By Denrele Animasaun

I have done the three things which a man must do – I have planted a tree; I have fathered a child, and I have written a book. I have done more; I have seen the world and enjoyed largely a good part of my 71 years. — Kola Animasaun

I do not know those who have been 80 years old but I know it’s been something to be 77years. When my daughter,Denrele asked me to put my thoughts on paper to mark my birthday, I do not know where to begin. It has been a very eventful journey- from my primary school in Abeokuta and Ibadan; from my school in Fiditi and the Abeokuta Grammar School to my professional colleges in London.

It was a stage that old Shakespeare called seven stages or is it ages? I have lived 55 years of journalism and that will take some telling and that will be for some other time. Now, I want to remember people who have been good to me and/ or have helped my career.

Chief Bisi Onabanjo, journalist and politician would be my first port of call. I went to see him in Daily Express to ask him for a job. Chief Onabanjo was the editorial director of the paper but then, he wrote one of the most powerful columns in Nigeria. Most people do not know him for the job he held but do for his ‘Aiyekoto’ column. Most people read him but most decision makers listen to what he had to say. I learned in his stable even as a sub-editor. Chief Onabanjo was a governor of Ogun State.

Uncle Sam, a soft-spoken man also contributed to the making of the man, Kola. He was one of the heavy writers of his age. At school, we burrowed from the library Sam, Allah De and Ebenezer Williams. I did not meet Uncle Sam when I went to work for the Express but I heard of him and he had gone to the Daily Times.

I heard and saw of him in the Vanguard which he published and still do. He did not write his column which popularised him but he has, and still is popular for his turning out good journalists. One of that is yours truly. I, however, still remember Uncle Sam for his kindness. He will ask for your family and your well-being. Uncle Sam has visited me in my home many times I cannot now remember how many time-  both in illness and in good health.

Allah De-Alade Odunewu -was a master craftsman. I mean when word craftsmen are concerned. And we learnt a lot from him. He wrote like a professor letting the words just sink in. His Sunday tonic was a sine qua non. He visited me in my home -one old man to another  young boy. Alade was  once commissioner in Lagos State government.

Lateef Kayode Jakande is still alive and kicking and his John West column in the Tribune was a must read. By the way, he is my older cousin and my father’s cousin by extension from our Omuaran root. His father, Oloye Jakande was my father’s cousin and so loved him to name Lateef after my father when he was born.

When I went to work for Tribune, he was in castration but we worked for him all the same. LKJ has/had courage and spirit and as governor of Lagos State, he set all the good examples.

Chief Olu Adebanjo was my editor at the Daily Express. He became council Chairman of Ijebu Odogbolu Local Government in his dying years but he has served Shagari in NPN days. I learned an undying lesson from him. How not to be proud on account of your achievements. It is a long story; but the long and short of it is that you never know who you will meet on your way down.

My friend, the Akirogun of the Egbas, Olusegun Osoba is special. We were not friends at first, but through my long lasting friend Eddie Kola Aderinokun. Akirogun will defend my position and will put things my way. When he offered me the chairmanship of Abeokuta North Local Government, I had had no experience of it. I do not know why I deserve his special care. May he live long!

I wish I knew where Chief Emiola Atanda is now. He was editor of the Tribune in 1964. I heard he was a professor of communication in Ife or thereabout. He was way up my elder. He treated me well and I learned some of his editorial styles in my craft.

Eddie Aderinokun is my lifelong friend. We started from secondary school in Abeokuta and we wanted to go into journalism together. I started at the Daily Express a month ahead of him and we have been inseparable.

Eddie would do anything possible for me. I stayed with him at Yaba and he visited me in Stockholm. I became friends with Dayo Duyile and we have been friends ever since. It was Dayo who dragged me to lecture at the NIJ. I can go on and on about my friends because they bunch with me, but there are some special friends I cannot stop singing about-my wife and children. They go with me through rain or shine. My wife -Silifat Modupeola Animasaun-my wife of 54 years and my children.

The hallmark of my life has been its contentment. I have been content with life from my early years. I have been satisfied with it and I take whatever comes to me. Alhamdulilah.