JOURNALIST S AND DAAR CELEBRATION OF LADI LAWAL.

BY GABRIEL OMONHINMIN.
Often times, incidences that have profound impact on other people, hardly ever affect me as a person. Over the years, my ability to withstand what most people regard as extreme shock could safely be attributed to various experiences in life.
I was however surprised that my shock absorber failed me, when I got a text at about 5 a.m. on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009, informing me about the passage of Ladi Lawal that morning. So many things in quick succession went through my mind.
While, journalists from both the print and electronic media gathered at the Ikeja Airport awaiting his corpse from Abuja, it was still very difficult to believe that Ladi had finally taken a bow. I finally got the message when Funmi Komolafe and others on citing the casket containing Ladi’s remains, started to shout Lado! Lado!! Lado!!! as if we were on a campaign trail. After Ladi´s burial later that Saturday evening, I immediately resolved to do a befitting tribute in his honour. I was again shocked that I could hardly gather my thought as I kept steering at my laptop. After several attempts, I finally decided to perish the thought. But, thirteen days after, that initial shock had reduced, hence, this piece.
The Fidau prayer for Alhaji Ismael Ladi Lawal, the late Group Managing Director of Raypower, Africa Independent Television (AIT) and DAARSAT at the Alagbado Headquarters of DAAR Communication Plc, on Saturday, June 6, 2009, was quite an impressive outing. It is once again an attestation to the grandiosity with which High Chief Aleogho Dokpesi does anything he chooses to do.
As we arrived the expansive Daar Communication premises in Alagbado, Lagos, just at the main entrance to the compound, another visitor upon sighting the canopy where the fidau prayers was taking place, said “this is typical of High Chief Dokpesi. He does not know how to do small things”.
As I sat through that programme, one thing was evidently clear; Chief Dokpesi truly wanted to honour a very dear friend, which Ladi was to him. His action was a demonstration of the simple fact, that as iron sharpens iron; so one man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
High Chief Alegho, as his name implies, “no one knows tomorrow” made a clear statement to every discerning mind at the fidau prayers, that the attributes of friends are love, courage, trustworthiness, understanding, generosity, and mutual encouragement even at death.
I left Alagbado on that day believing every word of Aristotle, who defined friendship “as a single soul dwelling in two bodies”. The late Ladi and Alegho were truly one soul. This much was said on that day.
As I watch Tony Akiotu, the man who replaces Ladi as Group Managing Director, help settle down guest at the event, one thing became evident, if we are to be guided then there must be a shifting from self-will to God’s will, which now becomes supreme. Tony has all it takes to propel DAAR Communication Plc to greater height. He could provide the required leadership, but for him to succeed in his new position he needs the support of his colleagues. Above all other things, he needs to be led by the Spirit of God. I was therefore, left with no other option than to pray quietly within myself for Tony’s successes in his new assignment.
Much earlier that day, the Lagos Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, dedicated its present Secretariat in honour of Ladi. As the event took place two things came out clear, sincerity of purpose and outright hypocrisy.
As I observed that event quietly, I was alarmed at the extent people could go, all to be noticed in the public glear. Those who knew very little or hardly met Ladi Lawal as a union activist, alongside people whom he Ladi brought into the union through the backdoor, an act which tore the union apart at that time, were sadly the chief mourners at that event while those who knew Ladi and worked very closely with him as Lagos NUJ Chairman and President helplessly watched, while these group of people were doing their own show. What an irony.
After the famous Lagos NUJ crisis I stopped talking to Ladi. Ladi knew that I was not happy with him. One late evening after an NUJ event in Lagos, Ladi invited me to a corner, and enquired of me, “Esama what is the problem between you and I? I have noticed that of recent you have been very cold towards me?” I told him, point blank that I was angry with him because he sadly manifested the trace of a tribalist which was not good for him as a leader or for the future of our union. For almost two minutes he kept saying “me a trabalist, how? I took time to levy all my accusations against him, as he listened very attentively.
Some of the things I accused him of were the betrayal of Owei Lakenfa after Ladi’s victory as NUJ President in Sokoto, which eventually snowballed into the Lagos NUJ crisis. Some years after, Ladi in his usual large heartedness never danced round issues. To my surprise he accepted that he acted wrongly at that time, and told me that he was disappointed at the conduct of those persons he eventually helped to enthrone, but said that life goes on, and as such we as human beings must learn to put ugly experiences of the past behind us. That was how I once again resumed my friendship with Ladi.
Lest I forget, the Light House on Victoria Island Lagos, which is presently the main source of revenue for the Lagos Council of the NUJ, was the brain child of a group of persons which included the late Chief Patrick Obazele. Obazele who retired as the Director of News at the Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN), during his active days as a unionist held various positions in the Lagos Council. He died before Ladi. Why has the Lagos council up till now not found it appropriate to honour him? Is it that he did not contribute enough to the growth of the council? You see, as journalists, we must be seen to be fair in all that we do.
Some months after Ladi was ousted as N.U.J. President via court actions, I accompanied Mr. Bonnie Iwuoha to Ladi’s house at Onipanu Lagos. Ladi who was obviously hurt and aggrieved, never drove us out of his residence nor used any harsh words throughout his quiet discussions with Bonnie, the peaceful manner that discussions went gave me lot of hope about the future of the NUJ then.
At the Lagos Council of the NUJ gathering on June 6, there was an old female journalist known as Labake. She was an ex- staff of the Daily Times. That lady during “Africa” Dapo Adeniola’s tenure as Chairman of Lagos NUJ Council was just like an elder sister to the late Ladi Lawal. Ladi does nothing without consulting with Labake that much I know. I am sure if Lado had been alive, in an occasion like that where he was to be honoured, he would surely have dragged that old lady out of the crowd to say a word or two about him.
Richard Akinola and Ladi were not just friends they were brothers. Owie Lakenfa, Kayode Komolafe (Komo) like Funke Fadugba were Ladi’s disciples of a sort. Although, Owie was not present at that event, those close associates of Ladi who were present at the event were deliberately shut out, due to one perceived malice or another. What a shame! This is not how to honour a departed colleague. Except for Komo’s wife Funmi and some other persons such as Babafemi Ojodu, Emeka Izeze who knew Ladi well enough, the rest of the other persons in exclusion of Abike Dabiri, Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Aliyu Oshomole and the High Chief himself, the rest were actors. They were just play acting.
Nevertheless, incidences like these do happen. What is however, instructive is what lesson do we learn from events like this? How many Lagos NUJ chairmen have been able to exhibit the kind of integrity Baba N’la was known for? If any of those who have had the opportunity to hold the office of the Chairman of the Lagos Council of the NUJ, after Ladi, dies today, God forbid, and not for now, what would people say about them?.
Me I know the man Ladi, but I am sure he was my friend until he passed on. May Ladi’s wonderful soul rest in peace?
What Lado had going for him, while he was alive, was his realization of the fact, that if you have integrity, others will trust you. He knew without trust, it is difficult to manage people and even harder to lead them. No journalist will ever give their trust until you have earned it. Others will give it more willingly, but if they ever have reason to take it back, may never give it to such leaders again. Anyone who would want to be a successful union leader must realize that the only way to go is influence with integrity so that such a leader would be viewed as a person of both influence and integrity.
Mr. Omonhinmin works with Voice of Nigeria