An achiever who would not blow his own trumpet but would rather want his achievements to speak for him, while helping to inspire the younger generations to greatness in their chosen professions, Ambassador Abayomi Mumuni, is a testament to the fact that hardwork and integrity give genuine success to whoever can imbibe them.
A positively strong-willed person and a dogged fighter, his resilience and constant dream of being successful have moulded him into what he is today. Today, his success story is an eloquent proof that hard work pays, a fact the youths of today need to learn.
Ambassador Mumuni had a very rough start in life. From a tender age, he wasn’t privileged to live with his mother, and though he lived with his father, he had limited access to the latter, which exposed him to many challenges on the home front.
When his future seemed uncertain to him, he left his father’s house and had to work during every long vacation to finance his schooling. When companies stopped engaging students on vacation jobs, he engaged in hard, back-breaking jobs. Thereafter, he ventured into importing bales of cloth into the Nigeria from India and today, the rest is history.
Undoubtedly, he is a pride to Nigeria and he has distinguished himself via his staunch commitment to the principles of honesty and determination, as a business man and author of two internationally recognized books: “Global Terrorism & Its Effects on Humanity” and “Demand by Terror”. Presently, he is working on his third book, titled “Women in Black “, to be released soonest.
The amiable ambassador spoke on some societal challenges. Hear him: “The educational system is not working in Nigeria. Besides, our youth are seriously handicapped. There is need for them to be educated on how to start small. Those who have wealthy parents need to turn their eyes away from the wealth of their parents to succeed on their own, and for those whose parents are not wealthy, they don’t need to go abroad before they survive. They only need ideas as well as determination.”
He continued: “What we see today is the foundation our ancestors have laid down. But if care is not taken, our youths will miss it because our fathers are using our time with theirs. When will the youths take their rightful position in government? This is why the youths travel abroad for greener pastures.
“For a fact, Africans are not terrorists because it is a taboo in our culture for someone to blow him or herself up, but this is what we are seeing today, which is very sad. Our youths need to be reoriented so that they can focus on positive goals for their future”.
Ambassador Mumuni’s pursuit of academic excellence has earned him a number of prestigious academic laurels, which include: Advanced Diploma and Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration from the Obafemi Awolowo University; a Professional Certificate in Conflict Analysis from the United States Institute of Peace, Washington; a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Nnamdi Azikwe University; a Certificate in International Criminal Justice and Administration at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; a Post Graduate Certificate in Intelligence and Terrorism Profiling from the Henley-Putrian University, USA; and an Advance Diploma in Forensic Science and a Masters degree from the Security Institute, United Kingdom, just to mention but few.
A mediator and conciliator who is currently undergoing his doctoral research, Ambassador Mumuni is the Chief Executive Officer of The Global Group, with subsidiaries such as Moon Property and Construction (UK) Ltd and Wall Street Global FFZ, LLE (UAE).
In June 2018, Ambassador Mumuni resigned as a Director of African Alliance Plc., a leading Nigerian insurance company known for its core values of prompt responsiveness, quality service, trustworthiness, transparency, reliability and fiscal resilience.
Mumuni, with his decision to quit, aimed to pave the way for young, qualified and dexterous experts to take over and contribute to the growth of the company. Little wonder the company praised him for his contributions to its growth since his appointment as a Non-Executive Director in 2010.
Guided by its mission statement of improving the quality of life, African Alliance has continued to sustain its corporate activities over the years, despite numerous challenges facing businesses in Nigeria. Today, it is the industry leader in providing a wide range of insurance services to individuals and corporate bodies. It is noteworthy that it now has a platform where registered policy holders can assess their premium account positions online.
In November 2018, Ambassador Mumuni was listed as a member of one the most prestigious security institutions in Europe, The Security Institute. With his present status as a member of the professional body, the prolific writer will be involved in special security exhibitions and take part in making global security decisions.
According to him, he is looking forward to extending the benefit and every acquired knowledge and privilege of his membership to Africa in general and Nigeria as a priority.
A year later, Ambassador Mumuni also bagged the most-coveted Counter-Terrorism Certificate from the Certified Counter-Terrorism Practitioner Network based in the United Kingdom. The certification was a demonstration of the proof of knowledge and expertise in terrorism prevention, detection and deterrence possessed.
Mumuni, a devout Muslim, who noted that being awarded a certification by the CCTP Network does not come by chance, added, “It is rather a result of hard work, resilience, brilliance, dedication and substantial contributions to the security of the world in general and one’s immediate environment in particular.
“The Counter-Terrorism Certificate is about your expertise in the field of counter-terrorism. To bag it, you must have been actively engaged as a security luminary for not less than 5 to 10 years with clear proofs from any of the state agencies. Of course, there is always a class session before the exams”.
On the political terrain, Ambassador Mumuni was the Presidential aspirant under the United Nigeria People’s Party (UNPP) in 2003. He was also the Senatorial candidate for the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), Lagos Central Senatorial District in 2003 and 2007, in addition to being the Lagos State Governorship candidate for the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011.
Earlier between 1999 and 2005, Abayomi Mumuni served the Taraba State Government as a Special Adviser on Economic and Foreign Matters without pay.
In 2015, he suspended his intention to contest the Lagos State Governorship election following the merger between his then party, CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to form a new political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which eventually won the Presidential election with Muhammadu Buhari as its flag bearer.
While thousands of his supporters in the ruling APC had seen him as the favourite aspirant to replace the incumbent and wife of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Senator Oluremi at the Senate, Ambassador Mumuni at the last minute dropped his ambition to contest the Lagos Central Senatorial District during the 2019 general elections, in the interest of his party and Nigeria.
Mumuni, the Aare Jagunmade 1 of Lagos was born into the noble family of Mumuni of Ita Akose, Lagos Island, Lagos on April 6, 1965 by Tahal Mumuni and Oluremi Mumuni. Mumuni’s father, a ranking Lagos nobleman and contemporary of the late traditional monarch of Lagos, Oba Adeyinka Oyekan 11, was regarded as a top-of-the-class indigenous road construction contractor whose firm constructed some of the major roads within the Lagos metropolis, including the famous Western Avenue, Surulere, now known as Funsho Williams Avenue.
▪︎ Rasheed Abubakar is the Publisher of Muslim News