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If life is a song worth singing the age of 80 must be one of the most sought after to reach and sing about. The bible as the most authentic of all the stories of creation, puts the days of a man’s life and so years on earth at 70 ( three scores years and ten). It goes on to state that by reason of strength, they may be four scores i.e 80. Even in that, we are told is their strength full of “labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away”. It is for this reason that the Psalmist in his 90th chapter teaches us “to number our days that we may apply our heart unto wisdom”.
The jet age that we live in today which Artificial Intelligence has started to “create” or is it ‘generate’ human beings who talk freely has made it impossible for homo sapiens to challenge the biblical Methuselah in how long a man can live on earth. By 80 90, he is gone. Therefore, when a collection of people in the media industry that we find ourselves in, climb up onto the 8th floor of human existence, it becomes imperative that they must of essence be recognized and celebrated. So yes, we celebrate them because before our own eyes they have become ancestors — our own ancestors in this noble field of industry that is all commanding, all demanding but often thankless and none money making.
I can only use the word “rascals” very advisedly; it doesn’t lie in our mouths to refer to them as rascals. But then for all they have done on their ways to becoming our “ancestors”, l think we could call or refer to them as being “born again” IPATA of their time. Well, ” Ipata” is the Yoruba word for the “tough guy.” If therefore, rascals is too strong a word to use for them as our leaders, the sure fact we have about these men is that they did lead us as we watched them on and on.
The turn of the 1970 years, those of the 80’s and 90’s pushed and put them in our consciousness as followers and watchers and in the process that of the consciousness of an entire nation. They were leaders of my generation of men and women who have now successfully landed on the 7th floor of what l call, human existence. We knew and saw them all at close range, very close range I dare say, in their days and times of “youthful exuberance” which we admit they exhibited and sometimes did in fact flunt. Then in their 30’s, they had become General Managers, Managing Editors, Editors, Press Secretaries and other such positions that were commanding heights in the industry — our industry in which they have suddenly become “our ancestors”.
Today, we can and
also do recall that aside Aremo Segun Osoba and his fellow musketeer, Felix Adenaike (better known as the GOC in our world) who crossed over and got onto the 8th floor much earlier and so are today in their mid 80s, those ones have been followed by the likes of Alagba Bamiji Ojo of Radio O-Y-O fame and later Bcos -Ibadan. He was the broadcaster who first introduced the phone- into-the studio programme presentation in this part of the world. Tha was in the year 1984. Next to climb the 8th floor is Chief John Arolagbe Fademi, the man with a bulldozing character, characteristics and work ethic that is much much taller than his own frame and height.
Once Press Secretary to then Col. David Jemibewon Military Governorship in the mid-70’s, John Fademi became General Manager of Bcos –Ibadan and later on became the pioneer General Manager of Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) Osogbo. It was under his reign that Osun Radio was set up on 25th November, 1991 after the new state has been created in August same year. One year later the Television arm of OSBC was launched on 27th of August 1992 in Ibokun some 20km outside the state
capital, Osogbo. Political scheming took over and John Fademi found himself appointed Special Adviser to the older ADELEKE who was the first governor of the new state. We must end the story there.
During the Night of Tribute recently held in Ibadan for the late Television Queen, Anike Agbaje-Williams on 14th May, this year, I bumped into two media women Bola Alo and Julie Coker. The former is 85 while the latter is on course to her 84th milestone. So it wasn’t all males in the media.Those two ladies were glamorous presenters in the 1970s and dominated Radio & Tv airwaves. How tine flies! l was happy to see both of them walk to the event by themselves and exchanged banters. That is a good message to convey and so to God be the glory for their octogenarian lives.
In recent times a few more of our new ancestors have also moved to the 8th floor. The first of them we can report did so in 2023 and so is 82 now. His colleagues call him Ebino Topsy. It is a name which our nation’s political Avatar, Obafemi Awolowo gave him and it has stuck like gum. He is Chief Ebenezer Babatope. Everyone of us their subordinates calls him Egbon Ebino. Aside politics which he veered into snd becoming the Minister of Aviation at a time in the mid-90s he is known more as an uncompromising journalist.
Another 8th floor member now is Akinyemi Bamidele Faroumbi, OON, Nigeria’s former Ambassador to the Philippines. He is 16 years older than our dear country Nigeria. At age 32 he had risen to become General Manager of NTV – Ibadan and later NTA Ibadan by 1977 Here is a man who read Geography at the University, joined WNTV/WNBS in the administrative cadre but has over the years been Tv programmes and films producer of note. He wrote a great column in the Tribune a number of years back.He has been Chairman Daily Times of Nigeria; and was Chairman of OSBC Board for 10 years. Today Akinyemi Faroumbi remains one of the greatest resource persons a Radio/ Tv station can put on its station within an hour notice. Ever a prolific writer and speaker, Dr Yemi Faroumbi represented the letter Y in the TYT opinion and ideas think-tank that late Chief Bola Ige had in his days as Governor of old Oyo State .The first T represented Tunde Adeniran, while the second T (in that TYT connection) is Tola Atinmo , a professor of food science then at the University of Ibadan. Tola Atinmo himself turned 80 last February.
Prof.Tunde Adeniran is a former Minister of Education and former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany. The renowned political scientist and politician will himself be 80 in September this year. We look up to that event .
This last May, two frontline journalists moved on to the 8th floor to become our ancestors.
The first did so on the 10th of that month. Chief Adebisi Adesola, mni, was General Manager BCOS, became, Permanent Secretary, Head of Service and later Secretary to Oyo State Government. He is one man who has held every position a technocrat in government can.This is a small framed man with a huge medulla oblongata. His mastery of language both English and Yoruba is first class. As Director of News at TSOS Ibadan in 1984 he hosted then Head of State Major-General Muhammadu Buhari on a one hour no- holds- barred Tv interview that was the talk- of- the-town for many weeks in the media world. If that contributed to the edge he had over others to be appointed later that year as BCOS -Ibadan General Manager, we can say he truly deserved it. As it turned out staffers of BCOS Ibadan where he was General Manager for about five years remember him for the professionalism he ensured and enforced in programme and news presentation. His coming on board as GM in the wake of IBB’s SAP economic policy, was torturous. Consequently staffers of that broadcast organisation refused to forget the two expressions he popularised as GM and perhaps had the “patent” for. The first was “in our management’s wisdom or lack of it”.The second is “There is no money” so he became known behind his back as “GM kosi owo”. In all these one could not take away the man’s managerial skills from him. Of course, as a product of NIPSS, Kuru near Jos, the ‘mni’ honour was not awarded him for nothing.
The crowd that gathered in the church and at the reception for his 80th birthday was true to expectation an all comers one. Oyo State Deputy Governor led the pack, followed by the retired Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Olukayode Ariwoola . There were many more who is whos.
Well, the “youngest” of our bosses’ entry to the 8th floor did come on the 29th of May, our dear country’s Inauguration Day. Akogun Adetola Adeniyi the Jagun Oodua of Yoruba land, is undoubtedly one of the most audacious and courageous Newspaper journalist in Africa. He is the man we came to know as “Aba Saheed” in the 70s & 80s. He is a talk-truth-to-power writer. The one time Managing Director of Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) was appointed Director-General in the Babangida presidency to oversee the Relocation of Nigeria’s Federal Capital, from Lagos to Abuja.
Folks, these were men whose writing vibrations challenged the status quo and made the Nigeria media the true leader in Africa that it has for long time been.
The Job of vibrant journalism needs some measure of rascality, l think. If not rascality, l believe it certainly took some “Ipata” in them to do the many great things they did to have created the impacts they made and to have kept the legacy, courage, enterprise and investigative journalism they left for us to nurture further on.
This piece is a celebration of our industry leaders who gave their all for us who came behind them to have a place called “home” where the storms of our trade and profession can and do get tamed. As a piece of writing this is to thank our ancestors on our collective behalf, for leading us aright and always also from the front. Thank you our ancestors for pushing some doses of ipata or rascality in us your subordinates. We have come to accept it that to take journalism to meaningful heights we need to be ipata in a way. Yes rebels who don’t just rebel, but do so in the interest of the collectivity called Nigeria.
This is wishing all our news ancestors the best. Thank you for moulding us into mature elders. We are grateful. We greet you: E ku Ori re ojo bi yin oo! Igba odun, odun kan ni.
E ma ko wa je pe sir sir sir!
Smolette Adetoyese
Shittu- Alamu,
Osogbo
