We assumed that was his given name. So we, too, called him Ikoli. It didn’t make sense at the time to prefix it with Mr or Uncle or Boda.
He was just Ikoli.
That was until we learned that his real name was Columbus Irisoanga and Ikoli was just the name of character of Ikoli Harcourt White, he played so well it became his name.
He was acting teacher, dance and choreography teacher, friend, uncle and guardian all rolled in one, for many of us. He played each of the roles well, as he did everything he set his mind to.
The late great Professor Ola Gladstone Rotimi was the very best director Nigeria ever produced. Most dramatists who knew him or saw his works acknowledge this. He was also an uncompromising man when it came to theater and the quality of every department. He would not settle for anything but your best and then his!
He chose Columbus Irisoanga to play the lead character of Ikoli Harcourt White in his iconic drama, Hopes of the Living Dead.
Columbus ‘Ikoli’ Irisoanga
No one else played Ikoli till Ola Rotimi died. He would not consider anyone else. No one could match him anyway, so no one bothered to challenge him for the role. He was just Ikoli, in vocal timber, carriage, interpretation, he just lived it. He was Ikoli.
As a teacher, he was calm, yet firm, ingenious in his teaching style that sucks you in without you realizing a creative genius.
He was so competent, the perfectionist Ola Rotimi never looked in once on his class to the best of my knowledge, to check if he was teaching quality.
Those who straddled Nollywood as colossi in its early days owe him everything they know about acting and performance – Hilda Dokubo, Francis Duru, Bob Manuel Udokwu, Daniel Wilson, Rita Dominics, Monalisa Chinda, Bimbo Manuel, Basorge Tariah Jnr, Lancelot Imasuen and a whole generation of others too many to list here!
He was a pride to Nigerian art, to the Crab Theater, to University of Port Harcourt and to Rivers State. His people in Okrika Land glow in pride of him as a son who did them proud.
That was the man who passed away quietly in Port Harcourt.
The very foundation of The Crab, as we call the Uniport Theater, vibrated gently in testimony of the transition of one of its greats.
All he wanted to do was dance, act, teach.
His happiest moments were on stage. It was his home.
He was a colossus.
It all seems now like yesterday when we traveled the country with Hopes of The Living Dead and Rasheed Gbadamosi’s Behold My Redeemer. His commanding presence on the tour compels you to take your job seriously without him being forceful about anything, just setting precedents, professional examples.
Ikoli fed me when I was in school. During those holidays that I did not even have enough to return home to Lagos, lonely, broke and hungry, he would invite me to his modest place next to where I lived in the ‘CTA Quarters’. He would gist with me, counsel me and teach me. They were invaluable times.
Ikoli was a great man. And he died.
He was not ever an intrusive man, just quietly going his own way, private yet warm and respectful of everyone.
I see his rugged face, even now, the fair skin glowing through on his chiseled face, almost hagard from hard work on the dance floor.
He was a fit man, fit for the career he chose.
There may have been some who did not like him but it would not have been for being a bad man or of ill-intent.
I did not see for a long while but the version of him that I knew, would not have hurt anyone or plot any underhand scheme against any.
But he died. Quietly. The soft breeze raised by his great soul still blows among those who knew him.
We were fortunate to have had Columbus Irisoanga, for he was a great man, and he left so much in us.
(A review of Ismail Omipidan’s ‘Persona non Grata’ by LASISI OLAGUNJU in Abuja on Saturday, 18 January, 2025)
Protocols
Strange things happen all over the world. In the Autumn of 1946, Muna Lee, a poet who worked with the United States Department of State, wrote a journal article that questions the integrity of book reviewers. The title of his piece is: “Can’t Book Reviewers Be Honest?” In that piece are two gross cases, one of them a confession. The first is the case of a reviewer who did the review of a whole book from the blurb – that is, from
the book’s short description on the back cover. And, it turned out that even the writer of the blurb had never read what the book contained, and he was too dishonest to say so.
Vice President Shettima delivering his address before presenting the book
The second case is more scandalous. It is the confession made by one literary critic who wrote: “I have to confess that I once reviewed a book without having seen it. The editor was keen to have a review but could not obtain a copy, nor could I, so at last, on the strength of having read a score of books by the same author, I wrote a fairly long review, which apparently gave satisfaction.” It was that bad.
Both cases are not fiction. They happened some 80 years ago, the first in the United States, the second in Canada.
So, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I want to solemnly affirm that I have read the book I am reviewing here today. I took time to fine-comb it from the front of the cover, the title page, table of contents, the copyright page, the initial chapters that deal with what Omipidan describes as his father’s “Undying Love” and his mum’s “Unfulfilled Wish.” I moved from there and dashed across the labyrinth of the remaining chapters – where the real actions are – then to a motley part he describes as Reflections, and finally to the back of the cover where we have a brief on the author, and the blurb.
Vice President Shettima unveiling the book as the author and wife admire
Omipidan’s ‘Persona non Grata’ has 31 short chapters with the Foreword written by Farooq Kperogi, the author’s immediate boss when he had his very first journalism experience at the Weekly Trust newspaper some 25 years ago. A foreword is a short introduction to a book. But what the book has from Kperogi is more than a short introduction. I see it as a thorough review of not just the book, but an authoritative X-Ray of the author. And it is a positive testimony and testimonial to the person we’ve come to know today as Ismail Omipidan.
The 309-page story of Omipidan runs more than what Robert Frost calls “a course of lucky events.” We encounter the opposite of luck and lucky in almost all the early chapters of his story. On those pages are unhappy signature stories of the author’s many falls and failures.
Why did the author write this and the way he went about it? In other words, what are the themes? A theme is the central idea, the literary element that recurs and dominates a text. There is the theme of discrimination: class, religion and ethnicity. I see a theme on why politicians win elections and why they lose. But the bigger theme I see is the place of fate in human struggles; the victory of conviction over life’s conflictual challenges. For this book, the recurring element is survival despite life’s rapids and falls; the win after the race.
A cross-section of the high quality audience during the book launch
The book is structured in a way that makes readers read defeat in the early chapters, then sweet triumph in later chapters. In other words, the theme is the transformation of a persona non grata to a persona grata; the movement from being unwelcome, unacceptable and rejected to being acceptable and accepted in the same space. My late mother would hear this and summarize everything in one line: “asale ni ojaa ntooro”, the calm of the evening market; “a clarification of life” – Robert Frost again.
When a relatively young man writes a memoir, he is taking a huge, big risk. More importantly, politically exposed people are always very reluctant to write books about themselves – and, even about others. They are hesitant because they know that there are consequences for writing anything. There is this creation called Alagemo in Yoruba, the English man calls it Chameleon. We all know how big Chameleon is. Alagemo is asked why it walks so gingerly; it answers that it is afraid that the ground may cave in under its weight. I see Omipidan doing this, withholding names in some damaging aspects, not giving details in certain cases. But he, by and and large, exposed himself as someone who remembers everything and forgets nothing – except what he wants to forget.
A few minutes after I finished reading ‘Persona non Grata’, I spoke with the author – that was around 1 a.m on Thursday. I told him that with what I read in the book, I could make some predictions: He will lose a few friends; his other friends are likely to be more committed to their friendship with him while his enemies will certainly dig in and possibly draw new battle lines.
Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, the book reviewer
Now, some technical observations: Written in simple, everyday English language, Persona non Grata’s style is lucid and breezy. The plot structure is linear with the author unfolding himself and his life journey gradually in a chronological and sequential order. Originally from Ila Orangun in Osun State, Omipidan’s plane took off in a family where love and amity reigned in Otukpo, Benue State. Then the story subject took tentative steps out of the family and the Otukpo community where he encountered dawn. He finished his secondary education in 1992 in Benue State but failed his final exams – he did not pass that exam until 1995. That unpleasant experience appears to have fired and toughened his iron.
His long walk to freedom took him out of that corner of the country (Otukpo); he fanned out to Ibadan, he was soon back to Otukpo, then to Kano, then to Lagos, back to Kano, to Maiduguri, to Abuja, to Kaduna, back to Abuja, then back to where his ancestors belonged – Osun State.
Encased in his development of the theme of victory over failure is his story of unfair rejection and harassment by teachers in school, by bosses at work and by those who thought they held the yam and the knife of his life. There are southerners who still believe that Omipidan is more northern than the jaki of Kano. Such persons should read his story, particularly the chapter on page 19 which he gives the title: ‘North South Dichotomy.’ There are some other parts of the book that reek of harassment and rejection anchored on tribalism, sectionalism and nepotism.
Ismail was discriminated against in the north, he was insulted and harassed in the South for being a ‘northerner’. He applied for internship at The Punch in 1998, his application was successful but he soon found out the meaning of blood being thicker than water. He says that the head of admin of that newspaper house gave his place to someone else who was close to her. Ismail said he wasted no time before complaining in writing to the then Managing Director, Mr Ademola Osinubi, who asked the editor, Mr. Gbemiga Ogunleye, to right the wrong for him; and it was done. The day he assumed duties, the admin woman looked at him and said “you have not started work, you are already writing petition” (see page 20-21). But his ordeal was not over. He got to the newsroom, the newseditor looked at his letter and said, “Awon omọ Málà yi, kí ni wọn kộ won? (these children from the north, what did they teach them?)” The man then sent him to the foreign desk (page 23). If you are familiar with the ecology of the newsroom, you would know that what we call the Foreign Desk is the Siberia of newspaper journalism in Nigeria. Daily Trust was Ismail’s first place of work after he got his National Diploma in Mass Communication. He wrote that he was engaged as a stringer. He believed he was denied a full staffer place there because of his ethnicity. He quotes the oga patapata of that place in support of his suspicion. Read his account on page 33 to 37; particularly page 37.
Ismail wanted to read Mass Communication at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1999, but he was told by a lecturer that the school also ran a diploma programme and so he could not come with a Kaduna Polytechnic diploma and think he would get admission. The author says “that was how I lost the admission that year” (page 44).
The following year (2000), he tried Bayero University, Kano. He met the admission officer of the department who deliberately spoke to him in Hausa, a language he didn’t understand that time. Then the man told him in English what nuanced persons should never say to anyone’s hearing. Ismail is worth quoting here: “I never knew he was talking to me. He now beckoned on me and said ‘are you not Ismail, the owner of these documents’ (showing me the papers I gave to him). I told him I was the one. He said, ‘you are a Muslim and you don’t understand Hausa.’ He threw my papers at me and walked me out of his office, saying, ‘if you can’t speak Hausa, you’re not fit for BUK.’ That was how I lost the BUK admission also” (page 44-45).
There are several instances of such crass apartheid in this story of a man whose name changes with beats and seasons. To the incumbent Vice President, he is Mallam Samaila – you will read that in multiple places in the book); he was “Wale Omipidan” to the Daily Trust/Weekly Trust which needed him for ethnic balancing and as key to certain southern news sources. Of course, to many of us who met him after his storms and turbulence, he is Ismail Omipidan, the Yoruba boy from the north. Interrogating each of those names is very helpful in understanding the persona that we see speaking in the book.
Ismail practised dangerous journalism. Colleagues who are privy to his intrusive engagements with Boko Haram in Borno and the OPC in Lagos will find his words on these two phenomena engaging.
The book carries the title: Persona Non Grata. So, how did the author arrive at that? That is one information every book reviewer should be interested in before interrogating the text. I did that and discovered that a governor in a north eastern state pronounced that fatwa on this reporter because the newsman gave him no breathing space. Where I come from is where Ismail comes from. We say there that the king does not kill the bard. But the author wrote that this governor (of Borno State) one scary day in 2005 told his editors who were in Borno on a peace mission that he could not promise that Reporter Ismail Omipidan, the bard giving him headache would be safe again. The story is sweeter in the mouth of the story owner, so, let me quote the author: “He (the governor) said he knew the opposition was not giving me anything and he was willing to take care of me, but I refused to be on his side and that his people were already complaining and he did not want a situation where his supporters would hurt me. He declared he could no longer guarantee my security and safety in the state. He also told them that any day he woke up to see me, the day was spoilt…” (page 64). A Persona non Grata is an unacceptable or unwelcome person. The direct English translation of that Latin phrase is “person not welcome.” That exactly is what the governor pronounced on the reporter. It is an eerie moment to imagine.
Subsequent chapters after that verdict of the powerful expose the author as a journalist in power and politics. That is someone who said he almost joined the army but for the death of his would-be helper, General Hassan Katsina. I wonder how far he would have gone in that career and how safe democracy would have been in his hands. If you wonder why I say this, read his words in the chapter he headlined ‘Early Inspirations and Aspirations’ on pages 13 and 14.
You will find as very interesting the reporter’s perspectives on how and why President Goodluck Jonathan lost the 2015 presidential election; why the PDP has never won the governorship of Borno State and why it may never win. The book has very many pages of insights into the very difficult Osun State governorship election of 2022, the factors that drove the election, the litigation that followed the result, the BVAS controversy and other controversial moments around that period.
The chapters on his professional life are laced with encounters with politicians and principalities. At the level of structure, out of the 309 pages, I count about 124 pages (page 111 – 235) devoted to his experience in Osun politics. He, understandably, has many nice words for his boss, Ex Governor Gboyega Oyetola. Understandably too, his pen etched in that part of the book scathing remarks on people who are on the other side of Oyetola’s politics. He has more than one chapter on Alhaji Kashim Shettima, the current Vice President of Nigeria. In those chapters, he tells the story of Shettima, a man who has always been his own man and who would not inherit a governor’s enemy even while serving as a commissioner under that governor. The author tells how Shettima owned him, protected him and clothed his vulnerability at that moment he was declared unsafe by the chief security officer of Borno State. He writes more on Shettima. He uses his chapter on Boko Haram (page 243 – 252) to reply those who ask questions on Shettima’s tenure as governor of Borno State vis a vis the ascendancy of Boko Haram as a terror organization. He recalls the many gallant efforts of Governor Shettima which saw him fighting “the monsters to a standstill.”
Now, I have bored you retelling what has been eloquently told in the book. I will soon be done. But I will not be properly done without saying that no one came into this world without a blemish. The book has some blights, I spotted some mistakes.
See, I have chosen to call it the book of battles. It is well printed and illustrated with relevant and beautiful photographs. But I saw a few errors there which should not have been in this elegant work. I saw the name “Simeon Kolawole” on page 49 (instead of Simon Kolawole). There is also “Sufian Ojeifo” on page 71 (instead of Sufuyan Ojeifo). These are well established names in the Nigerian media. If the author inadvertently missed their spellings, the publishers shouldn’t have.
Conclusion
I suggested at the beginning of this review that the objective of the author appeared to be a demonstration and celebration of his triumph over rejection. I think he achieved that across the space he allocated to himself. He wrote exams and failed; repeated classes, wrote exams again and again and eventually passed. He sought admission to schools and was rejected, many and repeated times, but he eventually got what he wanted. He started work and faced rejection and discrimination north and south. But every place and space that rejected him eventually cuddled him. He is a success because he struggled to rise each time he fell. A Yoruba incantation best explains his doggedness- and luck: “ibi ti won ba ni ki gbebe ma gbe, ibe nii gbe. Ibi ti won ba ni ki tete ma te, ibe nii te.” I am bush enough to know the magical leaf called gbegbe; I am quite familiar with the medicinal vegetable called tete but, because of the consequences of mistranslation of those words of awon agba, I pass the task of translation of that incantation to the elders hearing me here, and to those who may read me after this session.
By and large, Ismail Omipidan’s ‘Persona non Grata’ is a successful tour de force on the politics of fate and power, subterfuge and the busybody called the media. It offers a challenge to the many big men, and small men who will feel offended by the content to write their own story. I congratulate the author. The book is a worthy addition to works on media and politics; the intrigues of national political engagements and, very importantly, the deep involvement of journalists in shaping politics and its discourses. I recommend it to all who desire answers to our perennially unanswered national question.
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you all for listening.
On Friday, January 17, 2025, the Left, comprising Marxists, socialists, feminists, progressive academics, and humanists, will converge on the ancient city of Calabar for the interment of Prof Benedicta ‘Bene’ Madunagu, who died on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. Prof. Bene Madunagu, known to different people as Comrade Bene, Mumsy B, Auntie Bene, among other endearing names, was the quintessence of the struggle for human progress.
In terms of my upbringing, apart from my mother, this exceptional feminist was the most consequential woman in my life. I had the great honour of meeting her in the late 1980s as a student at the University of Calabar. I had joined the Movement for Progressive Nigeria (MPN), a revolutionary students’ movement on campus, which she and Comrade Edwin Madunagu, her friend, Comrade, and spouse, had founded in 1977 to ground students politically and ideologically.
Comrade Bene opened her home to us, provided meals and reading materials. I remember Comrade Bene for her forthrightness and courage. Without her, I would not have graduated from the university. In 1989, during Comrade Bene’s tenure as Chair of the University of Calabar Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)—the first and only female chair of ASUU, UniCal Branch—when the union was confronting the dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida, I had run into trouble with the school administration.
Earlier that year, I had been elected as one of three vice-presidents of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the umbrella body of Nigerian students. It was under the leadership of Opeyemi Bamidele, now the majority leader of the Nigerian Senate. With the dictatorship of Gen Babangida in full swing, vice chancellors in the country’s universities were taking a cue from the self-styled “evil genius.” Authorities at the university of Calabar had proscribed student unionism. They not only banned certain category of students from contesting elections, they set out to handpick those to lead the union.
As Vice President (Special Duties) of NANS, I had the responsibility of bringing national attention to the egregious folly of UniCal authorities and the need for Nigerian students to oppose it, which was exactly what I did. I issued a press statement on NANS letterhead detailing (including naming names) the plot and the consequences for the university. The release caused so much uproar that the military governors of Cross River and Akwa Ibom called a special security meeting and also met with the Obong of Calabar, the traditional ruler and custodian of the culture of the Efik people. In what looked like the calm before the storm, the university sent an official vehicle to Owerri, Imo State, to fetch an older cousin to admonish me.
My cousin arrived Calabar, spoke with me about my, according to the university, “attempt to destabilise not only the university, but to cause disaffection between indigenes of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.” The verdict was that I had to be dismissed without facing any “disciplinary panel.” I don’t know where that decision was taken, but some of those who had been part of the conspiracy had teased me repeatedly about that prospect. A couple of days later, Comrade Bene called me to her office and confirmed the threat. She asked me if the details of the press statement were factual, to which I answered in the affirmative. She assured me that nobody would dismiss me under her watch without due process. I left feeling elated. A few days later, because of the intervention of Comrade Bene, a “disciplinary panel” made of apologists of the vice chancellor was hurriedly put together. After weeks of “trial,” I was exonerated when it became evident that there was indeed a conspiracy hatched by the vice chancellor and carried out by his deputy to hijack the Students Union Government (SUG) of the university.
Four years ago, on May 15, 2021, when Comrade Eddie turned 75, in a rare gesture that epitomized a life of service, he and Comrade Bene handed over their “combined archives and libraries” to the Nigerian Left. This bequest, a product of over five decades of collection led to the creation of the Socialist Library and Archives (SOLAR); perhaps, the single largest collection of Left literature on the continent. Comrade Bene’s ill-health was a painful experience for her immediate and extended families, which include the Nigerian Left, who rallied to ensure she had the best chance of a dignified life. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the profound solidarity of Comrades Biodun Jeyifo (BJ) and Kayode Komolafe (KK).
In 2012, at the age of 65, Comrade Bene retired as a professor in the Department of Botany, University of Calabar, Cross River State. She “contributed immensely to international women’s activism on development, linking the experiences of Nigerian and African women to the broader global struggles for women’s equality and against neo-liberalism.” For about two decades, she led Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), an NGO that she co-founded with Grace Osakue in 1993, to pioneer sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and rights education for adolescent girls. Through education and training, GPI has “encouraged hundreds of young women to stand up for their rights and to understand and choose the identity of ‘feminist’.”
Comrade Bene’s humour was infectious and she had a unique way of driving home her point that would make the uninitiated very uncomfortable. In her tribute, Ayesha Imam, with whom Comrade Bene served in the executive committee of Women In Nigeria (WIN) noted, “Bene was warm-hearted and generous. But she did not suffer fools gladly and was often earthy in her responses. Told cooking is for women, she retorted, ‘And is it her vagina she will use to cook soup?’ Informed that analysis and policymaking are for men, she responded that ‘he must have made that analysis with his penis’.”
Comrade Bene had no reservations about her position as revolutionary feminists. “I am an absolutely confirmed feminist, with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts,” she argued. “I am a feminist by choice and conviction, passionate about total enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights, human freedoms and expression of one’s sexual identity without restriction but with information and services to do so in a healthy way. I am passionate about combating gender discrimination and insensitivity in whatever forms. I am a committed human rights defender and work in defence of victims of sexual abuse and all other forms of violence against women and girls.”
“In our daily work as feminists, we face male chauvinism arising from a fear of women sharing the same decision-making seats as men. We are bombarded by this excuse of ‘culture’ which is rarely called upon except when it is used to enforce sexism, the suppression of female sexuality and the oppression of women. As feminists, we are working collectively to ensure that all African women and girls are able to live safe, healthy lives and to make informed and empowered choices about their own bodies.”
Fifty years ago this year, in Lagos, Comrade Bene was among a group of young Nigerians, including Comrades Biodun Jeyifo (BJ) and Edwin Madunagu (Eddie) who “resolved and committed themselves to the revolutionary transformation of Nigeria on the platform of workers’ power, popular democracy and socialism.” Though that group of patriotic and progressive Nigerians is one person less today, it is heartwarming that Comrade Bene, even in ill-health, “remained faithful to the 1975 Lagos landmark resolution and its 1977 landmark re-endorsement in Calabar.”
Award-winning film, The Man Died, a feature film inspired by Wole Soyinka’s prison notes of same title, continues its global tour with a a three-some screening romp at the Cartharge Film Festival, which began on November 14, and will end 21st in Tunisia. This is as it is also slated to be at Luxor International Film Festival, Egypt in January.
According to a schedule released by the organisers of Carthage, the film will be screened at L’Opera Cinema on Sunday, December 15; at ABC on Monday, 16th and at Amilcar on the 17th — to a diverse audience of international festival attendees and the local audiences.
Founded in 1966, Carthage Film Festival (Journées cinématographiques de Carthage, or JCC), one of the oldest film festivals in the world, is renowned for attracting large casts of the best of global cinema family. It is reputed to champion the cause of African and Arab countries and enhancing Global South cinema in general. Organised by a committee peopled by professionals of the cinema industry, chaired by the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, the festival which began as a biennial, alternating with the Carthage Theatre Festival, became an annual event in 2014. Its main prize is the Golden Tanit named after the Carthaginian goddess Tanit. The 2024 festival is directed by Sonia Chamkhi, who has been on the seat since 2022.
Though yet to be officially released to the market, The Man Died, which since its “special-premiere” in July in Lagos to mark the Nobel laureate dramatist, poet, essayist and human/civil rights activist, Soyinka’s 90th birthday, has already won two awards – Best Screenplay Award at the 2024 African International Film Festival, AFRIFF, (November) and; Best Audience Choice Award at the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival, ENIFF.
Written by London-United Kingdom-based Bode Asiyanbi, directed by New York-US and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based Awam Amkpa and produced by Lagos, Nigeria-based Femi Odugbemi for Zuri24 Media, The Man Died stars a coterie of renowned names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, Sam Dede as Yisa, Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei(Prison Controller and Edmund Enaibe as Commissioner; and international actors, London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka), and Los Angeles, USA-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.
The film, continues to garner global critical acclaims, and is already programmed for Luxor International film Festival, Egypt in January; Jo’Burg Film Festival, SA (February); African Film Festival, New York, US (March), and FESPACO in Burkina Faso (March), among others. This is as it is also being reviewed by at least three major global streaming platforms, and international distribution channels.
It is being as being considered for special screenings at educational institutions in Florence, Italy; Abu Dhabi in the UAE; Jo’Burg, South Africa as well at Harvard University, Oxford University, and at Ithaca College, all in the USA, among others.
The film began its global tour in London in July as part of the Wole Soyinka at 90 celebration jointly organized and hosted by the Africa Centre and the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange, WSICE. It returned to same London in October as part of the African Film Festival, and also had an educational screening at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. It was screened on October 11 on the ‘Accra Streamfest’ bill of the “Labone Dialogues”, hosted by New York University, NYU Accra.
The film has also had a series of home runs including on October 5 at the Quramo Festival of Words, QFest 2024, Lagos; and the Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF on November 14.
Produced by Zuri 24 Media, The Man Died, according to the synopsis on its website — www.themandiedmovie.com — is the story of Wole Soyinka’s 27 months incarceration by the Nigerian government in 1967 at the cusp of the civil war. He was famously seeking a truce between Biafra and the Federal Government to allow time for a negotiated settlement of the conflict. It is fundamentally a personal account. Essentially, the subject found refuge from the brutality inflicted upon him by retreating into and living within his own mind. At times, he drifted about the frontiers of madness, hanging on to himself by a thread. At other times, he pondered, listened, and watched, like only the truly otherwise unoccupied can. Importantly, he managed to scrounge paper and a pencil from time to time and record his journey of ‘motionlessness.”
The director of the film, an actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American professor of drama, film, and social and cultural analysis at the New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi. Author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003), Awam is director of film documentaries and curator of photographic exhibitions and film festivals. He has also written several articles on representations in Africa and its diasporas, representations, and modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic films.
The Producer, an accomplished storyteller, content producer, filmmaker, and media scholar, Femi Odugbemi is the Founder/CEO of Zuri24 Media Lagos, producers of the film. His screen credits over 25 years in the creative industries span feature films, multiple drama TV series and documentaries. He was one of the founding producers of the daily soap opera Tinsel as well as Executive Producer of several popular TV soap operas, including Battleground; Brethren; Movement JAPA, and Covenant, among others. Also, producer of several award-winning documentaries and feature films, Odugbemi is Co-Founder/Executive Director of the IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
The 14th Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, has given the reason for the unveiling and transformation of the annual Olokun Festival to Olokun World Festival.
The Yoruba generalissimo made the disclosure at the grand finale of the 2024 edition of Olokun Festival at Suntan Beach, Badagry, Lagos.
Iba Adams said the week-long activities of the festival climaxed with the new initiative, adding that the Olokun Festival Foundation had the royal blessing and full support of the Akran of Badagry, Oba De Wheno Aholu Toyi, and other stakeholders of the ancient town, determined to advance the cause of the annual cultural fiesta, promoting it beyond the shores of Nigeria.
Adams, also the chief promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation, said the 2024 edition of Olokun festival was historic as it marked the beginning of a new chapter in the life of the organization.
He emphasized the need for cultural rejuvenation, stating that the OFF has a big projection to make Badagry a global world tourists destination and a replica of the Papaya tourist spot in Thailand.
“Today,,” Aare Adams said, “we are breaking a new ground in our cultural promotion activities as this festival will be formally unveiled as Olokun World Festival.
“We started the journey exactly 22 years ago today at Alpha Beach,and
today, Tuesday, October 22, is an important date in the calendar of Olokun Festival.
“For us as an organization, this is a big step in our desire to drive our cultural promotion programmes beyond the shores of Nigeria.
“It will earn the foundation the global respect as it opens a window of opportunities for Badagry to attract tourists and investors from all over the world.
“Today, it is our projection to explore the tourism potentials of Badagry.
“We intend to build a mini-stadium here in Badagry. It is our plan also to have our permanent site here in Badagry, where we will build a world-class hotel near the Olokun. The hotel will meet all global standard, with over 300 rooms for accommodations, and luxuries as well as three different halls for conferences and events. All these are our projections and future plans in Badagry.”
In his remarks, chairman of the planning committee of the 2024 Olokun Festival, Barrister Yinka Oguntimehin, said that the success recorded with the grand finale was the direct result of the collective efforts by all members of the committee.
He acknowledged the fatherly role of the chief promoter in making the epoch possible, even as he appreciated the guests for finding time to be part of the success story.
This year’s turnout, the organizers confirmed, was well over 50,000, with
more than 50 traditional rulers gracing the grand finale from Lagos,
Badagry and Republic of Benin, among others.
The Akran of Badagry, Oba De Wheno Aholu Toyi, was represented by five prominent Obas from the ancient town. Leading the monarchs
were: the Aholu of Akarakumo, Oba Nunayon Awogbemi Travil, the Aholu of Yafin Kingdom, and Oba Dr. Abiodun Whedoku Patinvoh.
The royal father of the day, who is also the Olowu of Owu Kuta in Osun State, Oba Adekunle Oyelude Makama, praised the Aare Onakakanfo for the new initiative, saying that the traditional institution under the Yoruba Obas will continue to support initiatives tailored toward the progress of Yorubaland.
The Oniladaba of Ladaba Kingdom, Oba Nureni Ebudola Odedina Alugbin, the Onirokun of Irokun Kingdom, Oba Buhari Ola Balogun, and the Onimapara of Mapara Kingdom, Oba Lateef Amodemaja.
Members of the Aare Onakakanfo Chiefs in Council, National Executive Council (NEC), National Coordinating Council (NCC), and OPC members from across the country attended the festival.
Being a playwright and writer across media, as expected, comes with its big bag of abundant blessings and burdens. The blessings, I confess, many times far outweigh the charge. It is what I love doing. Many are not that blessed, doing what they love and getting paid for it. Fortunately, my job comes with the incredible bonus of meeting people, not to mention the occasional free drink.
So, you can imagine my pleasure, sitting down with one of Nigeria’s best, in the person of the incomparable Bimbo Manuel, actor per excellence, published playwright, voice over artiste, theater director and excellent gentleman, among a few other things.
Venue of the chance meeting was the popular beehive of the arts that has very quickly become a melting pot for artistes and the consumers of their fares, the Terra Kulture on Victoria Island, Lagos.
It is theater season across the country and I am glad to again connect with friends in the business – though I have gone on to other things, I have somewhat remained connected, writing the occasional piece about what is happening in that corner of the world. It is ever so exciting. Theater is a natural habitat for me, so you will understand my excitement.
This season is made particularly more exciting because the entire arts and adjunct communities are preparing for a most unique theater experience, the maiden edition of the Lagos International Theater Festival, starting 15th November and running for all of three days till 17th November, 2024 – music, drama, dance galore!
Though there are a couple of other theater festivals across the country, this is massive and I do not think there has been anything like it in Lagos in a long while. There will be amazing live theater playing across four iconic venues, Terra Arena, Agip Hall at Muson, Glover Hall and the University of Lagos, produced by some of the finest in the local theater family with some truly international flavors thrown in from the United States, South Africa and some other countries for juicy variety.
Truly promising! A theater goers delight with so much to choose from!
Beyond the opportunity to watch excellent theater, it is of particular appeal for the cultural promise it holds and the potential exposure it will provide emerging talents in play writing, directing, acting and technical theater to connect with a huge and varied audience of patrons, connoisseurs, brand association hunters, students and more.
It promises to be a fiesta!
I must be quick to mention here that though the Lagos International Theater Festival is independent, credit for the novelty and entire idea must go to the visioner, Bolanle Austen-Peters of the BAP Productions/Terra Kulture fame who seems to have held the entire theater business in a vice grip since her entree with Saro The Musical about thirteen years ago.
So, I sidled up to Bimbo Manuel, sitting in the lush garden of Terra, while he sips his dark coffee. This chance meeting was an absolute jackpot not even the casually interested should pass up. I smiled. He smiled back. I saw my opening and took it.
I engaged him instantly.
Pleasantries over, in what I now think is his usual reserved style, he told me that he was there to discuss his participation in the Lagos International Theater Festival. It was a good opening and I took it!
‘Am I naive to think that you older folks are beyond these ‘festivals and stuff…?’
‘
Dr. Bisi Adigun
Oh no! You see, I write, I act and I produce theater. I have also worked with Bolanle Austen-Peters. I know the meticulous attention she pays to details. If it is not going to be the best, she will not commit to it. It is understandable therefore why some of us the older hands would commit to being a part of the festival – we knew from the point of announcement that if it is Terra, it will be top notch.
‘Theater is the winner for it then…?’
‘For me, there is no better time for Nigerian theater to make a statement and this festival, with its competent management so far, reassures that confidence with good grace and articulation’.
‘You want to tell me about the piece you have entered for the Festival or you are keeping it close to your chest for now’?
‘Oh no…nothing to be mysterious about…’, he said, ‘Our piece is titled, ‘THE CALL’, written by me and I am producing for our company, Cheeky Dog Productions Ltd. We have been allocated the Agip Hall, Muson, Onikan, Lagos where we will have two shows at the same time over two days, Saturday ,16th, and Sunday 17th October 2024, at 5.30pm each day. We are already preparing on the play…’
‘The Call’…sounds rather cryptic. Why the choice of this one…it’s a new play?, I asked.
Bimbo Manuel
‘Yes, it is one of my newest pieces and has not ever been performed anywhere. This is its world premiere. ‘The Call’ is a two-man piece and has been carefully selected from among my fair-sized body of stage plays for its unique theme, to depart from the usual theater fare that audiences have come to expect. Besides, what will be true theater if it does not challenge old beliefs or interrogate them using new arguments, present the unexpected!’
You want to tell me a little about this unexpected or…?’
Laughing.
‘Why not…?’, flashing that smile that hides the brilliant creative mind behind his usually gentle, almost shy demeanor, ‘You see, ‘The Call’ is the unanticipated! It is themed around the Ten Commandments of the Christian Bible. The main character is ‘Evangelist Tosin’, who, unable to find any other job after a First Class degree in Biochemistry, grudgingly accepts to work in a lounge where he serves men and women he considers sinners alcohol, a man who has struggled through life and has arrived at a point where he begins to question God who he believes ‘called’ him in the first place’
‘Interesting…’ He seems to become animated as he discusses the story.
‘However, out of reverence for God, he cannot really bring himself to query or rebel against God but he manages to find roundabout ways of reminding God that as God’s own evangelist, working in a ‘beer parlor’, the embarrassment is his alone and that God can intervene by blessing him as He did the famous Jabez. Then, during one of those vague prayers, God visits him at home, just as he gets ready to go to work!’
‘You’re kidding! I would be scared! God in my house?!’ He smiled and continued:
‘Oh he is scared alright and of course, unbelieving! But quickly overcoming his natural fear, doubt, suspicion, he has to answer the question most of us would ordinarily not be able to answer if God were to ask : ‘What exactly do you want from Me?’
‘That is God asking the Evangelist…?’
‘Yes. And the conversation that follows is totally unexpected, the twists and turns only imagined until…
I waited with bated breath but he was not revealing more. We both laughed.
So, I asked him, ‘Aren’t you slightly concerned that some may consider it religious?’
‘That’s the whole point. Offer the audience, the unexpected, something fresh, something they think they know but presented in a way that dislocates their preconceptions! ‘The Call’, though uses a Christian theme, is expertly written and packaged to appeal to a cross-section of society with life lessons, driven by mature comedy and loads of familiar sing-along choruses. The audience can expect a lot to laugh about…even ourselves and our secret thoughts!’
The actors? Are you following the new tradition of bringing stars to perform on stage?’
‘Well, I guess that depends entirely on your definition of ‘star’. In theater, unlike film and television, there are no ‘stars’, just pure professionals and we are working with some of the very best hands in the business. The play is being masterfully directed by the scholarly Bisi Adigun, a maestro of the theater, who has a good grasp of the theme and text, with Deinmoara James, one of my proteges as Stage Manager. For a two-man piece, you have to carefully cast your actors and our cast is absolute top drawer with the peerless Toyin Oshinaike, one of the very best in the business as The Evangelist Tosin and incredibly gifted Ropo Ewenla as the ‘Voice of God’. I am producing for Cheeky Dog Productions Ltd.
‘Hmm…playwrights are usually very sensitive about their works, especially the new ones…why are you not directing it yourself?
‘Er well, yes. Playwrights are usually very sensitive about who interprets them, at least I am. So, a couple of reasons I am not directing this…Bisi Adigun was one of the first to read it and has since then insisted on a chance to direct it. I consider that a compliment. I could not have refused him. Secondly, he is a very competent gentleman with wide experience in the theater in Dublin, Ireland, England and the United States. I knew I could trust him. I also needed to be able to step aside and see what life-form we create under someone else’ direction, free of my influence. The added benefit of all that is that, knowing the story is in good hands, leaves me free to give more to producing the play and ensure its quality presentation’
‘Wow! When and where did you say it is showing again?’
‘The Call’ will be showing at 5.30pm on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November, 2024, at the Agip Hall, Muson, Onikan Lagos…
‘Funding…support?’
Theater has always been the poorer cousin of the media and big credit must go to those men and women, businesses and brands who recognize the class and mileage theater attracts. We have been lucky in some regard. A few of our friends have been standing by us, with encouraging words and sometimes support in cash and kind. Though we still struggle, we are grateful to those men and women.
‘Any final words…?’
Our tickets are already available and selling fast at https://paystack.com/buy/the-call. If you buy a ticket, two tickets, ten tickets to watch ‘The Call’, beyond the pleasure of watching the play, you would also have contributed to the growth and sustenance of the theater!
A firm handshake.
‘Thank you for talking to me, sir’
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Senator George Akume, CON, will this week lead dignitaries to the launch of two books written by the renowned poet, journalist and scholar, Tunde Olusunle. The governors of Kogi, Usman Ododo; Taraba, Kefas Agbu; Sokoto, Ahmad Aliyu-Sokoto and Zamfara, Dauda Lawal, PhD, will also be in attendance. Elder statesmen including Emeritus National Security Adviser, (NSA), General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, GCON; former Governor of Anambra State and immediate past Minister for Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, CON, *(Onwa)* and Ranking Senator and former Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe will honour the event. Pre-eminent economist, journalist and pioneer Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, FNGE, CON, and the immediate past Minister for Sports Development, Hon Sunday Dare, *(Omi olota)*, will also grace the event.
The books on the bill are: *Orisirisi: Vistas on Contemporary Politics in Nigeria,* a *470-page* anthology of *60 essays,* while the second, *Toasts, Tributes and Wreaths* is a *308-page* volume of *46 essays.* Respected newspaper columnist and former Media Adviser to President Bola Tinubu during his years as governor, Segun Ayobolu who wrote the Foreword to *Orisirisi* notes that it is a kaleidoscope “of the many ills that incapacitate our country today.” According to him, Olusunle opens up on “leadership ineptness, monsters corruption, pervasive poverty, galloping inflation and escalating indebtedness.”
In her appraisal of *Toasts, Tributes and Wreaths,* Professor Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju notes that the volume “masterfully weaves together an embroidery of stories, each thread representing a unique lifetime, a significant milestone and a profound moment in the existence of the narrative *personae.”* Oloruntoba-Oju who is an expert on African, Caribbean and African-American literatures, enjoins readers and literary aficionados to “be prepared to be captivated by the eloquence of Olusunle’s narrations.” This according to her is achieved through a painstaking blend of “research, journalism and prosaic skills.” The collection, she avers ‘is a testament to versatility and depth.”
The event is scheduled for Wednesday October 9, 2024, by 2pm at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Central Area, Abuja. Other dignitaries expected include former governors of Benue and Kogi states, Senator Gabriel Torwua Suswam, PhD, CON, and Captain Idris Ichalla Wada. Senator Ben Obi, CON, *Ojeligbo,* former Political Adviser to the President, and parliamentarians from Olusunle’s home in Kogi State, Senators Sunday Karimi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Services;
Barrister Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Jibrin Isah, will be at the function. Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Lola Ashiru, (Kwara) has also been invited to the programme. Also expected are Senators Osita Izunaso, (Imo); Okechukwu Ezea, (Enugu); Austin Akobundu, (Abia); Ned Nwoko, (Delta); Smart Adeyemi, CON and Dino Melaye.
Leke Joseph Abejide, Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Customs, (representing Yagba federal constituency will lead his colleagues, notably Dickson Tarkighir, (representing Makurdi/Guma federal constituency in Benue State) and Idris Salman representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency, also in Kogi State, to the event. *Orisirisi: Vistas on Contemporary Politics in Nigeria* and *Toasts, Tributes and Wreaths* will be reviewed at the event by Gbenga Ibileye, Professor of English, Member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, (MNAL) and *orator* of the Federal University Lokoja, (FUL).
Olusunle, an established and widely studied poet has three published volumes of poetry to his name. He also published two volumes of essays before the pair scheduled for launch. He served on the elite Editorial Board of the Daily Times and worked with three Kogi State Governors, civilian and military as Director of Information and Chief Press Secretary. He was a closet aide to former President Obasanjo, holds a doctorate in Media Arts and is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Abuja. He has authored and published dozens of rigorously researched academic papers in peer-reviewed Nigerian and foreign journals, books and festschrifts, especially on literature, media and communication.
As part of efforts to avail more Nigerians a glimpse into his new book, Writing for Media and Monetising It, Azu Ishiekwene, Editor-in-Chief of Leadership newspaper, will be holding a book reading session in Abuja this Wednesday, July 24.
A press statement he personally signed said the event will hold at the Rovingheights Bookstore in Area 11, Garki, by 5 p.m., and the event will be moderated by Channels TV top anchor, Maupe Ogun-Yusuf.
Writing for Media and Monetising Ithas received extensive and laudatory reviews since it was publicly presented on June 26, 2024, and is currently on sale in several locations in Abuja and Lagos.
The book’s cover, Writing for Media and Monetising It
Said Ishiekwene: “This author’s reading will allow me to deepen my engagement with readers, autograph copies, and reflect on how content creators, especially journalists, can get better rewards for their efforts, a theme at the heart of the book.”
According to the author, top journalists, including the Publisher of Premium Times, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, have already indicated interest in attending the event.
Abuja-based journalists in other media houses, including NATION, ThisDay, Vanguard, TRUST, PUNCH, Guardian, LEADERSHIP, and journalists in the broadcast media, are also expected to attend.
(Book Excerpt: Proshare, BEYOND PROFIT by Tosin Adeoti)
I got an advanced copy of “Proshare, BEYOND PROFIT—How a Nigerian Company Built a Culture of Credibility,” by Tosin Adeoti, an exciting, well-put-together 364-paged corporate biography of Proshare, a company founded by my friend, Olufemi Awoyemi. The book presentation is on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at CIBN Hall, Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos by 11a.m.
Let me bring you a small aspect of the book, subtitled “Moneywise.” It’s an offshoot story on how individual differences, disagreements, personality clashes and “clash of cultures” between two founding entrepreneurs ended in their parting ways which impacted on Moneywise, “a weekly personal finance publication that pioneered print personal finance and investment finance reporting in Nigeria.” The two founders are Olufemi Awoyemi and Ayo Arowolo. Awoyemi, the hero of this book would later start Proshare, described in the book cover jacket as “a unique model of sharing credible financial news and predicting outcomes for Nigerian financial markets, solely using the unreliable internet facilities of the early 2000s.” I was pleasantly surprised to find my name and that of my late friend Dimgba Igwe in the book described as “welcoming ally” who assisted Moneywise in our time as Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director of The SUN.
***
PROSHARE
The year 2003 saw the formal creation of a corporate entity called P2P Media Limited, publishers of Moneywise, a weekly personal finance publication that pioneered print personal finance and investment finance reporting in Nigeria. Femi Awoyemi established the company in partnership with Ayo Arowolo, an award-winning journalist and former managing director of Financial Standard, which was one of the country’s foremost financial print publications at the time. The two entrepreneurs were both seasoned professionals with the skill and experience to analyse the Nigerian capital markets, and they were prudent enough to begin their new business by starting small.
The company commenced full operation in Awoyemi’s 5-bedroom duplex at Omole, Lagos. The decision to use his duplex was reached when cash flow threatened to become a problem for their fledgling business. This way, both founders could save money on rent and channel the same into running the start-up to offset the realities of surviving a harsh printing business climate. Since the building was also within walking distance of the Omole office, significant costs were also saved in terms of transportation.
The Moneywise office had a staff strength of about 20, most of whom were journalists. Awoyemi was particularly pleased with the office library, which was populated by a lot of Ayo’s old books and newer finance books and well patronized by the staff. He felt it was very forward-thinking because, although he had worked in banks and other conglomerates, Moneywise was the first place he worked that had a proper library. Moneywise was highly influential at that time, with testimonies from all over the country on the impact that the newspaper was having on personal finances. Ayo Arowolo created Moniplexes, a tool for financial testing, which the company soon made available to help people assess how well they were managing their finances. Awoyemi acted as the CEO and managing director of Moneywise, while Ayo was its managing editor. With Ayo challenging and encouraging him, he realized that they could do much more.
But ultimately, they experienced issues in their partnership, and there are several conflicting accounts of the reasons for the friction, depending on who is asked. Unearthing the exact truth of the Moneywise issues may well be impossible, considering how much time has passed and how coloured individual accounts are based on bias and sentiments for each half of the duo. The author’s attempt to reach Ayo Arowolo for comments proved abortive.
Still, there is no doubt that there were some personality clashes between Monewise’s founding partners. Arowolo reportedly did not like some of the changes that Awoyemi wanted because he thought they were impulsive. While Awoyemi thought that an amazing writer like Ayo would benefit from working in a practice-structured environment that allowed them to write outside the box. Ayo was of the opinion that Awoyemi was not putting all his energy into the running of the company because of his numerous absences from the country and ideas that challenged conventional wisdom.
Peter Obiora, Proshare’s head of news and investigation from 2008-2010 who was also at Moneywise at the time, describes the situation as a lack of synergy between the ideas of two brilliant men: “They had different interests and ideas; it was basically conservatism versus dynamism. Their methods of idea execution differed markedly. Awoyemi was more modern and forceful. He was a man of ideas that had value and was always looking for more ways to create revenue. But Mr. Arowolo was more stoic, and he preferred to run Moneywise in the time-tested tradition of how a regular newsroom would function.”
There was also a clash of cultures. Awoyemi was of the opinion that the leadership was better served by mingling with the elite of society to improve the finances of the company, with activities that included joining private member clubs in Lagos. He felt that to get the latest trends and scoops in the financial industry, those were the places to be. Ayo, being devout and more conservative in nature, believed that the company ought to concentrate on creating value through products and services and that innovation in news coverage was the way to go. He believed that embracing the nightlife would necessarily expose him to vices contrary to his beliefs. While both approaches had merit, the partners found themselves struggling to find a middle ground and never reached a compromise. Even though the direction both partners wanted to go were so different, Moneywise’s reach in the first six months of its operation exceeded their expectations and, with it, revenue. With sales going well, the journalists and staff clamoured for more newspapers to be printed so they could reach even more people, an idea that took off brilliantly. Reputable people started approaching them about investing in the company itself, and they got to partner with distinguished men and women such as Pastor Sam Adeyemi of Daystar Christian Centre, who wrote columns. Ayo had interviewed him much earlier in his career, and they stayed in touch. Working with personalities like Sam Adeyemi gave Moneywise great credibility among a whole new demographic since, as a pastor, he had always preached the gospel of success.
Ayo also later played the role of editor-in-chief of Moneywise’s Personal Finance publication that was published in The SUN newspapers, a pioneering collaborative publishing partnership that ran until 2005. This was an idea mooted to bridge the gap between the growing cost of printing and the need for reach. Moneywise found in Mike Awoyinfa and the late Dimgba Igwe a welcoming ally, which allowed for experimentation.
At the height of the company’s growth, there was talk about competing with established brands. Awoyemi, however, did not want to compete with other publications. He wanted to Moneywise to carve a niche as the premier personal finance brand in Nigeria, an underserved blue ocean in the economy. To him, collaboration was the way to go, as printing could not survive the oncoming technological advances that were converging on models.
The book, Working with Buhari: Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015 – 2023) is authored by Mr. Femi Adesina (Safari Books, 2023), the author states his intention immediately. The 30-chapter book showcases the man, Muhammadu Buhari, his motivations, thoughts and achievements in the eight years of his administration. It also gives an account of Mr. Femi Adesina’s service to the man whom he describes as the honest man – “Mai Gaskiya”. So in the preface, Adesina states that his book “is the Buhari story from the perspective of someone who served him from the very first day in office to the last…an eyewitness report …about the Buhari software not the hardware.” And right from the first chapter, the author sticks out his neck by stating that his love for Buhari dates back to 1983 when he was military head of state. He avers that Buhari got his support immediately when he entered partisan politics, believing that with Buhari in the saddle, Nigeria would regain the paradise lost in August 1985.
The author believes in the Buhari phenomenon because of his history of high-handed handling of Nigeria when he held the reins of power along with Babatunde Idiagbon in 1983. He seems convinced that a tough person like the Buhari of the 1980s would help Nigeria to develop faster, arguing that like Nigeria, any country serious about development needs “some sort of benevolent dictatorship somewhere and sometime” in its history. (p1)
He writes about the electoral explorations of Muhammadu Buhari in 2003, 2007 and 2011, the last of which he had vowed never to contest again. But the 2015 presidential election was different, especially for Buhari, because he won. But for a man who never wanted to work for government, Femi Adesina receives a midnight call on April 1, and after some moments of introspection, he eventually takes the appointment of Special Adviser, Media and Publicity. This is essentially because for someone who has been selling Buhari to Nigerians as honest, it was going to be hypocritical to refuse to serve in that government.
In the third chapter of Working with Buhari, Femi Adesina recalls the events and intrigues that led to the emergence of Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Yakubu Dogara as Speaker, House of Representatives on June 9, 2015. He avers that this made the APC an opposition to itself, and “government was hobbled, impeded by an uncooperative National Assembly” (p24).
In chapter four, Mr. Adesina’s preoccupation is the wailing wailers, an expression he coined for people who had resolved (p33) “to oppose APC and Buhari all the way” and used as their tool, “the media, traditional and digital, where they engaged in endless ululation.” In the perception (p34) of the author, these wailing wailers “just decided to wail as much as possible through all media of mass communication, thinking they would then do Buhari and his party the maximum damage.”
The book provides explanation of the Buhari WAEC certificate saga in detail in chapter five. He also provides clarification as to why his team stopped presidential media chats, essentially because people always misread the president’s responses. And that they mostly encouraged the president to speak to international press because it was less hostile, but this was also stopped too, because of allegations that he was always only talking to foreign media. Also in the book, Adesina discusses the Buhari administration’s feisty encounters with the media. In chapter eight, Femi Adesina recalls how the media in Nigeria had perceived Muhammadu Buhari during the military era, especially false claims circulated about missing funds in the petroleum ministry when Buhari was minister. He recalls that this frosty relationship was carried over into the civilian government of President Buhari, with reference to the celebrated cases with The Punch newspaper.
While it is important to note that journalists posted to the State House must hold high premium professional ethics and conduct, Mr. Adesina controversially argues (p109) – along with Chief Duro Onabule, a veteran – that it is “a privilege, not a right for a news medium to cover the Presidential Villa.”
In chapter six, the author brings out his long multi-finger horsewhip and lashes out at the leaders of the Christian religion. He digs out their files of hate against candidate Buhari in the 2015 presidential election, and years after until he left office in 2023. He mentions the big general overseers in the Nigerian church and their campaign against Buhari with their pulpits, to their congregants. He lashes out very strongly at their vitriol and hate sermons against the man, contrary to the dictates of the Holy Bible. He mentions their names one after the other, both big and small, and notes their misinformation, disinformation and outrageous, unholy and unfulfilled prophecies against Buhari and curses they rained on him and his government. Without any apologies, the author declares them enemies of the nation who do not preach the word of God but preached “from their own Bibles”.
As would be expected, Mr. Femi Adesina dedicates a whole chapter of the book to the months of the president’s battle with health challenges and the various battles that he himself fought while speaking for the president at that time. He also discusses in that chapter the Jubril of Sudan narrative that flooded the country at that time. This chapter is indeed full of information and intrigues.
In the book, the author gives the reader a glimpse of the relationship that exists between Muhammadu Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in chapter ten. He includes the media team’s persuasion that the letters of the later should be responded to, and why Buhari was always reluctant in doing that, out of respect for his senior in their military days. And in the next chapter, Femi Adesina gives us Buhari’s brief perception of former heads of state and important personalities including Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Goodluck Jonathan, and Lt General Theophilus Danjuma. In chapter twelve, the author presents a medley of Muhammadu Buhari’s thoughts on some socio-political issues like Godwin Emefiele and Naira redesign, allegation of Fulanisation and sundry others.
In the fourteenth chapter of the book, Mr. Adesina explains that serving Buhari was not as difficult as people thought. It was only all about engaging the “Babel of voices” bent on distracting the president. In fact, the author writes (Pp192-193) that it was not difficult managing Brand Buhari because he was “as straight as an arrow, clean as a whistle, and there were no dark corners in his life.” He beats his chest and sticks out his neck to testify that President Buhari neither had secret local or foreign accounts, nor secret houses, old or new that needed “covering up or explaining away.” Buhari “always said what he meant and meant what he said,” therefore there was no reason “to start explaining and twisting. … So, it was very easy to manage him.”
Remember that a key theme in the book is the author’s showcase of the achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The whole of chapter sixteen, spanning about 80 pages is dedicated to this. The chapter (Pp207-285) is aptly titled “Buhari’s Achievements: Facts are Stubborn Things”, and therein the author highlights in great detail all of Buhari’s achievements across all sectors including legislative reforms, infrastructure, digital economy, agriculture and solid minerals, diplomacy and international relations, among others. An additional section (chapter twenty-five) chronicles Buhari as a finisher of projects he inherited from the previous administration.
Other sections of this voluminous book contain issues of national security, what other world leaders said about Buhari. As a curious Nigerian, one might love to know how Buhari received the “Emilokan” speech of then aspirant Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The details are in chapter twenty. The next chapter contains details, purposes and dates of President Buhari’s over 50 foreign travels, including the ones that had to do with his health. Then the author describes for us the final days of the Muhammadu Buhari administration before handing over on 29th May 2023, as well as his own homecoming detailed in chapter twenty-seven.
In the chapter, Homecoming, Mr. Adesina writes (p397) that he is thankful to God for returning home after eight years, in one piece: “Bruised in some ways, but with head unbowed from the onslaught of the Wailing Wailers.” He also details out all the groups and persons who welcomed him back and all the nice write ups published in his honour.
Indeed this 488-page work is a clear testament to a golden 8-year stewardship by a media maestro and gallant service to President Buhari by Mr. Femi Adesina. It is a really loaded work with something for everyone, including his friends and foes. It is also a rich portrait of President Buhari, with colourful close-up views of the man, his government, his governance style and his unreported sides. This is a book for all.
Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via [email protected], on X @miketunbosun and +234-802-351-7565 (SMS only)
Truly promising! A theater goers delight with so much to choose from!
