From primary to tertiary: My recollections (LXV)

There was nothing to discuss. All I had to do was to start planning for fatherhood. If I could have a plan for the reform of the Press Corps in Dodan Barracks, then I should know how to plan my personal life. Even if nobody had told me that my frequent “Ife shuttle” was going to end in a “3 am manner”, shouldn’t I have known that all “indoor services” always end “in praise?” I was jolted that night because my Bauchi pleasurable navigation created in me a “Bachelor for life illusion” not knowing that such illusion would soon come to a sudden termination.

The transition from boy to man is the most challenging reality of adulthood. That night, my head became a bakery of ideas. Sometimes, the unexpected can facilitate creativity. No wonder the Yoruba say: Ibi to ba le là nba ọmọkùnrin (a man’s bravery is measured by how he confronts the challenges of his life )”. I became a man instantly without any formal training. I felt my mental metamorphosis in my cognitive maturity without feeling any change in my physicality.

My brain quickly reset itself to start thinking like a man and end the “boy mentality” that was still left inside of me. In the course of our discussion, she revealed to me that the pregnancy was four months old but she never knew because her monthly”flag” was still flying. However, she had to consult her doctor when she was feeling funny physically. The long and short of the narrative was that I had five months to prepare for fatherhood. There was no more room for sensuous navigations. What it meant was that my Bauchi escapade was the only souvenir for my bachelor’s life reminiscing. Any further attempt in Epicurean indulgence could result in a flurry of “wen, wen harvests”. The pregnancy had become a befitting epaulette for my several expeditions to Ife.

Suffused with the currents of this new development, I returned to Lagos the same way I came. The harmattan was harsh just like the condition I met on ground. There was no take-away and no handout to make me smile. The wind was obviously against my soul. For the first time, I went back to Lagos oblivious of when there would be compensatory opportunity with everything now in a state of stagnancy as a result of the pregnancy. Really, the time for frolicking was over. It was time for brainstorming.

After my one week casual leave, I returned to Dodan Barracks, Monday, 24 November 1988 only to discover that my story on Maryam Babangida had caused a furore. Of all the newsmagazines that carried the story, it was only mine that got them jittery because they were wondering how I was getting the gists of what was going on in both Lagos and Abuja. This time around, I was sponsored to Abuja by my organization, Newbreed not Dodan Barracks. It was DC (Double Chief) who first congratulated me for a good story. I didn’t expect such compliments from him knowing how he used to scold reporters who wrote negative stories about the government. The CPS (Chief Press Secretary) always amazed me with the way he behaved towards me. First, he put me on a 10-day trip with the President to Bauchi. Now, he was complimenting me for what I perceived to be negative story against the government. Third, he had not invited me to his office to explain what I was up to by raising an alternate power bloc to challenge his “boys” in the coming election. I had my answers ready for him anytime he summoned me to his office. The most shocking of the encounters I had over the Maryam’s story was that of “Okon”, one of IBB’s finest PBGs.

There were three Presidential Bodyguards that were very close to IBB- Okon, Paul and Seye. They were IBB’s deadly snipers trained by the Mossad. He called me out of the Press Centre one afternoon to “discuss an important issue” with me. Normally, these guys were rarely seen outside discussing with anybody let alone a journalist. I was not comfortable as we stood outside the Press Centre. Even some of my colleagues were wondering what was going on. After about 15 minutes discussion, he left.

I continued with my mobilization for our team. Eventually, our group settled for Muhammed Baba as our Chairman against Duro Onabule’s preferred candidate, Rock Okocha of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). We settled for Muhammed Baba because I couldn’t contest for the Chairmanship being a staff of a private media organisation while Muhammed Baba worked for Radio Nigeria, Kaduna. I was to contest for the position of the Secretary against Isaac Ighure of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the preferred candidate of Chief Duro Onabule.

On the day of the election we defeated them. It was a landslide victory for my group all the way. It was only the Chairmanship election that was close. Rock was a jolly good fellow but that was not enough to make him win the election. He was my good friend too but because it was a revolution against government interference in our affairs, we couldn’t trust him being a government staff. Though Muhammed Baba also worked for the government, we knew that with me as the Secretary, Muhammed Baba was not going to be a threat and we could impeach him easily if he “grew wings”. Already, he was not a popular candidate but I was able to get him in with the support of most of my colleagues who believed in me and my leadership ability.

Nkem Agetua was in a hurry to hand over the affairs of the Press Corps to us. He was planning to leave the country either on holiday or a business trip. In less than one week, we had taken control of the Dodan Barracks Press Corps. We met with Chief Onabule as the new Exco. During our meeting with him, he opened up to us and dispelled all the rumours against him.

He started: “Let me first congratulate you guys for your victory in your last election. I am really happy for you. Dodan Barracks is the seat of the government of Nigeria, the power house and a very strategic place that houses the President of the country and members of his family. As the Chief Press Secretary to the President, I take responsibility for any action or activity of every correspondent deployed here. I don’t meddle in your affairs for as long as they don’t threaten the security of the government. I will like to commend you for conducting a peaceful election and the maturity displayed by both the winners and the losers. I want to let you know that the whole of Dodan Barracks including Mr President was aware of the election and its outcome. I am sure that very soon, you will receive a congratulatory message from the President”.

He looked calm and sober. He cracked jokes and also bantered with us. He told us to feel free to come to him anytime we felt like. Then this: “As much as my office is open to you, I don’t want you to come here and be talking about your colleagues or running them down. In short, I don’t want you to come and gossip about your colleagues here. If you come to gossip about anybody here be ready to face that person because I will call him or her to come and defend himself or herself. I am like a boss to everyone of you. I don’t want any division here. You are all one. I know some of you have confronted me on being sidelined in the President’s trips. I have explained to Dapo Thomas before your election that there are limited spaces for private media organizations after selecting the government team. I am seizing this opportunity to tell you that Dapo Thomas will be traveling to Ghana with the President in January 1989. You can see that it took him seven months before he could have the opportunity again”.

One of us told the CPS that he had never travelled at all with the President since he got to Dodan Barracks 3 years ago. He would like to know why Dapo Thomas has made two trips with the President in less than one year of getting to Dodan Barracks. “Do you want me to remove him for you”, Onabule inquired from the fellow. There was a general laughter. I laughed too even though I didn’t find it funny. Onabule further revealed: “Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to this one because it was the President himself who said he should be on the trip. Apart from the NTA and FRCN crew, Dapo is one of the two private correspondents going with the President. The two of them were chosen by the President himself. Wait for your turn”. We left his office with a very different impression of him.

At the close of work on that day, I went back to see the CPS for three reasons:
1. To solicit for his cooperation and support in this new task and to ask for his assistance in brokering a meeting with the President.
2. To apologize to him for having a very wrong impression of him.
3. To thank him for the Ghana trip even though he said it was the President that suggested my name.

We had a very constructive and engaging discussion. One personal issue I discussed with him was what transpired between Okon and I. I was amazed when he told me that he was aware. He told me in confidence that that may be the major reason the President put me on the Ghana trip. Before the details of the trip were made known by the President himself in a major speech he made on SAP and reducing government cost in his new year message on 1 January 1989, the CPS had already hinted me that we would all be going with the President in his jet as government was going to abolish advance teams. So, he said the President may or may not discuss it with me during the trip. I was glad that I went back to see him because we resolved so many misgivings and misperception about each other. Only the two of us were in his office when the discussion started but before we finished our discussion, he had invited two of his staff, O.J Abuah and Musa Aduwak as witnesses to some of the things he was telling me.

Now that my status had been enhanced with my election as the Secretary of Dodan Barracks Press Corps, it was necessary for me to start planning for a very classic society wedding that would be loud in Nigeria. Before I became the Secretary of the Press Corps, I was already very close to Governor Raji Rasaki of Lagos State, Col. Sasaenia Oresanya of Oyo state, Col. Chris Abutu Garuba of Bauchi State, Alhaji Alhaji, Minister of Finance, Col. Halilu Akilu, Greg Obong-Oshotse who was Maryam Babangida’s Press Secretary, and some other top government functionaries. The next thing was to set up a Committee of friends that would help in the organization of the wedding. It was not a formal Committee but those were my personal friends across all aisles. The list included Segun Fatuase, Kelechi Onyemaobi, Mikhail Mumuni, Tòkunbó Oloruntola, Dele Momodu, Wole Elegbede, Gboyega Okegbenro, Adedayo Aminu, Mubo Okosun, Christian Ochiama, Chris Agbambu, Festus Eriye, Kunle Ajibade, Goke Folayan, Yinka Dagunduro, Dayo Onatemowo, Akin Akinade, Tayo Adesina, Sànyà Awosan, Kunle Adepitan, Taju Olagesin, Yemi Ojo, Muyiwa Daniel, Emeka Igbo, Yinusa Lawal, Hakeem Sunmola, Anaele Ihuoma etc.

Our trip to Ghana was slated for second week in January 1989. The date for the wedding was Saturday, 8 April 1989. It was a risky choice because it was also the EDD month. The “Higher Education” notebook I bought for the purpose of jotting and noting everything relating to the wedding was almost full by January. We had not travelled to Ghana, the estacode had finished on paper. Theoretical money is always very easy to spend. The initial information was that we were traveling for six days with the President. I was so happy because it meant big estacode for me. I used five pages to calculate how I would spend the money and the items I would spend the money on only to discover that it was a rumour. Later, they said it was five days. I didn’t want to do any calculations again but it was difficult for me to resist the temptation of engaging in Snell’s Law of mirage or Law of refraction. Since the beginning of the new year, all my prayers were centred on Babangida and his family. I prayed for their good health and long life. Something I had never done since I got to Dodan Barracks. Now, I had to do it because of the Ghana trip. My entire humanity, spirituality and physicality was on the Ghana’s estacode. Nothing must happen to Babangida, his wife and his children.

Since I got to Dodan Barracks in the last one year, the President had cancelled up to four trips, local and foreign. I bound any form of calamitous cancellation during my own turn. I needed the money very crucially and very critically. It was dreadful to start thinking of doing any serious planning for the wedding on my meagre monthly salary of 1800. Meanwhile, that was the best salary in the industry. Where would I start from if the Ghana trip was cancelled? Even if I decided to fast for three months and save my salary for the period, the total would be N5,400. Was that the kind of money I would use for a society wedding that would attract all my social and political friends all over the country? Impossible. Babangida must go to Ghana.

Two weeks to the new year, we were invited to the office of the CPS to come for our Christmas “handout”. That was the fourth time we would be given such gift since I resumed in Dodan Barracks. They gave us during the two Muslim festivals for the year and during the Easter celebration. Now, it was time for Christmas handout. I couldn’t really say if the money was from the President or from “Double Chief”. I personally assumed that it must be a gift from “Double Chief” . My reason was that it was impossible and insulting for the President to be giving us 300 or 400 Naira as festival gift. Some of us were fathers and mothers with two, three children. So, it must be “Double Chief” giving us the money from his running cost. Besides, he was the one calling us to his office one after the other and sharing the money for us personally. Actually, it was one of the issues we wanted to discuss with the President-our welfare- as the new Exco. The only welfare we enjoyed as Dodan Barracks Correspondents was the trips we made with the President. Our colleagues in other beats were always envious of us thinking that we were “swimming” in money in Dodan Barracks not knowing that there was not a single “swimming pool” in Dodan Barracks.

Finally, it was time for the Ghana trip. Needless to say that for the first time in my life, I was flying in the Presidential jet with the President in it. I was sitting very close to Wole Coker, the NTA Chief Cameraman in Dodan Barracks. I was sure that if the President decided to chat with us, as he sometimes did, he would definitely come to my side to conclude what Okon came to discuss with me at the Press Centre.

To be continued