By Lekan Alabi
Today,the two-time former Executive Governor of Ogun State,former Managing Director of the Herald Newspapers, Ilorin Kwara State,Sketch Newspapers, Ibadan,Oyo State and Daily Times Newspapers,Lagos,debonair Aremo Olusegun Osoba,CON, is 84 years old.
We wish the veteran media icon many happy returns of the day.
Aremo Osoba,a thoroughbred role model in journalism and fashion, has, in syntax with his name, Olusegun(Victor)overcome many political and professional battles in life.
For instance, he and his godfather in Daily Times Nigeria Limited,the late Alhaji(Dr)Ishmael Babatunde Jose, former Chairman and Managing Director of the DTN and the doyen of journalism in Nigeria and Africa, were unfairly persecuted by those whom they had nurtured in the company if not in the profession. But, both Jose and Osoba came out unscathed and victorious.
A well-connected journalist with the proverbial nose for news,among many feats, Aremo Osoba it was, while in active service in the DTN, who discovered the body of former Nigeria’s Prime Minister Alhaji (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa,in the bush on the Lagos-Abeokuta Road,after Balewa had been assassinated by soldiers in the country’s first military coup d’etat on Saturday,15th January,1966.
When I was re-appointed,as it were,the Press Secretary to the then Lieutenant-Colonel Oladayo Popoola, (now a retired Major-General of the Nigerian Army) Military Governor of the old Oyo State(present-day Oyo and Osun States)in February 1984,after I had served the late Chief ‘Bola Ige,SAN,the first Executive Governor of old Oyo State,Aremo Osoba presented me with the SANYO all-band/auto tape recorder set pictured below.
I showed his 1984 gift to me on 13th February,this year, when Aremo Osoba graced the dinner,as the Chairman,hosted by the Oyo State Chapter of the FREELANCE AND INDEPENDENT BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA(FIBAN) in my honour on the 2023 UNESCO’S WORLD RADIO DAY.
FIBAN hosted the ceremony at the Ibadan Civic Centre,Agodi GRA,Ibadan,to mark my 50th year in media practice.
