He does not dance on global stages or govern states in flamboyant Ankara. He does not belt platinum hooks to roaring crowds or throw hats into the political ring. But somewhere between the roaring turbines of his new $2 billion power plant and the hushed boardrooms of Pacific Holdings, Adedeji Adeleke is making a quieter kind of noise; one measured not in decibels, but in megawatts.
The new 1,250-megawatt gas-fired facility in Ondo State’s Ajebamidele is ready. All that remains is a line. A connection to the national grid. A flick of the infrastructure’s fickle switch. Once lit, it will become one of the largest independent power plants in the country, employing thousands and feeding desperately needed electricity into Nigeria’s sputtering grid.
Most Nigerians know him as Davido’s father. Some remember that his younger brother, Ademola, governs Osun State. But Adeleke, ever the measured patriarch, prefers his empire industrial, not Instagrammed. From boreholes to banking, logistics to lecture halls, he has spent four decades building out Pacific Holdings with the unhurried resolve of a man who knows that legacy isn’t what you inherit but what you outgrow.
Still, it’s in power, literal power, that his vision is now taking shape. Pacific Energy already controls nearly 641 megawatts through plants in Ogun and Ondo States. With this new plant, the company threatens to eclipse Transcorp Power at the top of the pack.
He is a university president, a logistics boss, and a financier. But above all, Adeleke is a builder of futures. Not in the boisterous way of his son, nor the populist rhythm of his brother. He does not shout to be seen. He expands.
And if some of Nigeria’s brightest lights carry the Adeleke name, it is only because one man decided early on that greatness need not skip a generation. It could build one.
Leave a comment