Pastor Tunde Bakare of The Citadel Global Community Church, has urged Mr Tope Adebayo, the senior partner at Tope Adebayo LP,  to allow truth, honesty and hard work be their watchword in all their undertakings.

The respected clergyman stressed that there was honour in staying on the path of truth, citing 1 Timothy 1 v 8 to back his admonition.

Pastor Bakare gave the admonition at the opening of the new office complex of when Tope Adebayo LP  located on the third floor of The Phoenix, along  Mobolaji-Bank Anthoy Way, Ikeja.

While casting his mind back to his days as a practising lawyer, Pastor Bakare said there were cases he refused to take no matter the money involved.

“There were cases I didn’t take and I didn’t need to take in those days,” he stated.

He prayed for partners and other members of staff that they will be on the same page in all matters to aid the law firm’s growth.

According to him, the next level of blessings is making sure one stays in tune with God.

“When God began to bless me, then I found the secret of ensuring that I stay in a position of not going down. And it’s in Isaiah, 22 v 8’’, he said.

 Speaking on the new office, the principal partner of the law firm, Adebayo, said it was based on the realisation that one must continuously seek better ways of doing things.

“So, you must realise that whatever you don’t treasure cannot confer benefits on you and one way to demonstrate that you treasure a vision or idea is to put in resources to back that idea, especially when God has been gracious to you. “You need to use available resources to create an environment for the legal practitioners and other members of staff to practice their craft better and make it easier for clients to interact with us.

“Before now, we used to queue for the only conference room at our former office, especially when we have more than two meetings at the same time. It was always a struggle to plan meetings for the different practice groups in the firm. “So, we decided that to put more money in the practice to make it easier for us to serve our Clients.

“Thus, this office is essentially created to enhance service delivery to our clients,” he said.

 Adebayo stated that he has always been driven by the idea of focusing on building his practice given the values he imbibed during his days at Olaniwun Ajayi LP.

“It has always been a part of me, from when myself and my colleagues Mr. Wolemi Esan (SAN) and Mr. Kunle Adegoke (SAN) started practice at what was then Olaniwun Ajayi & Co.

“There’s something that environment does to you, it has a way of conditioning your thinking and Professor Olaniwun Ajayi, then a Dr, did a lot to shape our view”, he recalled.

On his own, Esan, a colleague said: “This is a beautiful day, a beautiful day in the sense that Tope Adebayo is someone that we have grown together in the profession.

“ I have known him for over 20 years and looking at where he is coming from and where is today, one cannot but be extremely happy.

And the other day, I was telling him that it is very fitting that he has moved into a building that is called the Phoenix, because if you know the phoenix, it is the mystical bird that reinvents itself every time. Same for Tope (Adebayo), when you think you know him and have seen him and the glory of God in his life, he becomes something else that is even greater than what you thought was great.”

The immediate past chairman of NBA, Ikeja Branch,  Seyi Olawumi, said Tope Adebayo was one of the pillars of the branch.

He  said he was elated when he was invited to the office opening.

“I knew that I was coming to see something more beautiful, by his choice of office when he said I should come and celebrate with him today. That is because of the standard of even his former office.

“I am very happy and like I said, Tope Adebayo is one of our pillars in Ikeja Branch of the NBA and I pray that he will continue to grow and wax stronger.”

Olawunmi also prayed that other members of the firm will record such achievements and wax stronger.

Other clients and associates of the firm present at the event include the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lekoil Nigeria Limited; Mr. Samuel Kolajo, Acting Executive Vice Chairman, Owena Oil & Gas Ltd.