AT 85, life goes on for Olusegun Osoba, the Aremo Awujale of Ijebu land, the Akinrogun of Egba land, veteran journalist, renowned administrator, astute politician, and two-time governor of Ogun State.
Since the Third Republic, no other governor of the Gateway State has dwarfed his record, personality and honour as a community man, nationalist, patriot, experienced actor, and in Yoruba parlance, an Omoluabi – a thoroughbred.
Osoba has been a household name in Nigeria even before he became a governor. He remains a foremost journalist, indeed a Senior Advocate of Journalism who, along with his colleagues – Felix Adenaike and the late Peter Ajayi – earned the sobriquet ‘The Three Musketeers’ from the indomitable Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
His strength lies in his power of ideas, hard work, fidelity to labour and principle, perseverance, social networks, continuous learning, and divine grace. There is also an element of luck and the supernal intervention of destiny.
Osoba was groomed by the doyen of journalism, the late Alhaji Babatunde Jose. The plain truth is that his potentials were not hidden. The eminent journalist was humble enough for his seniors to select him for grooming.
As a politician, Osoba is a progressive to the core. Although he has friends and admirers across conservative and radical organisations, he has maintained his lane in the spectrum of political ideas as an advocate of change, and improvement in social welfare and progress.
Like his other colleagues in this school of thought, he is also passionate about the country’s future. He has enlisted in the school of federalism, which he believes is suitable for a highly heterogeneous country like Nigeria to ensure peaceful co-existence among the diverse ethnic groups and to foster unity in diversity across the country.
In the botched Third Republic, he was governor under an inexplicable diarchy, when the Evil Genius, Military President Ibrahim Babangida, converted Nigeria into a political laboratory for his experimentation. It was when Osoba returned as Ogun State’s chief executive in 1999 that he had the freedom to implement his development agenda with the scarce resources available to his administration.
After getting out of power in 2003, Osoba and his colleagues – Lam Adesina (Oyo State), Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo), Adebisi Akande (Osun), Adeniyi Adebayo (Ekiti), and Bola Tinubu (Lagos) – were able to walk freely on the streets without the anti-graft bodies harassing them for misuse of public funds, unlike some of their counterparts in other geo-political zones who are still struggling to salvage their battered reputation, 21 years after leaving office.
A man who has become an open book, Osoba will roll out the drums today for his birthday. The major highlight of the ceremony at the Eko Hotels and Suites on Victoria Island is the presentation of his new book, titled: Segun Osoba: My Life in Public Eye, which trails the previous semi-autobiography: Battlelines: Adventures on Journalism and Politics.
Born in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, his name, Olusegun (God has conquered), was suggested to his parents by his maternal uncle, Apostle Ayodele Babalola, who he also spent his holidays with at his spiritual base in Efon-Alaaye. The name stuck. On all counts, particularly during his illustrious but sometimes turbulent journalism career, he triumphed; Olusegun conquered.
The blessing of the Apostle was also at work when he escaped from Sani Abacha’s goons who, out of desperation, torched his Abeokuta house. He was lucky, unlike Chief Alfred Rewane, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, Admiral Emanuel Olu Omotehinwa, Dr. Sola Omatshola, and Tosin Onagoruwa, who were assassinated by the Abacha killer squad.
From his days at Methodist Boys’ High School in Lagos, his head teacher, Rev. Ade Osinulu, noted him for combining “disciplined rascality with seriousness in leadership”. That trait he manifested, even as a reporter.
The turning point for Osoba was in 1964. Armed with his A Level Certificate, he joined the famous Daily Times where he was trained by Guy Walls, a Training Manager from Daily Mirror of London. He quickly learnt on the job, earning the commendation of his Editor, Peter ‘Pan’ Enahoro. Osoba was nominated for the International Press Institute (IPI) course at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) at Akoka. Later, he proceeded to the Commonwealth Press Union in the United Kingdom, Indiana State University at Bloomington in the United States, Nieman Fellowship Programme at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Thompson Foundation School for Journalism at Cardiff in England.
Osoba operated in the madhouse, as the newsroom was then called. There could be a shouting match over stories and deadlines. Technology was in its infancy in those days. In his book, he said: “You cannot be in the newsroom and not be temperamental.”
If any reporter boasts about getting scoops today, let him realise that it was Osoba’s pastime. He was a master of exclusives and he made his editors and newspapers proud. Osoba reported an expatriate, Patrick Chadwick, who slapped a Nigerian salesgirl, Adekunbi Adeite. It became a national issue. It provoked an industrial crisis at the United African Company (UAC), leading to Chadwick’s resignation and departure from Nigeria.
In 1966, Osoba discovered the bodies of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh on a Friday on Abeokuta road, following their assassination by coup plotters.
In February 1975, the military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, was toppled and a curfew was imposed. The situation created an opportunity for Osoba to shine again. Out of fear, reporters had shunned work. But he braved the odds and went to his office. He left his rented room in Surulere, dressed up without taking his bath, and drove straight to Daily Times office on Kakawa Street in Lagos. He was the Deputy Editor of the daily edition. He and Managing Director Jose had to produce the newspapers in the absence of the Editor, Areoye Oyebola.
Osoba called Gen. Emmanuel Abisoye on the phone and the military officer gave the editor the “load-down” on the choice of Gen. Murtala Ramat Mohammed as the new Head of State, the retirement of the service chiefs and other senior military officers in the ranks of Major General and equivalents. Osoba and Jose made clever moves during the curfew, giving copies of the Daily Times to soldiers at roadblocks. The soldiers allowed them easy passage. Those exclusives by Osoba gave the Daily Times an edge over other newspapers. It was an unforgettable event that continued to ring bells in the mind of Jose.
On August 1, 1975, Jose appointed Osoba the Daily Times Editor “in recognition of his undoubted dynamism and sound judgment in the finest tradition of journalism”.
All hell was let loose. Mass Communication and English Language graduates from the universities kicked, challenging the wisdom of picking Osoba, who got a diploma or certificate of training attendance, as they put it. By the time the crisis was resolved, the two sides were casualties.
Osoba’s next point of call was The Herald in Ilorin. There too, his power of sources became an invaluable advantage when he was the paper’s General Manager. He was always fated to be in the right places at the right time. While on a visit to the East Central State, he witnessed the arrest of Lt.-Col. Bukar Suka Dimka, the principal suspect in the assassination of former Head of State, Gen. Murtala Muhammed. Osoba was with Military Governor Atom Kpera in his office at Enugu when Police Commissioner Kafaru Tinubu called the governor to inform him that Dimka had been arrested by his men. Osoba saw the coup leader when he was brought to Gen. Kpera and he witnessed the preliminary interrogation by the governor. Osoba’s account of the arrest in The Herald was the best among all the newspapers the following day.
Osoba loves the news. If a reporter is going to interview him, he should be prepared for some drilling. His first question to the reporter, usually, is: what is in the news today? Or, what is the latest news in town? In the course of the interview, he would not allow you to proceed unless you ask follow-up questions, where necessary. Then, he would, by way of training, tell or assist you to frame your questions, not to his own advantage but in keeping with the best tradition of journalism – objectivity, originality, and balance.
His friends know that he is a journalist for life. Thus, at an event marking his 80th birthday at Eko Hotel and Suites on Victoria Island, Asiwaju Tinubu, now president of Nigeria, teased him, saying: “Anything you don’t want people to hear, don’t tell him (Osoba). He is a journalist.” Up to now, he is ever ready to support initiatives that will make the profession and practitioners to grow and wax stronger. To the Guild of Editors, Osoba, a fellow, is a father-figure.
His last four years as a practitioner was at the Daily Times, which was ironic; he bounced back as the paper’s Managing Director. At the same time, he served as the President of the Newspapers Proprietorship Association of Nigeria (NPAN).
Osoba endured persecution at the top government level, which he was used to. He overcame the hurdle. But by the time Babangida nominated him to the Constituent Assembly, it was evident that he was preparing for a new role in the polity.
In 1991, he fulfilled his destiny. But his tenure as a Social Democratic Party (SDP) governor of Ogun State under the inexplicable diarchy was short-lived. He, like other governors of the botched Third Republic, was booted out. He later enlisted in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) battle against the military over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 poll won by his Egba kinsman, the late Chief Moshood Abiola.
However, God ordered his steps back to Oke Mosan State House in Abeokuta, six years later on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). In 2003, Osoba and his colleagues – Jolly Nyame (Taraba State), Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe) and Abubakar Audu (Kogi) – won the battle to contest for governor for the third time.
The AD governors were the best in the country at that time. Yet, in their naivety, they were deluded into believing that they had a pact with President Olusegun Obasanjo on 2003 polls, whereby they would mobilise for him in the Southwest during the presidential election and he would not overrun them during the governorship poll. It was a miscalculation. The Awoist progressives and ideologues forgot the 1982 admonition of Awolowo in Yola that they should learn to dine with the devil with a long spoon.
The case of Osoba was worse. He was the most experienced governor in the Southwest between 1999 and 2003, having been elected before in 1991. The appellations of “Segun Agba” and “Segun Kekere” were invented, underscoring a sort of friendship. It paled into an imaginary friendship without basis. On poll day, Osoba and Obasanjo were together playing either Ayo Olopon (mancala) or Ludo. Osoba did not know that he was playing with a political foe who dragged the rug off his feet.
Then, a political earthquake swept through the Southwest. Only Lagos Governor Tinubu survived the political tsunami. Osoba lost office, but he did not lose his reputation.
Outside power, the former governor has peace of mind, along with his delectable wife, Derin, who, from the multitude of girlfriends back then, became the ultimate winner of Osoba’s heart and mother of their promising children.
The great politician has also been a consistent democrat and leader, held in esteem by his followers.
Osoba has been a supporter of Awo in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) days and stalwart of AD, ACN and APC. When he temporarily called it quits with APC over local political matters in Ogun State, he only identified with SDP and never defected to a conservative platform, until the day of reconciliation.
Today, as a journalist, he is bothered by fake news. His admonition to practitioners is that the wheat should always be separated from the chaff. As a statesman, Osoba is committed to true federalism, which Tinubu is addressing through reforms and judicial intervention. His prayer is a new lease of life for all Nigerians.
At 85, the Aremo is hale and hearty. His book that is being presented today will reveal more about yet unknown areas of his life and the disclosure will inspire those in public service, especially those who aspire to lead a life of integrity, creditably, and service to humanity.
