By Femi Kusa
About 20 unbroken years separated me from the fabulous Chief Chris Ogunbanjo when he passed on 7 October 2023, two weeks from his 100th birthday. I could have said how time flies when I heard the news if, since about 1977, I had not known that Time does not fly, that Time Stands Still! We always change during our journey through Time and sacrilegiously blame the downswings on time. It is the exercise of our freewill which tosses us hither and thither. Thus, standing before the death news, wondering which mountains on my side had blocked my memory of him, I remembered many persons now live multiple lives in one. I believe that Chief Ogunbanjo, too, believed this. He was a student of existence and of the great universe. Many cycles of events we initiated thousands of years ago, or shall we say the seeds we planted, are ripening for the harvest and harvest them we must. So, in the state of rejoicing with Chief Ogunbanjo that he had separated from the flesh and pray that he awakens to joyful life wherever he was. I also wished that our separation be not eternal. For it is possible that some of us friends here on earth, even husbands and wives, parents and children, may never meet again, and it would not be a case of one being in Paradise and others living in so-called hell fire.
Isonyin connection
Chief Chris Ogunbanjo came from Erunwon, a village about three kilometers from Ijebu ode . I come from Odole -Isonyin, a community about three kilometers from Erunwon. Isonyin lies between Odole and Erunwon. It was founded by Sade, a run away princess from the palace of the Awujale of Ijebu land. The Elerunwon of Erunwon at that time was her maternal brother. Prince Lasaoku , who founded Odole, was a paternal brother of Princess Sade. Whenever, respectfully , I teased Chief Ogunbanjo that Odole and Isonyin were greater than Erunwon, it was less because my father came from Odole and my mother from Isonyin, but more from the indelible messages from history.
UNFORGETABLE HISTORY
The Kusas of Odole are descendants of rince Lasaoku. Reportedly, he left the palace over some differences to found his own chiefdom. Princess Sade, young, beautiful and vibrant, was closer to him than to the Elerunwon, her maternal brother. She ran into trouble with the Awujale over a love relationship with a commoner that was considered unbefitting to her royal status. She could be executed by being beheaded or through a sword being plunged into one of the eyes till it came out of the back of the head. Princess Sade fled to the Elerunwon. He would not grant her cover for fear of a reprisal from the powerful Awujale. From Erunwon, Princess Sade fled to Odole where Lasaoku sheltered her. The Awujale demanded that Prince Lasaoku surrender his crown. Before Awujale’s soldiers arrived, Prince Lasaoku buried the crown where no one else knows till this day. Prince Lasaoku then offered Princess Sade land in Odole on which to settle. He set the boundary with one tree Ijebus of those days called Ayin, from which the town derived the name Isonyin. Ayin is African bush mango, the seed of which is cooked to produce Apon(Ogbono) soup.
The Anglican Church built Emmanuel Church and Emmanuel Primary School in Isonyin. My father and other inhabitants of Odole went to school in Isonyin and went to the church every Sunday. So did Chief Ogunbanjo’s people. When Chief Ogunbanjo built the Church of the Epiphany Erunwon, some observers thought it was over investment among worshippers who may not be able to fill half of the seats with their numbers, let alone financially maintain it. They did not understand the driving motive. He was telling a story to challenge an indelible memory. He could not be world renowned in business and industry and his people were dependent. But I always teased him, as a grown child may tease his father, that Odole-Isonyin made Erunwon. What would have been written on the pages of history today had Prince Lasaoku not stuck out his neck and staked his crown for Princess Sade? For this, his enemies in the Awujale court ensured he never became Awujale, after all traditional rites had been observed. Days before his coronation, he became stricken with a strange ailment from which he passed!
The Comet
It was in this royal garb of a prince from Odole that I met Chief Ogunbanjo about 1999 for the first time, to invite him to be a financial backer of The Comet Newspaper. The day I heard that Chief Ogunbanjo passed, I issued the following( edited) report on social media.
” He passed yesterday 7 October 2023, two months from his 100th birthday. A corporate lawyer, he was a leading light and captain of NIGERIA’S business and industry.
He came from Erunwon, near Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
He will be remembered by many persons, including those of us co-founders of The Comet newspaper who brought him into Nigerian newspapering ie Oyinlade Bonuola,John Olufemi Kusa, Olajide Ogundele, our senior professional colleauge and mentor Sola Oluwole all journalists, and Dr Ayo Ojo, a radical medical doctor and younger brother of Chief Michael Ade Ojo of Elizade motors, a prominent backer of the project.
” Chief Ogunbanjo was the second chairman of Turning-point Communications Limited, Publishers of The CometOMET newspaper. He will be remembered by fellow backers of The Comet newspaper who included Dr Christopher Kolade, first chairman of turning- point Communications Limited, former Chairman of Cardbury’s (NIG LTD) and academic staff member of Pan African University, Lagos …Oba Otudeko, CEO of Honeywell… Chief Olufalae, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic party (SDP) in the 1999 presidential election won by Gen Olusegun Obasanjo(rtd), as he then was…Chief Segun Osoba, one time governor of Ogun State…Otunba Gbenga Daniel, another former governor of Ogun State… President Bola Ahmed Tinubu…Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo…Dr Bukola Saraki, former governor of Kwara State and President of the Nigerian 8th Senate…Mr Akin Soname, a one time Governorship aspirant in Ogun State…Chief Dayo Sonuga, one-time chairman of the Chambers of Commerce, Agriculture and Industry, who succeeded Chief Ogunbanjo on the Board of Directors of Turning-Point Communications Limited.
Chief Ogunbanjo’s passing presents an opportunity of reminisces to these eminent persons to not only remember him for the roles he played in the company but to, also, remember their colleauges who, before their passages, were either members of the board or backers of the project. Among them were Mr Olatunde Olabode Vincent, better known on Nigeria’s paper currency as Ola Vincent, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) between 1977 and 1982…Chief Bola Ige, one-time governor of Oyo State and Attorney General and Minister of Justice under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration… Chief Abraham Adesanya (SAN)…Pa Onasanya, a NADECO and Afenifere leader…Chief S.K Oluwo, former Managing Director of Bagco Super Sacks (Nig) LTD…Commodore Gbolahan Mudashiru(rtd) , former military governor of Lagos State… Chief Victor Abayomi Oduntan, the last Chairman of Turning Point Communications and a former Secretary to Ogun State Government (SSG)…Chief Nathaniel Idowu, progenitor of The Punch Newspaper, fellow journalist on Tell magazine, among others.
Chief Ogunbanjo will be remembered as well by Barrister Kieran Enechi, who was Company Secretary in the tenures as chairman of the company, of Dr Kolade , Chief Ogunbanjo and Chief Sonuga.
May Chief Ogunbanjo awaken to joyful life wherever he is”.
I was distant from Chief Ogunbanjo before I had to meet him in respect of The Comet. What was true of my relationship with him was true of my relationship with other business men and leaders of industry, except one…Chief Adeyemi Olusola Lawson. Chief Lawson was the first person, through his activities with The Grail Message- In The Light of Truth by Abdrushin to lead me into the living knowledge of The Structture of Creation and The Purpose of Existence. Chief Ogunbanjo and chief Lawson, who passed in 1993, were friends. In the search for Truth, Chief Lawson traversed some of the highest orders of Christianity and of the Rosicrucian order (AMORC) before he came to the Grail Message. Chief Ogunbanjo, too, was a well known figure in Christian leadership circles and AMORC. AMORC is self described as:
” The rosicrucians are a community of philosophers who study Natural Laws in order to live in harmony with them.
Our mission is to provide seekers with the spiritual wisdom necessary to experience their connectedness with the miraculous world around us and to develop mastery of life.
Our studies include:
The mysteries of birth and death
The illusory nature of time and space
Awakening of the psychic consciousness…”
Some of my roommates at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) were in AMORC. I had nothing against them and AMORC. I knew they were struggling inwardly to understand the universe albeit from below upwards, but, nevertheless, in a more practical manner that the blind faith of Christianity devoid of conviction. Conviction comes from objective weighing and examining impressions on the soul and not blind belief in a teaching merely out of habit. However, irrespective of the beauty in the freedom of investigation, groping from below upwards has its own dangers in many snares on the way, some of which may bewilder or even psychically injure the investigator like a toddler left alone in a virgin forest.
Intuitively, I sensed that I had travelled on that route as not been on earth before? Do we know how many mistakes of many past eras in that circumstance that we have to redeem in the remainder of this life, living many earth lives in one earth life, trying to rid our souls of the deficits of many lives gone by in only this one?
This was why I alluded that Chief Ogunbanjo as a seeker of The Truth on whichever pathway, would understand which mountain on my side had been blocking my views of the mountain on his.
Our paths may probably not have met had the exigencies of The Comet not arisen. The Comet newspaper was to be born because we the co -founders were vacating The Guardian newspaper which had become inhospitable to pure professional existence. We had no money. We had been raised and encased in the idea that the newspaper was purely a social institution where editors were only to be Heard, like judges, and not Seen, to protect them againat corruptive influences of big business (Please see details in my facebook account @ John Olufemi Kusa). With its editors locked in, The Guardian soon had money challenges. It belonged to the Big Business Family. His capitalisation was bigger than that of some banks, yet it was playing a Touch Me Not game with the big business family.
With some of my colleauges, notably Jide Ogundele, Paul Okunlola, Abel Oshivere, Raheem Adedoyin, Akin Orebiyi, Harriet Lawrence etc, I was priviledged and honoured to resolve that challenge with editorial compartmentalisation, arguably the first time a Nigerian newspaper would do so. Credit goes, also, to publisher Alex Ibru who liked and backed the project and threw his weight behind it.
Oyinlade Bonuola, Femi Kusa and Jide Ogundele had to literally flee from The Guardian when ethnic emotions suffocated work environment. It is part of the lessons I have learned that, when you are in an overcharging equation, you would have peace of mind, irrespective of your initial losses , if you remove yourself from the suffocating equation. With no money in our pockets as you would expect, despite 17 years of bone breaking and blood drying Work in which I could sometimes work for 18 hours in one day or even overnight, all three of us had no money to register a company! I approached Barrister Kierian Enechi, one of my legal acquaintances, who did it for us on credit and discreetly, too. Mr Alex Ibru must not hear we were leaving or he could fire us to damage our credibility.(Please see more details in my Facebook account@John Olufemi Kusa).
CHRIS OGUNBANJO
It was in this atmosphere that I had to approach Chris Ogunbanjo to be a shareholder of the company. I had been able to persuade Akin Soname who led me to Chief S.K Oluwo, and Dr Ayo Ojo, who led me to Chief Ade Ojo. Dr Omotosho Oguniyi, our consultant, invited by OyinLade Bonuola, led me to Oba Otudeko, an Olivetian like he and I. I made a presentation to Oba Otudeko in the presence of his friend, Mr Segun Osoba, our boss at the Daily Times and former governor of Ogun State. Mr Osoba recommended us as impeccable journalists. Oba Otudeko waved Honeywell at me. I preferred The CometOMET. Impressed, he would have doubled the investment, but our rules limited participation.
Success with Oba Otudeko strenghtened me to expect success with Chief Ogunbanjo. Going over to Chief Ogunbanjo, I asked Jide Ogundele to accompany me. He was more acquainted with him. Ogundele was business reporter, business correspondent and editor of financial Guardian. I had no background of big business interfaces to lock horns with a business giant like him and had to fabricate other keys to unlock the doors to his heart. Chief Ogunbanjo warmed up when I teased him about Odole Isonyin and Erunwon. If he could cane me as a teacher does a schoolboy, he would cane me. He said I lived in his backyard and he never knew me. I teased him that I was a prince descended from the Prince of the Awujale court in IJEBU ode and that I wasn’t even sure he had Erunwon royal blood. We were all literally rolling on the ground with laughter. Then, I announced the prince of Odole had the floor. Chief Ogunbanjo always had a boyish disposition. He did not say he was old enough to be my father, or that he graduated in law the year I was born, but was all ears in humility.
Next, I declined to proceed unless he promised no one outside the meeting, including his wife, would hear what we were about to discuss. He looked up. I told him my life depended on protection of the information. He looked at me again. I told him Chief Lawson said they were friends and that this encouraged me to feel secure with him. He nodded several times. Then, I drove the nail home when I told him I was not rosicrucian but I knew great rosicrucians such as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin kept promises.
He gave me his word. Before we left him, we were sure of another cheque and more cheques from some of his friends.
THE BOARDROOM
In the board room, Chief Ogunbanjo was not just an understanding director but also fatherly to us. Nevertheless, he, Mr Ola Vincent, Mr Dayo Sonuga and Otunba Oduntan made us see our smallness as businessmen. Indeed, how many designer clothes would a young man have that can number the rags of an old man? He did not mind throwing our accounts back to us for reworking. We had an accountant who was finance director. But the board did not seem to be pleased with his house keeping. I was not an accountant, but I followed the criticisms with common sense, and knew the grand old men were in the right. Mr Ola Vincent was Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Otunba Oduntan was in charge of the budget in Ogun State and was Head of Service. They all couldn’t be wrong. From their criticisms, I saw a shortcoming in the journalist transforming into a newspaper owner without prior business education or coaching of sorts. Successful business boils down to the knowledge of money. When we couldn’t do anything about the man who kept an eye on the money, Chief Ogunbanjo announced his exit and appealed to Chief Dayo Sonuga to succeed him.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
Legion are the forces which seek to debar the ascent homeward of a departing soul. Karma, earthly propensities, grieving, funeral fun fairs, wrong conceptions and beliefs, Indolence of the spirit, immaturity of the spirit kernel are among them. Some souls re enter their bodies and may not become free of it until long after the decay. The kernel of a soul may be immature, like the kernel of a fruit prematurely discharged from the mother tree in a storm. Such a seed kernel may decay, unable to sprout into a plant.
The same often occurs to human souls in the ethereal, no matter how long or how short they may have been on earth. Sometimes, short lived persons have mature kernels and are not easily overcome by inclement environment in the ethereal world. It is against these and many more forces that we all would have to contend when we leave the earth. We need strength to overcome. Therefore, it is wrong to wish that a departing soul Rest In Peace. It is in this regard that I say to our father and friend Chief Chris Ogunbanjo…may you awaken to joyful, living activities wherever you are.
