He believes that with strong willpower, there is nothing you cannot achieve. He suffered while growing up because his parents died early, but that did not stop him from attaining the educational level he desired.

Having been in politics since 1954,he contested and won an election into the senate in 1983 and later won an election to become the Chairman of the then Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the old Oyo State. Today, at 76, he plays an active part in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, especially in Ile-Ife.  A chartered accountant of repute, he was the Chief Accountant at Rank Xerox before going into private practice, in April 1980. In 1999, he was appointed the Nigerian Ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China; a position he occupied effectively till 2003. The Otun Balogun of Ife, Ambassador Gunju Adesakin reveals his formative years:

Early years
I was born some years ago, specifically on the 25th of June 1934. so, I did my primary school in Ife and I trained to be a Chartered Accountant in England. I worked briefly with the United African Company (UAC) of Nigeria for six years before I worked as Chief Accountant at Rank Xerox Nieria Limited. I finally decided to be on my own and was in private practice when I was appointed as Nigerian Ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China. I was there until 2003 and I am now more involved in politics as one of the patrons of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ile-Ife.

He believes that with strong willpower, there is nothing you cannot achieve. He suffered while grow
ing up because his parents died early, but that did not stop him from attaining the educational level he desired.

Having been in politics since 1954,he contested and won an election into the senate in 1983 and later won an election to become the Chairman of the then Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the old Oyo State. Today, at 76, he plays an active part in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, especially in Ile-Ife.  A chartered accountant of repute, he was the Chief Accountant at Rank Xerox before going into private practice, in April 1980. In 1999, he was appointed the Nigerian Ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China; a position he occupied effectively till 2003. The Otun Balogun of Ife, Ambassador Gunju Adesakin reveals his formative years:

Early years
I was born some years ago, specifically on the 25th of June 1934. so, I did my primary school in Ife and I trained to be a Chartered Accountant in England. I worked briefly with the United African Company (UAC) of Nigeria for six years before I worked as Chief Accountant at Rank Xerox Nieria Limited. I finally decided to be on my own and was in private practice when I was appointed as Nigerian Ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China. I was there until 2003 and I am now more involved in politics as one of the patrons of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ile-Ife.

Parents
When you ask about the parents of somebody who is 76, you are giving him a task. I did not know my mother because she died when I was four years old, while my father died when I was 18. So, I would say I have been  self-reliant since my younger days, because there was no parental care as such.That is why today, I do not believe that people cannot get to any level of education; as long as you have the willpower to proceed ahead, there would always be some level of achievement. I have always believed in hardwork; I have always believed that failure has no meaning in my own dictionary; I do not believe you can fail in anything, as long as you have the determination to forge ahead, despite falling and all other odds. I went to the Grade 11 teacher training college between 1955 and 1958, and by January 1959, I had already passed the GCE. I did not know much of Mathematics then and  I had to employ somebody to teach me Mathematics in order to make it. I was very good in Finance, so I decided to read Accountancy. At that stage, there was nothing, but I did not allow that to become a barrier to my ambition. I knew that if there is a will, there is a way. I was determined to pursue that goal. I remember meeting one of my teachers in London and he asked me, 'what course are you doing?' and I told him, 'Accountancy,' He said he was not surprised because in those days, 'you were very good in accountancy.' He too was at that time doing Accountancy. It is never too late to make an achievement; imagine my teacher being in the same school with me, reading the same course; even myself, I never allow anything to deter me from doing something good. What we lost when we were young, we regained at the top. Some of my classmates then came from very popular schools like Igbobi College, some from Ado-Ekiti, some from Shagamu, but, thank God, I was able to become somebody in this country, despite all my travails.

Father’s death
Naturally, when somebody was just getting out of primary school to go to Secondary School, in November 1952, and the father died, that would be a great blow. Father's death destabilised me and he put me into so many situations I did not expect in life. However, I was lucky that I got scholarships here. But, there was one particular incident I would never forget. When I was halfway in the secondary school, there was a particular scholarship I was supposed to get that was given to another person because I was a supporter of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and it was Chief Ladoke Akintola that was then in charge of the Western Region. However, the Federal Government later gave me another scholarship with which I finished my course.

Lessons from parents
On Saturdays, my father would ask me to go and fetch firewoods on Ibadan Road; I would have to cut them into pieces and put them in front of our house for sale.  Anytime we wanted to use firewood for anything, father would give me money to buy it from myself. I did not know the intricacies of life he was teaching me then but, I later realised that I should not expect to get anything on a platter of gold. It also taught me to be prudent, hardworking and to always be prepared to surmount any problem; not to allow any obstacle to stop me from anything I want to do; to always have the will to forge ahead in life, and those were lessons I can never forget. Just two years ago, I was denied the opportunity to read Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife due to age constraint, but I am very grateful to my father for giving me early education on how to face and overcome life's challenges. Also, because of what I learnt from my parents, I am one of those who will never lie,or pretend to be good when things are not palatable. I say things the way it occurs to me and not to say it to please anybody. Frankly, I tell people what I feel about any situation without lying.

The teacher's slap
I was naturally brilliant,so no teacher ever beat me for not doing my homework or not doing well in class. But,a teacher once slapped me because I tried to tell one of my colleagues the answer to a question posed to him by our Mathematics teacher. The teacher saw me doing that, he came straight to me and slapped me; that did not end there though, because I retaliated, which I knew was very bad. However, I cannot remember my father beating me, beacuse he used to talk to me in his own way, which was very effective..

You have to be the head
I started my education at a missionary school but I was taken from that school to another due to the fact that the school authority asked me to provide the receipt of the money paid by my mother, instead of my father. That made father so angry that he immediately withdrew me from that school and took me to another school. In the other school, during the Empire Day, I was the drummer of the school's band, to which peole danced; to my surprise, when I got home, father told me that I was not supposed to be beating the drum for people to dance, but that it should be the other way round, that the people should beat the drum for me to dance. He  took me to another school, S.S. Peter and Paul, where I passed out finally , and that is why I do not have very close childhood friends; I changed school a lot and I learnt from it that I always have to strive to be the head.

First day in school
It was nothing spectacular. It was in 1945 and the army was winding up because it was the end of the 2nd World War. There was a school in front of my father’s house and my father used to see the way teachers beat the pupils. He was not happy with that and that was why I started school a little bit late. However, my first day in school was a blissful one for me because I was happy to be in school at last.

First time out of Nigeria
I went to England and it was like going to another world entirely, which was quite different from where I was coming from. My amazement started right from the port because I travelled to England by sea. We first stopped at Liverpool and I saw newspapers and discovered that almost all of them were full of vacancies, I was surprised. The first thing that surprised me when we landed in England was that my friend, who was already in England, came to meet me at the port and we boarded an underground train. Another thing was the gas cooker my friend used to prepare Amala and Okro soup for me within a couple of minutes; and this my friend was very lazy when he was in Nigeria, so I was amazed. Also, I felt cold and he quickly switched on the heater and everywhere became warm. I did not intend to work in England but the scholarship given to me was withdrawn because of my political activities back home so, I had to work for a year before proceeding to the main aim of coming to England, for further studies.

If not accountancy...
I was very brilliant during my school days, especially in anything that involved figures and I said within myself that anytime I had the opportunity to proceed on my education, I would prefer to do anything that had to do with figures, like Engineering. But, I could not do that because my scholarship was withdrawn.

Role model in profession
Well, they are many but the closest one that I can mention now is Chief Bisi Omidiora who is my mentor.

Saddest day
When my father died; I did not know whether I should kill myself or not, I was so perplexed.

Favorite Bible passage
Psalm 91 is my favorite Bible passage because it teaches us spiritual power and encourages us to work with faith, day in, day out.

Philosophy
My philosophy in life is simple; just believe in God and other things will follow; you cannot do anything by yourself; in the time of difficulties, just believe God is there.

Hobby
Reading, working and watching football.

When you ask about the parents of somebody who is 76, you are giving him a task. I did not know my mother because she died when I was four years old, while my father died when I was 18. So, I would say I have been  self-reliant since my younger days, because there was no parental care as such.That is why today, I do not believe that people cannot get to any level of education; as long as you have the willpower to proceed ahead, there would always be some level of achievement. I have always believed in hardwork; I have always believed that failure has no meaning in my own dictionary; I do not believe you can fail in anything, as long as you have the determination to forge ahead, despite falling and all other odds. I went to the Grade 11 teacher training college between 1955 and 1958, and by January 1959, I had already passed the GCE. I did not know much of Mathematics then and  I had to employ somebody to teach me Mathematics in order to make it. I was very good in Finance, so I decided to read Accountancy. At that stage, there was nothing, but I did not allow that to become a barrier to my ambition. I knew that if there is a will, there is a way. I was determined to pursue that goal. I remember meeting one of my teachers in London and he asked me, 'what course are you doing?' and I told him, 'Accountancy,' He said he was not surprised because in those days, 'you were very good in accountancy.' He too was at that time doing Accountancy. It is never too late to make an achievement; imagine my teacher being in the same school with me, reading the same course; even myself, I never allow anything to deter me from doing something good. What we lost when we were young, we regained at the top. Some of my classmates then came from very popular schools like Igbobi College, some from Ado-Ekiti, some from Shagamu, but, thank God, I was able to become somebody in this country, despite all my travails.

Father’s death
Naturally, when somebody was just getting out of primary school to go to Secondary School, in November 1952, and the father died, that would be a great blow. Father's death destabilised me and he put me into so many situations I did not expect in life. However, I was lucky that I got scholarships here. But, there was one particular incident I would never forget. When I was halfway in the secondary school, there was a particular scholarship I was supposed to get that was given to another person because I was a supporter of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and it was Chief Ladoke Akintola that was then in charge of the Western Region. However, the Federal Government later gave me another scholarship with which I finished my course.

Lessons from parents
On Saturdays, my father would ask me to go and fetch firewoods on Ibadan Road; I would have to cut them into pieces and put them in front of our house for sale.  Anytime we wanted to use firewood for anything, father would give me money to buy it from myself. I did not know the intricacies of life he was teaching me then but, I later realised that I should not expect to get anything on a platter of gold. It also taught me to be prudent, hardworking and to always be prepared to surmount any problem; not to allow any obstacle to stop me from anything I want to do; to always have the will to forge ahead in life, and those were lessons I can never forget. Just two years ago, I was denied the opportunity to read Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife due to age constraint, but I am very grateful to my father for giving me early education on how to face and overcome life's challenges. Also, because of what I learnt from my parents, I am one of those who will never lie,or pretend to be good when things are not palatable. I say things the way it occurs to me and not to say it to please anybody. Frankly, I tell people what I feel about any situation without lying.

The teacher's slap
I was naturally brilliant,so no teacher ever beat me for not doing my homework or not doing well in class. But,a teacher once slapped me because I tried to tell one of my colleagues the answer to a question posed to him by our Mathematics teacher. The teacher saw me doing that, he came straight to me and slapped me; that did not end there though, because I retaliated, which I knew was very bad. However, I cannot remember my father beating me, beacuse he used to talk to me in his own way, which was very effective..

You have to be the head
I started my education at a missionary school but I was taken from that school to another due to the fact that the school authority asked me to provide the receipt of the money paid by my mother, instead of my father. That made father so angry that he immediately withdrew me from that school and took me to another school. In the other school, during the Empire Day, I was the drummer of the school's band, to which peole danced; to my surprise, when I got home, father told me that I was not supposed to be beating the drum for people to dance, but that it should be the other way round, that the people should beat the drum for me to dance. He  took me to another school, S.S. Peter and Paul, where I passed out finally , and that is why I do not have very close childhood friends; I changed school a lot and I learnt from it that I always have to strive to be the head.

First day in school
It was nothing spectacular. It was in 1945 and the army was winding up because it was the end of the 2nd World War. There was a school in front of my father’s house and my father used to see the way teachers beat the pupils. He was not happy with that and that was why I started school a little bit late. However, my first day in school was a blissful one for me because I was happy to be in school at last.

First time out of Nigeria
I went to England and it was like going to another world entirely, which was quite different from where I was coming from. My amazement started right from the port because I travelled to England by sea. We first stopped at Liverpool and I saw newspapers and discovered that almost all of them were full of vacancies, I was surprised. The first thing that surprised me when we landed in England was that my friend, who was already in England, came to meet me at the port and we boarded an underground train. Another thing was the gas cooker my friend used to prepare Amala and Okro soup for me within a couple of minutes; and this my friend was very lazy when he was in Nigeria, so I was amazed. Also, I felt cold and he quickly switched on the heater and everywhere became warm. I did not intend to work in England but the scholarship given to me was withdrawn because of my political activities back home so, I had to work for a year before proceeding to the main aim of coming to England, for further studies.

If not accountancy...
I was very brilliant during my school days, especially in anything that involved figures and I said within myself that anytime I had the opportunity to proceed on my education, I would prefer to do anything that had to do with figures, like Engineering. But, I could not do that because my scholarship was withdrawn.

Role model in profession
Well, they are many but the closest one that I can mention now is Chief Bisi Omidiora who is my mentor.

Saddest day
When my father died; I did not know whether I should kill myself or not, I was so perplexed.
Favorite Bible passage

Psalm 91 is my favorite Bible passage because it teaches us spiritual power and encourages us to work with faith, day in, day out.

Philosophy
My philosophy in life is simple; just believe in God and other things will follow; you cannot do anything by yourself; in the time of difficulties, just believe God is there.

Hobby
Reading, working and watching football.