Nigeria, Nov. 10 -- I had been trying for months to interview Dapo Olorunyomi (popularly called Dapsy), and he had been "running away" from me, as he later admitted when he finally agreed to a one-on-one interview at his office on Mambolo Street, Abuja.

It is easy to look past that shortcoming. Dapsy himself is a gracious man: always noble and generous in overlooking the mistakes of others. I got that impression from many people who had encountered him.

In a book of tributes titled Testimony to Courage, published when he turned 62, many of his friends, colleagues, siblings, mentees, and mentors painted a picture of a complex man.

To his teachers, he is a brilliant but confused student; to his siblings, a generous but enigmatic brother;...