Lai MohammedThe readers may be wondering why I say again. It is to connect the past with the present. It is about Lai Mohammed’s unrelenting efforts to hamstring the media since 2017. It is not unusual in these climes to have spacecraft in readiness to transport leaders into the clouds for them to lose their heads.
Exactly 32 years ago, I wrote in these pages, drawing the attention of President Ibrahim Babangida to the cheer orchestra and the clapping crowd around him. The piece was captioned “Amicus Plato…” It reads as follows: x
“In a period of disquiet, all manner of suggestion and criticisms inundate those interested in public affairs. Usually, attention shifts to criticisms to see what can be learned from upbraiding, to see who is making the criticisms and to ferret the motives of the critics. Is the criticism in the normal course of duty of professional critics? When does a critic become a security risk? In the period of unease
The celebrant, Prince Henry Odukomaiya (second left); his wife, Lydia (left); His Royal Majesty, the Towulade of Akinale, Ogun State, Oba Olufemi Adewunmi Ogunleye , former Managing Director, The Guardian, Lade Bonuola and Prince Olusola Uduko during Odukomaiya’s 87th birthday celebration in Lagos… Saturday.
It was a morning of encomiums and tributes on Saturday, July 10, 2021, as prominent Nigerians, veteran journalists, colleagues; family members and well-wishers celebrated the 87th birthday of Prince Henry Olukayode Odukomaiya.
In his tribute, the former Managing Director of The Guardian Newspapers Limited, Lade Bonuola, said, “all I have become in this world is as a result of crossing Prince Odukomaiya’s path. I think the creator guided it. He was a very courageous journalist, who wrote powerful editorials while in Daily Times.”
The celebrant, Prince Henry Odukomaiya (second left); his wife, Lydia (left); His Royal Majesty, the Towulade of Akinale, Ogun State, Oba Olufemi Adewunmi Ogunleye , former Managing Director, The Guardian, Lade Bonuola and Prince Olusola Uduko during Odukomaiya’s 87th birthday celebration in Lagos… Saturday.It was a morning of encomiums and tributes on Saturday, July 10, 2021, as prominent Nigerians, veteran journalists, colleagues; family members and well-wishers celebrated the 87th birthday of Prince Henry Olukayode Odukomaiya.
In his tribute, the former Managing Director of The Guardian Newspapers Limited, Lade Bonuola, said, “all I have become in this world is as a result of crossing Prince Odukomaiya’s path. I think the creator guided it. He was a very courageous journalist, who wrote powerful editorials while in Daily Times.”
SobowaleThe curtain was drawn yesterday on the three-day activities in celebration of the 80th birthday of the man we call “ID Noble,” Professor Idowu Sobowale, easily the face of modern journalism in Nigeria. It was not so much of clapping, dancing, and rejoicing except predictably in the church, ShepherdHill, Baptist Academy premises, Obanikoro.
After the thanksgiving worship, Professor Sobowale donned his gab and nestled in his mien of seriousness that gives expression to the world in which he is in his elements, the academe. And there was a full house of academics, as well as media professionals at the events that mark the 80th birthday of a journalism giant.