Kunle Ajibade
This e book, Ladbone: A Life in Print, edited by Dapo Olorunyomi, the writer of Premium Times, is a group of 85 essays in honour of Oyinlade Bonuola, one of many unique and inventive minds in Nigerian media. Here, pals, co-workers, mentees, members of the family and teachers keep in mind one essentially the most achieved Nigerian newspapermen, who is mostly known as Ladbone. They write about his lifetime of relentless battle for excellence. They pay homage to a person who was usually motivated by a deep sense of obligation and who relished the enchantment and charm and glory of a long-distance runner.
They pay tribute to Bonuola who is completely missing in rank conceitedness despite all his enviable achievements within the media. They write about Ladbone who continuously espoused the artwork of the doable. Many of the writers on this e book doff their hats to him as they sketch his profiles in dignity and tenacity. In a refrain of voices, they have a good time the person they name Mr Thoroughness; the person they describe because the gold commonplace journalist; the conscience of Nigerian journalism; the tree that made a forest; journalism exemplar and statesman; the legend; the nice trainer; the usual bearer; the massive lad of Nigerian journalism; a fastidious skilled; the architect of fact; the editor of editors; the bone of our bones; the exceptional Ladbone; the engine room of The Guardian; a stable bridge throughout generations of Nigerian journalists; a perfectionist; a consummate workaholic; the media policeman; a unprecedented expertise spotter; an architect and chief of the Joshua technology within the media; a grasp of easy prose; and a disciplinarian. Does this hero worship weaken the e book? Not in any respect. I’ll return to this level in a second.
The e book is inspiring and enlightening. It is implicitly an affirmation of visionary energy and a celebration of great values. As a treasure trove of classes in competence and dedication, Ladbone: A Life in Print, is a grasp class for many who aspire to glorious public service. In his tribute, Steve Osuji writes that Mr Bonuola is a peculiar historical past that’s but to be written. This e book will certainly be a veritable reference to anybody who rises to the problem of scripting this peculiar historical past. As most of the writers inform their tales of their interactions with Ladbone, in addition they inform loads of tales of their very own skilled lives. Put otherwise, in honouring him they significantly hour themselves. The confluence of tales right here, the narratives inside narratives, give us facets of the historical past of Nigerian journalism itself. In the parable of the elephant and the clever blindmen, all those that contact completely different elements of the massive animal draw completely different conclusions. But on this e book, all of the completely different views return the identical verdict: Ladbone is a powerful breed. There are many participating recollections right here of how he was an inspiration and a spur to many readers of his hottest column in The Sunday Times—Caught Out: A Critical Look on the Nigerian Press, after which his Abdul Rafiu column with the ram brand in The Guardian, which is the longest operating column within the historical past of Nigerian journalism. General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, a former navy president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, former vice chairman of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun state, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, former governor of Lagos state and Oba Masoud Oyekola Aweda Lawal, the Iba of Kishi kingdom, attest to his braveness and insights as a public affairs commentator, and his items of recommendation, in personal, on public insurance policies.
The writers render in uncluttered prose Ladbone’s humble starting in Kishi, his house city; his years at Ijebu-Ode Grammar School for his A/Levels, the place he was a voracious reader and a passionate lover of fine debates, and the place he received the coveted zonal John F. Kennedy Essay competitors; his life as a secondary faculty trainer of English Language and Literature at Methodist High School, Arigbajo, in Ifo, and at Premier Grammar School, Abeokuta; his 55 years in journalism; how he was employed by Alhaji Babatunde Jose at The Daily Times as a sub-editor and the way he rose by dint of arduous work to turn out to be chief sub-editor, manufacturing editor, performing options editor, member of the editorial board of Daily Times and deputy editor of Spear journal. This was the place he met Prince Henry Odukomaiya, Alhaji Alade Odunewu, Dr Patrick Dele Cole, Mr Femi Kusa, Uncle Sam Amuka, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Mr Kunle Elegbede, Prince Tony Momoh, Mr Martin Iroabuchi, Chief Tola Adeniyi, Mr Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Mr Dele Giwa, Chief Areoye Oyebola, Mr Tunji Oseni, the editor of Sunday Times who requested him to write the Caught-Out column. It was right here that he met his lovely spouse, Esther Iyabo Oladele with whom he has produced and raised six daughters: Abiodun, Bolatito, Bolupe, Lolade, Kemi and Wemimo. It was additionally at The Daily Times, in 1977, that he earned the certificates of the Thomson Foundation Editorial Study Centre affiliated to the University of Cardiff in Wales, United Kingdom. He then moved over to The Guardian the place he laboured for 22 years as a founding affiliate editor, as editor, editor-in chief and Managing Director.
Memories are manufactured from the founding of The Guardian and why and the way it turned an prompt success; of how the assist of his unique dummy by Mrs Maiden Ibru gave beginning to the distinctive, enticing and profitable format of The Guardian as a high-brow newspaper; how the workforce of Dr Stanley Macebuh complimented that of Ladbone; and of his catchy headlines as a sub-editor. We are advised of his punishing work ethics; how he turned a sports activities fanatic as a result of sports activities reporting was promoting his papers; how a well-written editorial was spiked within the useless of the evening by Ladbone simply to please the writer who had rushed down to Rutam House in his lavatory slippers to shield his enterprise curiosity; Ladbones’ dedication, each within the newsroom and outdoors of it, to those that didn’t have champions; the story about how he would obey site visitors gentle at 2AM on his means house after workplace hours; the tales concerning the ethics and aesthetics of his journalistic follow; his principled positions anchored within the ethos of his upbringing and strengthened by his robust perception in God as a cross bearer; his quick reactions to the grotesque loss of life of Krees Imodibe and Tayo Awotusin within the Liberian civil conflict; his honesty and deep sense of accountability; his assist in constructing Liberty Text School in his hometown, Kishi; his contributions to the Unique Frontline Club, Kishi; the fascinating tales of how he almost snatched Mr Ray Ekpu from Dele Giwa however solely succeeded in arresting Ted Iwere on the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and employed him at The Guardian efficient instantly, beating Dele Giwa to it; the jailing of The Guardian’s senior diplomatic correspondent Tunde Thompson and assistant information editor Nduka Irabor underneath decree 4 by the draconian regime of Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon; how Simply Mr coverage died; the closure of The Guardian by General Sani Abacha; the assassination try on its writer, Mr Alex Ibru; the exit of Dr Stanley Macebuh, Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, Dr Olatunji Dare, Mr Sully Abu and, ultimately, Ladbone and Mr Femi Kusa. The writers replicate on Lade Bonuola’s refusal to fold when The Guardian, his beloved newspaper, was confronted with despicable regimes. Despite the terrorism of the Abacha junta, his abiding religion in a greater Nigeria by no means wavered as he all the time insisted that the way forward for his nation was stuffed with risk. Perhaps extra crucially, he believed {that a} nation as a group ought to share core values, agree on elementary points regarding its well-being.
Precisely as a result of the assembly of the administration of The Guardian with General Sani Abacha and the apology subsequently tendered to him have been reported otherwise by those that weren’t at that assembly, let me quote at size Mr Femi Kusa’s reporting of that assembly in his tribute: “When Mr Ibru became a minister in the government of General Sani Abacha, he expected The Guardian to soften on its criticisms of the regime. The newspaper did not. Abacha was tyrannical and murderous. The Guardian was not set up to support tyranny and murder. We did not come over to The Guardian to work with tyrannical and murderous leaders for pounds of porridge. Abacha closed The Guardian for one year. Mediators arranged a meeting with the dictator, at which The Guardian was to apologise. Oyinlade Bonuola declined to attend the meeting. Mr Ibru asked him to resign as managing director if he would not. Within the next second or two, Bonuola did. Mr Ibru offered me the job. Immediately, I rejected it. Mediators later proposed a meeting with Abacha at which no apology would be made. We agreed. Bonuola and I had a sleepless night before the meeting, drafting and reworking the speech he would make. The then Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Festus Adesanoye, who was Permanent Secretary at Defence Headquarters when Abacha was learning the ropes as a senior officer, joined us at the meeting on Mr Alex Ibru’s invitation behind our back. He gave Alex Ibru contracts for FESTAC 77, which he said made him. Their friendship made Oba Adesanoye a visiting consultant of The Guardian’s Editorial Board. It was he who made the apology after Oyinlade Bonuola’s speech, which made none. He was backed in the apologia by Andy Akporugo, Mr Ibru’s cousin. I spoke no words. Mr Alex Ibru did not forget our intransigence. The Guardian heated up. Soon, reprisal events unfolded, which advised us of the necessity to leave peacefully.” The utter ruthlessness of the best way they had been handled was one of many lowest moments within the historical past of The Guardian.
We have right here tales about Lade Bonuola’s Spartan way of life; his cultivation of high-wire contacts—high folks in politics, enterprise, armed forces, and so on., and so on. for scoops and verification of tales; the excessive premium that he all the time positioned on archives and libraries as a newspaper administrator; his secret encouragement of some radical, left leaning journalists; his curiosity concerning the follow of journalism in different elements of the world, significantly within the US and the UK, for which cause he learn their main newspapers on a regular basis and religiously adopted the information on their different shops; his fixed celebration of the perfect journalists in digital media reminiscent of Christiane Amanpour, who, by the way, introduced three days in the past that she would quickly be leaving CNN after 43 superb years within the place; his deep curiosity in books on journalism and galvanizing autobiographies; and his insistence {that a} newspaper should be readable ingenious, truthful, and, actually, not impartial. By and enormous, the e book tells us concerning the enduring energy of the Lade Bonuola impact.
Stories are additionally advised of how, in his quiet means, with all his nice and courteous conversations and raucous laughter along with his workers, Ladbone could be a very brutal individual in his perpetual, if not obsessive, quest for excellence. This was not simply within the newsroom. His youngsters, once they had been rising up, should not contact the partitions of his home which he painted each December. He washed and ironed his personal garments. He frequently went searching for groceries and was a terrific cook dinner any time his spouse was not round. No one stayed idle in his house. And as a result of he awoke at 5AM on a regular basis the youngsters should even be awake to do home chores earlier than they obtained prepared for college at exactly 7PM. The youngsters dared not keep out past 7PM. They should gown modestly effectively. Each time he was round a hush fell over the home. He inculcated within the ladies the passion of studying which they in flip have handed on to his 11 grandchildren. When Buhari and Idiagbon launched austerity measures to the beleaguered nation, Lade Bonuola promptly launched his personal structural adjustment programme in his house. Abiodun, his first youngster, was taught how to measure with milk tins the rice and beans they might cook dinner. None of the youngsters should have a couple of piece of dodo. The ladies shortly learnt how to have their hair executed for each other. Ladbone, who was a Sunday faculty trainer, by no means stopped delivering homilies concerning the duties that awaited his youngsters. Wemimo, the final youngster, who’s a lawyer now, reviews: “As children we were surrounded by animals: goats, ducks, turkeys, pigeons, 17 dogs, 15 cats, fishes, snails, chickens, rams, sheep, and so on. These animals made us very responsible people. We understood how to feed them, bath them, clean out their faeces, take the animals who could go on walks around the estate.” Still, right this moment, the youngsters don’t really feel unloved by him. Lolade, who now holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, tells all these reporters and editors in The Guardian and elsewhere, who nonetheless begrudge Ladbone for pushing them so arduous, for asking for tales even once they had been bereaved: We shared your pains. Please, forgive him. He meant no hurt. He clearly believed, and nonetheless does, that in case you should ship on excellence, you simply have to be brutal typically. To him robust love all the time pays in the long run. There are impeccable accounts of the failures of The Comet and The Compass newspapers underneath Ladbone. He is accused of unrelieved partiality to his deputy and shut good friend, Mr Femi Kusa, who launched him to The Grail Message and motion at a time that he was a senior pastor on the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Clearly, this e book is just not hagiography in any respect—writers simply inform it as it’s. The recollections and reminiscences are coherent variations of the identical fact.
Milan Kundera, the French-Czechoslovakian author in his novel, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, says that “The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was…The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” The enormous challenge that the Living Archives Initiatives of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) is embarking on, I’d argue, is knowledgeable by this concept of the battle of reminiscence in opposition to forgetting. It is meet and correct that the organisation has began with Ladbone, who advised Lasisi Olgunju, in an interview embedded in his tribute, that he’s not given to blowing his personal trumpet.
•Mr Ajibade, Executive Editor/Director of TheNEWS/PM NEWS, learn this evaluate on the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, on 22 October 2026 on the presentation of Ladbone: A Life in Print.
