Gwarinpa.

“I was like an illegal occupant in that house too, because it was rented from the security man, not from the owner. You know those illegal occupants, you know? Subletting. So from there I started selling kerosene. When I was with my mom, I met a friend, who is still a friend and business partner, and that is Architect Adebisi AbdulWasiu. I met him on the day of the naming ceremony of his son, Afolabi AbdulAzim Adebisi and since then we’ve connected.

“He would always look for me anywhere I am, anywhere I was. He would come to my mama’s house, he would park outside, because he was a big boy, he can’t be coming to sit down with me in the boys quarters, and I can’t take him to my mama’s main house, so he would park outside. He was driving Carina E at that time. So we stay outside the gate, we would just talk, he would ask me if there was anything I needed.

“So there was this day he asked me, what can I do for you now? I told him, there is a nephew of mine, who said he was going to send the car to me, but I would need money to do the clearing and things, and I said, how much, I said about N50,000. So, but I said, I’m even afraid I don’t want to take the car, because I don’t have any money to maintain the car. He said, take it first. So he gave me N50,000.

“But that my nephew disappointed me. He didn’t send the car. So the N50,000 was with me, then I went to Gwarinpa one day, I saw a woman who was trading in kerosene, who wanted to sell her tank. I priced the tank, she said she was going to sell the N50,000. So I used that N50,000 to buy the tank.

“And together with my nephew, Hamed Badmus, I went to buy 50-liter kegs, 20-liter kegs, four-liter gallons, and things like that. Every accessory that I need to be selling retail kerosene. So I started with 50-liter. I was selling. And it grew up, it’s a long story.

“So that was how I moved into selling kerosene. But the day I would start lifting the tanker myself, there is this friend of mine who is still a very good friend till date. He’s a senior one, but he doesn’t treat me as his junior. He treats me as his friend. He treats me as his brother. We were together in NASFAT. And every time I was broke, now I would think of what to eat next. He would be the first person I think of. And once I just called him, he would tell me his location. I would locate him and he would always have $100 to give me. He would give me $100. I would go and change. $100 was from N9,000 to N10,200 to N11,000, N11,800 like that back then. He would give me. So his name is Alhaji Lekan Busari. Himself and Alhaji AbdulWasiu Adebisi, I’m eternally indebted to them. Because up till now, they still didn’t leave me. We’re still together.

“So the day I was supposed to go and take my first consummate of kerosene, I got a loan from one engineer, Muritala Jimoh, who was the then General Manager of Arcatel. A loan of N180,000. And I gave him a schedule of repayment. He said I should just go and bring any schedule that is convenient for me. So after a three month moratorium, then I would start paying the money, I think, N30,000 a month for the next six months. He said, Ok. So the fourth month, which would be the first month after the moratorium, I went to him with N30,000, he said, I should keep it. When the money completes, I should bring the entire N180,000. So I was saving the N30,000.

“At the end of the sixth month after the moratorium, nine months into the loan, I took the N180,000 to Engr. Muritala Jimoh. That was the day he told me that he didn’t lend me the money. He just wanted me to use it judiciously. I thank God that that money he gave to me that day is so blessed to have metamorphosed into what it is today. Engr. Muritala Jimoh, I pray God rewards you, in this world and hereafter. I’m eternally grateful.

“So the day I was supposed to go and take that consignment of 5,000 liters, there was a slight increment in the price of kerosene. So the N180,000 was no longer inclusive of transport. So there would be a problem. The truck was already on the way. So I ran to my rescue point, my ATM. That was Alhaji Lekan Busari. He was leaving then in Zone 3. So I went to his house in Zone 3 that morning, and he gave me $200 and I needed just N18,000. So the $200 was more than enough. Because the $200 as at that day was almost N24,000. So I was able to pay for this transport. And that was how the business started.

“And that my first consignment was so blessed. I made a lot of money from it. So from there, somebody now approached me. And that’s the place where I was selling kerosene, which was at the front of War College Estate in Gwarinpa, by that junction of the cemetery. So somebody approached me that he has one LPO from NITEL to supply diesel. I was ready to do it. But somebody advised me that you don’t know this person. If they pay money to him after the contract, and he refuses to pay you your money, what will you do? And I was working with a bank draft at that time. A bank draft that was facilitated for me by Alhaji Wasiu Adebisi. You can see that it’s the same name that I’ve been revolving around. Wasiu Adebisi, Lekan Busari, Mama. So I said I would not do it.

“I went back to Engr. Muritala Jimoh. The same name. The man that gave me the N180,000. I went to him and I told him, please introduce me to NITEL because Arcatel was servicing NITEL at that time. So he took me to one Engineer. Alibaba, in NITEL, who was the Technical Adviser to the CTO, the Chief Technical Officer of NITEL at that time, like a senior technical assistant to the chief technical officer of NITEL. NITEL had a CEO and a CTO at that time. You know, during that reform, that El-Rufai did when he was in BPE. So Alibaba took me to the CTO.

“The man looked at me and said, you have the capacity to supply this? I said, yes. The way the man was looking at me, I knew what was going on in his mind. I quickly interjected. I said, yes, but I’m not the owner of the company. I’m the manager of the company. The owner of the company is a senator. He has a tank farm. He has this, he has that. He has the capacity, the man calm down.

“He said, OK, they should now give me application form and they should register the company. So they registered me. And as luck would have it, three days later, a supplier disappointed them at the Benin exchange. They were to shut down Benin exchange, which was going to affect not only Benin but Sapele, Warri and all of those things. And even up to Asaba. So they needed immediate intervention. Alibaba called me. Lo and behold, they gave me that supply of three trucks, my first three trucks, to that Benin exchange.

“Yes, another name that will come in now is Rasaq Aboyeji. Because at the beginning of my NITEL journey, it was both Rasaq Aboyeji and Architect AbdulWasiu Adebisi that were financing my LPOs. Later on, it became only me and Alhaji AbdulWasiu Adebisi. But I started the journey of NITEL supply with Alhaji Rasaq Aboyeji. We’re still very good friends till date. So that was how I continued with NITEL. From there, together with Alhaji AbdulWasiu Adebisi, I ventured into FERMA contracts. The contracts that were given to politicians that were not ready to go to site, we would buy.

“Asaba, Umunide, Okisakpoba, Ekoma, Benin, Ekpoma, not Ekoma now. Ekoma is in Delta, Ekpoma is in Edo. So we’ll go to all of those places, we’ll do FERMA contracts. They all came with their challenges, because it was the loan I took from WEMA sake that first took me to court. But that’s in the past, so they came with their challenges and I want to also use this moment to appreciate people like the Chairman of the Council of Elders of NASFAT, Baba Atoyebi.

“Baba Atoyebi was of tremendous assistance. He used to have a cold room somewhere around the Nyanya, where I would always go to meet him. He also had a fish pond around that place too. The fish pond and the cold room were there together. Baba Atoyebi fortified me with a lot of wise counsels. Wise counsels that I would never forget. And he was very supportive too. I remember when I was going to my first Hajj, Baba gave me N40,000 and that was the money that sustained me throughout that journey.

“The money I used for my first Hajj was given to me by Razaq Aboyeji. He did not give me the money for Hajj. I was owing someone, and he gave me an assignment where I would get information to complete the assignment. The person I was owing has gone to report me. So I can’t go to get that information. The money I was owing was N220,000. When Alhaji Rasaq Aboyeji was pestering me for the information he requested me to get for him, I opened up to him. I can’t go to that place. I’m owing somebody N220,000. That person has gone to report me. He said, why wouldn’t you tell me something like this? If I have issues, I tell you, you do everything, you can leave your family to go and solve my own problem. Why do you have a problem and you cannot tell me? I said, well, I didn’t want to bother you. He said, okay, I should come the following day. When I went to see him the following day, he gave me N500,000.

“After paying the N220,000, I had enough money to pay for Hajj. Hajj was like N180,000 or thereabout. So I paid for Hajj. I had enough money to send to my mum. I was married at the time my wife was in Ilorin. I sent money to her. I kept something for myself and I proceeded on that Hajj.

“Razaq Aboyeji is in the US, he visits, he stays more in the US now than in Nigeria because he’s retired. Retired in the bank. My prayers are always with him and I pray God rewards him and gives him comfort wherever he is. So these are some of the stories that are to me challenges and how I have overcome them.

“I’ve also been ejected from an office. I had an office. I was managing around Zone 5. Then me and a friend connected and we became very well bonded and he personally invited me to join him and be using his office and we were very close. Since then I have not had any friend that I allow such involvement because when his own came, it was like a thunderstorm.

“I didn’t know I was going to survive it. While I was doing these FERMA contracts, you know I said they came with their own challenges. On a particular Sunday, that happened to be my birthday. Myself, Architect AbdulWasiu Adebisi and this friend that we were sharing office together, were together in my house in Garki, on Ozubulu Crescent. Where I was renting a flat at that time. Then, Alhaji Wasiu said, what is happening to your job now? He’s getting too delayed. I said, yes, it’s money. He said, okay, you have done the earth work. If you do not go to cover this earth work, rain will spoil it. I said, I don’t have money. He now asked, like how much do you need? I said, about N900,000 to 1 Million to go and do the job. He said, okay, no problem. Don’t forget I said this was Sunday. He said, by Wednesday, he will get one million for me. I should go back to that site, and go and put a tar coat on the earth work.

“This other friend that I’m talking about was there, and he interjected and said, ah, don’t wait till Wednesday. That he collected a sum of one million Naira on Friday, and he doesn’t have any need for it now. That he will give me the one million Naira, so I shouldn’t wait. I should just go to Asaba. First thing Monday morning, he will go to bank and send the money to me.

“He had to go to his bank, Access bank, behind that total filling station, in the Central Area, the Total Filling Station opposite NNPC, that was his branch. He withdrew the one million Naira, and went to pay to my Equatorial Trust Bank account, after Wuse market. Equatorial Trust Bank metamorphosed to Sterling Bank. So he went to Equatorial Trust Bank, and deposited the money into my account. I used it and came back.

“This my friend, we would be together morning, afternoon, evening. We would have breakfast, lunch together most times, sometimes dinner together. If he travels, I will not be able to eat anything. I won’t be able to do anything until he lands. I was that involved. I was handling a job at Hilton, their lawn tennis court. I was doing the galvanized fencing wire. He came there in the morning, he saw me. Then he went back to the office and called me when he got to the office and said, I should come to the office.

“When I got to the office, I met two of his relatives. Immediately I entered. One of them said, is this Hakeem? I said yes, they said you are worse than the devil. I was like me, worse than the devil? What did I do? They said , start packing your things now and leave this office. We don’t want to have anything to do with you. Blah, blah, blah. They started laying courses. I said, what happened? I even thought that maybe there was a family feud and they wanted to take the business from him, because the business was his dad’s. Well, because he’s a professional like his dad, so I thought that was why he was running it.

“I wasn’t even looking at all the harassment they were doing to me. My concern was about him. I hope this guy is fine. I said, okay, let me leave. I will come back. I will take my things. They said, no, no, no, no, no. I must take all my things now. They started pointing at everything that belongs to me in that office. Before I said Jack Robinson, they packed everything and threw them out. I walked away. I didn’t even pack anything. My concern was this guy.

“I started calling him when I left that place. Everything they threw out was not even my concern. My table, my chair, everything I had in the office, my shelf. The security man in that plaza was the one who put those things together. I left without picking anything, my concern was just this guy. My wife then said, why are you bothering yourself? What if this guy is even involved in… I said, no, no, no, no. It’s not possible. It’s not possible. It can’t be.

“So in the evening, I called him. After several trials, he picked my call. I said, oh, thank God. Are you OK? He said, yes, he’s fine. I said, what happened? He said. Your conscience should answer you. I said, what? My conscience. He said, yes, my conscience, I said. My conscience, I said, Kai. So you are part of this? I leave you to God.

“I called his Dad who pretended to take me like a child? This man, we were very, very close. And the man said in Yoruba, ‘Igbami aye a wa, ko ni soro. Igbami, oro a wa, ko ni s’aye. L’eni, oro n be sugbon ko s’aye. (At times, there will be time but there won’t be any issue ti discuss and some other time, there will be issues to discuss but there won’t be time. Today, there is a serious issue to discuss but no time. I said, ‘o ye ki e wa aye yen ni. Kii se iru oro yi ni e maa ni ko si aye sugbon Olorun a ba wa da si (This is not one of those issues you shouldn’t find time to discuss. you need to find time. However, I leave everything to God’s intervention).
That was how I left the father and the son. I didn’t even go after all the things they threw out.

“Now, you know, I started from the story of the day of my birthday. I was talking about the money I needed. Do you know what I heard later? They said I used you juju (charm), to collect the money.

“The question is, I didn’t even know he had money. I didn’t ask him for money. My other friend offered to give me money on Wednesday. That was on a Sunday, He said he collected money on Friday, and he didn’t have a need for it. So he went to his Access Bank, withdrew the money because there were no transfers at that time. He withdrew cash of one million Naira from Access Bank in the Central Area. He took it to Wuse 2 to go and deposit in my account. That was the money they said I used juju to collect that made them treat me this way. But I give thanks to God because the relative that came to do this was his uncle and I think his aunt. I’ve not heard anything from the aunt, but the uncle traced me even to Saudi Arabia. The man apologized years later.

“He apologized, he begged me. The man was on his knees in my room in Saudi Arabia during one Hajj. I think it was the 2012 Hajj that this man came and saw me. He begged me, he said he was misled. They lied to him, he added that those people are bad. The father and the son, that they are very bad.

“I don’t have any business with them. If I have to count one, two, three, four, five, the number of times I’ve suffered ejections for no reason. It should be about five or six times. The only one of them that had not come in person to later apologize to me is this one I’m talking about. Every other one. In fact, some of them today are living in my houses. It’s either one is living in my house or I have to do with the way one is living or I have to support one way or the other. And this one that didn’t come, I’m happy that his uncle came to apologize to me.
I’m still telling God that if this matter is not resolved here in this world, on the Day of Resurrection, I pray that God doesn’t forget it. I want him to say to my face what I did. Because that thing almost killed me. Not because of the ejection, but because of where it was coming from. And the fact that everything on my mind was this guy’s welfare but we thank God, that was a phase, this is another phase.”

Speaking on when he ventured into Real Estate Business, Dr. Bello said;
“I told you, my first debut into engineering work was FERMA. This guy that just walked in now, the GM. AbdulAfeez AbulAzees was working with a friend named Muhammad Aliu. Muhammad Aliu was with El-Rufai when El-Rufai was in BPA. And when El-Rufai became minister of FCT, Muhammad Aliu was still with him.

“After I had started FERMA jobs, I met Muhammad Aliu one day at the National Mosque. He asked what I was doing. I told him I’m a FERMA contractor now. He said, oh, good. So you do engineering work. I said, yes. He said, okay, be on the alert. He was the Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of FCT then, El-Rufai, on public-private partnership. He said his office was going to advertise for developers to apply for land within FCT, that I should apply.

“The advert came, I did my application, submitted it to them, this GM was with them at that time. You can see the story. I mentioned Alhaji Lekan Busari, And I said we are still together. I mentioned Alhaji Wasiu, I said we are still together. I started with my nephew, Ahmed. We are still together. So this is GM. You asked me the story of my real estate. It all started with him. And we are still together. And this story I’m telling you that involved him was 2005.

“My first real estate land was allocated in 2007. And that’s the Peace Court Estate. So that application went through. In fact, Muhammad Aliu told me then, he said just make sure you apply and make sure you have every document that is asked for in that advertorial. Once you meet the requirements, you don’t need to know the minister.

“Now, if you do not meet the requirements, even me, I cannot help. Malam would not accept, but once you meet the requirements, I can assure you that you have an allocation and that was it. And that was how I got my first estate allocation..

“The allocation was in 2005, we started in 2007, by 2008, we had already moved to the Prime Estate. Sunshine was the next one, 2009. Then La Villa came. Then the Prime Estate had an issue. They redesigned the district. So they stopped our work from 2008 until around 2010, before we went back to the site, like that.”

Regardless of the challenges faced, Dr. Bello has learned to navigate through life’s storms with a guiding principle of “pessimistic optimism,” preparing himself for challenges while striving for success.

“Take care of the ones that you have the capacity to, and that is what you do. You don’t have power over what other people do to you, but you have power over what you do to other people, and always be sure that you do the right thing to other people.

“See, the simple, oldest and the most potent secret of this world is that whatever you give, you get. Just be kind, kindness will look for you. And again, don’t worry over any spilled milk. Move on, move on. I have this guiding principle, I call it pessimistic optimism. Yes, it is optimism, but it’s loaded with a lot of pessimism, and what that does to me is when I’m doing anything, while I’m hoping for the best, I’m always prepared for the worst.

“So, because I’m hoping for the best, I give it my all. I do everything I can, because I’m hoping for the best, but because I’m prepared for the worst, I don’t ever get desperate over anything, and I always have a provision for managing failure.

“When I’m doing something and it fails, that failure, I already have a provision for it, so I just plug in that formula, and it will now look like that thing even didn’t happen, because I just moved on. I may have some bruises to nurse, but it’s not going to adversely and fundamentally demoralise me. I will still be able to move on. So, that is how I’ve always managed it,” he concluded.