Areoye Oyebola, one time editor of Daily Times of Nigeria and a former commissioner in the old Oyo State, shares his life experiences in this interview with ADEOLA BALOGUN
How do you spend your time in retirement?
When you are a very busy person and you are blessed with a good health by God, you are deliberately shortening your life if you go into full retirement and you are idle most of the time. It hastens elderly people’s death, especially somebody like me that has been very busy in life. I am still very active working on my publications; I publish my books on diverse subjects like mathematics and English and arrange their circulation. I still publish my timeless book, Blackman’s Dilemma and other historic books on Ibadan. I am also busy with the work of God; I have a ministry and a church at Oluyole industrial area. As the founding president and chairman of Ibadan Action Council, I am very involved in that also. You can not be idle especially when God has blessed you with good health.
Why did you as an Economics graduate go into journalism in the 60s?
I remember that even in my primary school days, I had noted that I had a gift for writing. For many years, I used to keep my notebooks on English language which I used in primary school. When I was in secondary school, the last notebook I used in Standard Six had flawless English which I was very proud of. I came first in St Paul’s Anglican School, Yemetu, Ibadan; I was one of the first four in the Anglican schools around Ibadan then. To me, writing is natural although I took time to improve myself. When I was at Ibadan Grammar School, I wrote articles in our school magazine called The Mountaineers. I was part of a team that went to Ilesa on bicycle in those days when I was in Form 3. We slept over in Gbogan and eventually when we arrived, we slept at Ilesa Grammar School. I wrote the story of the excursion in the magazine, describing vividly how ladies admired us and shook our hands as if we were wonderful people. And when I was in Form 3 also, Mrs. Kemi Morgan, the daughter of the founder of Ibadan Grammar School (and wife of the chief judge of the Western Region) who was our teacher, advised me that I should get something called a topical notebook and write down any interesting construction I came across and go over them regularly to become part of me. Even as editor of Daily Times, I still kept to her advice and I found it to be very useful. When I was in the university too, I used to write articles in the school magazines and even for national newspapers. Opportunity came later to really write as an Economics teacher in Ibadan Grammar School which sponsored me when I was elected as the leader of the NCNC youth in the Western Region. I was also elected as chairman of Opara Youth Brigade, a position that led me to become a co-chairman of the United Progressive Grand Alliance youth wing. All this made me to be very much involved in the post Wetie period in the Western Region. My colleague was Ayo Fasanmi, a pharmacist and we were given a mandate to make Western Region ungovernable. At times when I look at the risks I took, I marvel how I survived. I was writing everyday and my write-ups were published widely by The Tribune which was a centre of resistance. Four of us wrote a book, Economics of West Africa; the present Oba of Ilesa, Adekunle Aromolaran, Boluwaji Olaniyan, Alabi Ogun and myself, all of us ex UItes. When I was teaching at Olivet High School, Oyo, I saw the advertisement that Daily Times wanted candidates as graduate trainees and I applied. I topped the list of all the candidates and my predecessor in office, Chief Henry Odukomaiya, was my teacher in Daily Times training school. He was the one who coordinated the recruitment and he told me that I got the appointment by chance. He said he felt it might not be fair to poach one of the brightest writers from The Tribune especially. He thought I was an employee of Tribune without knowing that I was only contributing from outside. I told him that I was not working with them but was just writing as a passion. He told me later that the panel was surprised that I didn’t negotiate for more pay or a loan. They said they were surprised that I accepted the salary they offered me.
Why did he say that?
By then, I was an author and I joined Daily Times with a car. When I showed my salary to my principal at Olivet, who was one of the highest paid then, he said what Daily Times offered me was far higher than his own salary. And when I got to Daily Times, I was contributing to all titles and I make bold to say that my impact was felt. At a point, I resigned my appointment when I compared how graduates were being treated at New Nigerian newspaper. At New Nigeria, graduates were lined up for position with the likes of Adamu Ciroma whereas Daily Times which was the biggest was lagging behind. But the management of DTN were perplexed and prevailed on me to rescind my decision. The Deputy Managing Director then, Laban Ngali Namme, called me and told me that I would embarrass the management if I was allowed to go like that. He said the public would ask question and sanction the management.
Did you resign to go and join the New Nigerian where you felt outstanding graduates were better treated?
No, I felt I should continue to write more books and contribute to newspapers on freelance basis. I thought that I would go back to political activism. I brought a car which I got from my royalty as an author so, there was no question of going to join any other organisation. I had wonderful bosses like Sam Amuka in those days. I remember a story Amuka told me to write about the 10th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence which he published in Sunday Times. It was a great story which covered about seven and a half pages and he was very happy. I went to the DTN office that Sunday and I saw our biggest boss, Alhaji Babatunde Jose and a guest. As I was passing, I heard the guest asking Jose about the giant called Areoye. When Jose pointed at me, the man embraced me and told me that I was a great man. There was a time when there was a coup in Dahomey (Republic of Benin) and I was asked to go and do the story. I drove myself and I found out the coup leader called Maurice Koundette and I interviewed him. The story was celebrated in DTN the following day and I felt so happy. I went back the following day to interview the people he sent packing for them to state their own side of the story.
What was the relationship between you and Alhaji Jose; was it cordial?
I would say it was cordial but I felt that the management of DTN appeared to be under pressure that I might become an editor because of my performance. I observed that and that was why I resigned in the first place. When Nkrumah died in Guinea, he was with his friend, Sekou Toure and Toure refused to release his corpse. Unknown to me, DTN asked me to go to Ghana and bought me a ticket to cover the burial. But when I got to Nigeria Airways counter, I met S G Ikoku, a senior friend who said he was leading the Nigerian delegation to Conakry, Guinea to plead with Sekou Toure to release the body of Nkrumah. That was how I changed my mind to follow him to Guinea and we planned between the two of us. He facilitated my passage to proceed to Conakry when we got to Accra and luckily for me, the ambassador in Guinea then was from Ibadan, Ambassador Peter Afolabi and he gave me a chalet to put in. And I started firing front page stories back home with Oyebola in Conakry as byline. And when I was writing the stories, a good friend of mine, ex-UIte, Uche Chukwumerije, he had a magazine then, Afriscope, and he called me that he raised money to cover the event but I had finished everything. When I got to Ghana, I went in search of Kwame Nkrumah’s hometown, Nkrofu where I interviewed his 92-year-old mother. She said, ‘Tell Sekou Toure to release the body of my son and when I touch him, I can die peacefully.’ Daily Times splashed the story and when I came back, in fairness to DTN, I was given a commendation letter and double increment in salary for my outstanding performance and initiative. In the history of Sunday Times, I had the largest circulation figure when I was appointed the acting editor when Sam Amuka went on leave. I went out of my way to do outstanding stories with people like former managing director of the Guardian, Lade Bonuola. Then I used to probe multinationals to the embarrassment of DTN. Companies like UAC, Leventis who were our big advertisers. As luck would have it, they started killing armed robbers at the Bar beach that week and we splashed the photographs, this helped a great deal in increasing our sales. The production editor, Mr. Inyang, called me and said I had created a problem for DTN. He said that the management thought I was only a talented writer until when I produced the paper where they saw me as a good organiser. They sent five of us including Sola Odunfa, Taiwo Okutubo, Chris Ikuele, Martin Iroabuchi and myself to International Public Corporation training school in London and Plymouth where we spent about four months. We did our very best and I got distinction and during our send off, the chairman of the owner company of DTN, International Publishing Corporation Hugh Cudlipp, called me and said, you are good; you are brilliant. You will become editor on your return home and that’s what happened. When I became editor and some people came to congratulate me from Ibadan here, Lamidi Adedibu told me that from their investigation, I was recommended by the parent company to be appointed editor even though he didn’t know what the chairman told me in London.
Are you insinuating that the Babatunde Jose-led administration might not have made you the editor if you were not recommended by the owner company?
I cannot say whether he would make me. As I have said earlier, I observed that the management was a bit worried about my performance and that was why I resigned in the first place. Then what intrigued me further was what Mr. Inyang told me that the management only thought I was only a good writer that was not good as an editor.
Why did you as the editor of Daily Times ask everybody to go home on a coup day as alleged by your then deputy, Segun Osoba?
It was a complete falsehood. I didn’t ask anybody to go home. Even until I left towards evening to go home and freshen up, I didn’t see my deputy, Osoba. We produced the first edition and before I left, all the members of staff for night production were there. I just went home to refresh to come back later but Jose said I didn’t come to work and removed me without hearing my own side of the story and what happened to me. And because of his acting, more than 90 per cent of the staff rose up and revolted against him. The unfortunate thing was that my car was under routine maintenance and DTN hired a car for me from a care hire service. Unknown to me, the military made a mistake by not exempting the press from the curfew they imposed. I tried everything possible, including trekking to a point near Eko Bridge where I was persuaded not to risk my life before I went back home.
But Osoba said he was given passage.
Nobody was given passage.
So, how did he make it to be able to produce the paper with Jose?
He had remained with Jose planning what they would do. He was not given any passage. To tell you he really betrayed and undermined me, about 7am the following morning, he came to my house and said, ‘Editor, I know you are a very serious person and you have a high sense of responsibility. I am sure something very unusual must have happened for you not to come in the night. When I was concerned, I sent the DTN scooter rider to fetch you but they turned him back at the Lagos end of Eko Bridge.’ That’s what Osoba said. Jose did not speak to me before he took a decision against me as the editor and this is my deputy that I did not see throughout in the office until I left in the evening. To show my concern, I went straight to Dodan Barracks early the following day to protest why the press were not given exemption and they apologised profusely and sent signals out immediately. I was issued a letter which I took to the office without knowing that Jose had removed me. Because of this, Chief Awolowo was furious; he called him and asked why he removed a man that the management gave double increment for outstanding performance even before he became editor. The same thing Muritala and Obasanjo asked Jose; they asked him whether I had ever been queried and he said no. They blamed him for not waiting to hear my side of the story as first offender before removing me. That is why members of staff revolted and formed a Joint Action Committee and there was no peace in DTN until Jose was removed. Even Osoba spent just a few months as editor before he went to Herald. We were all forced to go.
Osoba told us that you were just careless to ask everyone to go home on a coup day.
Osoba told a blatant lie against me. As my deputy, he was nowhere to be found till I left around 4pm to freshen up. I didn’t know that he and Jose had planned to deal with me. Saying that I asked people to go home was the most ridiculous thing any editor can do; how could I do that? It was not possible. Even before I left, all the night people including the night supervisor, Ayo Adefolaju, was around; so how could Osoba be a superman to produce the paper alone with Jose? That is why he (Osoba) had one of the shortest time as editor of Daily Times. All of us were forced to go and no sooner did I become a commissioner in Oyo State. If Jose wanted to be fair, why didn’t he make Gbadebo Ogunsanwo the editor to replace me in terms of seniority? The only thing they had against him was that he was not part of the production.
Osoba also said that with his scooter, he had an edge over his colleagues in terms of mobility.
When you have a journalist who cannot be quoted on anything other than reporting regular stories, I don’t believe in that. I don’t see what is so spectacular in what he said. My write-ups and interviews are copiously quoted till date. For instance, I had a very rare interview with Chief Obafemi Awolowo; so also was my interview with the late Ooni Aderemi. If you say you had a scooter and so on, I don’t know how that one translated into something. The other time he said I was not a journalist but I thank God that 90 per cent of what I did was borne out of my own initiative, not that I would be riding a scooter around for regular assignments.
But as your deputy, did you suspect that Osoba was probably ambitious?
Yes. What happened is this, the day I was made editor, somebody came to me and shook my hand and said, ‘Mr Oyebola congratulations. Alhaji Jose had a sinister motive for making Segun Osoba your deputy. Time will tell.’ I just knelt down and prayed because I had been born again then. I told the Lord to take control.
Were you watching too?
I was watching. I was not surprised that I didn’t see my deputy until I left in the evening on a crucial day like that. Although he surfaced with Jose to produce the paper; I didn’t know where he was throughout. He was working on a parallel line and he said recently in an interview that I was imposed on them as editor. Let me give you an example; I was on leave in 1973 when Chief Awolowo who knew me very well before I joined DTN and loved me so much, praised me. He disclosed certain things to me that I can never tell anybody until we meet in heaven. When UI was 25 in 1973, there was a big party and Awolowo was the guest speaker and I was not around, Awolowo made a statement saying UI had produced so many outstanding people who were in the mass media. He said some of these outstanding men are Areoye Oyebola and Adamu Ciroma. You know what, my deputy; Segun Osoba, killed that story while all others published it. I read it in other papers when I came back from leave.
But did you ask him?
No, he’d been hostile towards me; he didn’t disguise it. He even said he had been an executive before I came. He told some of his friends like Sola Odunfa that they made me to supersede everybody. Thank God for giving me a gift of prayer; I used to make tracts and one day, Alhaji Jose made copies of my tracts and he was distributing them. I went to his office and said Alhaji, you are the head of a Muslim sect, how come you are distributing my tracts? He said, Omo Oye, if that is your strength, it is worth looking in to. I don’t know what made him to say so.
You accused President Goodluck Jonathan of stealing your ideas regarding your advocacy organisation, Movement for Nigeria’s Total Transformation, how?
He just woke up one day after his election and said he was pursuing a transformation agenda. I did not take him seriously until I watched him quoting my own idea word for word. It was shocking because this movement started in 1993 following the June 12 debacle. I told some people who encouraged me that it was a good idea. People like Lade Bonuola and Femi Falana encouraged me and after a few years in office, I approached the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and I gave him a copy of the paper. We have organised talks and retreats all over the place including Abuja. We published in the Guardian sometimes where we paid. Somebody just stole the idea and gave it to Jonathan. If he had approached us, I would not mind assembling my men for him.
Did you make your feelings known to the President and what happened?
I did; I wrote him through our journalist friend, former editorial board chairman of the Guardian, Reuben Abati. I said he should show the details to the President and when I did not get a reply, I called Abati and he said the President had seen the thing. He (Jonathan) even told him that he read my book, Black Man’s Dilemma when he was in college but if I would hear from them tomorrow, I don’t know.
What is your take on the national conference declared by the president?
In our publication last year, we said a national conference not sponsored by government was the answer to our myriad of problem. Jonathan’s national conference will not work. Why hasn’t the president declared his asset just like his predecessor? The conference will not work because they will want to protect their own interest and at the end of the day, we are back to square one.