31 years ago, exactly on Sunday, 9th April 1989, a send-off party was held in my honour in Ibadan, the Oyo State of Nigeria, by my close friends and professional colleagues, sequel to my voluntary disengagement from the old Oyo State Government Service, after serving four Governors of the state as Press Secretary.
The DISTINGUISHED FOUR were the late Chief ‘Bola Ige, SAN, retired Major-General Oladayo Popoola, retired Brigadier-Genera Adetunji Olurin and the late Brigadier-General Sasaenia Oresanya. May the souls of the departed continue to rest in perfect peace. Amen.
Fisan Bankale, a veteran journalist, needless to say, was and still is, as good as ideal journalists from any part of the world come. He covered the said 9th April 1989 party, where my successor, Mr Tunde Osunbunmi, was also ushered into office.
In his column, “SKETCH DIARY”, in the Daily Sketch newspaper, Fisan, reviewed the send-off party(please, see the copy below), comparing it to the “WINING-IN AND WINING- OUT PARTY” hosted by the then incumbent Military Governor of Oyo State, the late Brigadier-General Sasaenia Oresanya, on Saturday, 1st April 1989, at the Oyo State Liaison Office, Victoria Island, Lagos, in honour of my humble self and my successor.
In his review, Fisan, praised the “seamless transition of power” between me and my successor. Kindly read other commendable lessons pointed out by Fisan, all in praise of Nigerian journalists, in the said column.
Last week, in my post titled, “E SINMI RASCALITY AND POMPOUSITY” (apology to Fuji music creator, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, MFR) I alluded to the pre and post public appointment posture of a journalist lampooned in the “GUIDED MISSILE” cartoon on page 11 of the now-defunct popular Sunday Concord newspaper issue of Sunday, 14th April 1987.
In the said post, I advised all public officers, and not just my dear professional colleagues, journalists, alone, to shun rascality and pomposity, while in office, and to always bear in mind their unavoidable exit date. As you have predecessors, so always will you have successors. It is a Law of Nature.
Today, I wish to humbly admonish all Nigerians, in or out of public office, to borrow a leaf from the acclaimed journalist’s good examples highlighted by Fisan Bankale, in his 15th April 1989 column in the Daily Sketch.
No position, nor condition, is ever permanent. None.
PHOTOGRAPH CAPTION
A copy of the said Fisan Bankale’s “SKETCH DIARY”15th April 1989 column culled from page 33 of my book, “SPEAKING FOR GOVERNORS”, presented to the public by the then Chairman of the DAILY TIMES OF NIGERIA,(DTN), Chief Laban Omowale Namme, at the Premier Hotel, Mokola Hill, Ibadan, Oyo State of Nigeria, on 30th March 1990.
Chief Namme was a boss of my dear father, the late Pa AbdulRahim Oladosu Alabi, alias ‘RIGHT TIME’, at the DTN in the 1950s.
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