By Bunmi Sofola

Some 50 odd years ago, I climbed the stairs of a six-flat building on the then Hebert Macaulay Street, Ebute Metta, Lagos, into one of the flats on the second floor. It housed the handful of staff that was the Punch Publications then, and I was there in response to an advert for a Features Writer for its only publication then, HappyHome magazine, which I later edited. 

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I eyed the bush-haired man half asleep on a couch in one of the offices and wondered where the big boss was? To cut a long story short, the bushy-haired man later turned out to be the formidable Uncle Sam!

After the interview which progressed in its most informal state, I got the job with a salary that almost made my jaw hit the floor with an instruction to come to work any time I felt like as long as I got the job done – none of this 8 am to 5 pm nonsense. Wow!

By the end of the month, I’d met the rest of the staff – Late Ayo Akinwale, who was in charge of the accounts, Nguba Agolia, the acting editor, Jackie Payne, the paste-up artist, late Augustine Ihaenature, the secretary, and an office help. Working with Uncle Sam was like being paid for having fun, and that tempo continued even after Punch relocated to the Onipanu premises, Agege, where other publications were added.

You dared not get carried away by the happy-go-lucky look of Uncle Sam. Over the years, you get to recognize that ‘stern’  look as his anger bubbles to the surface whenever he was crossed!

Overall, though, he’s a very hard-working boss who suffers no fool! His appetite for fun is insatiable, and he feels at home wherever good food is on the table.

By the time I left the establishment to test my foot in the public relations waters, the publication had grown into a phenomenon. As a regular columnist, I had contact with old and new colleagues until Uncle Sam founded the Vanguard Media Limited some few years later. Back as a regular columnist, I quickly got used to the informal atmosphere that was typically Uncle Sam. 

A real foodie, he used the office’s well equipped canteen as a medium for regular journalists both current and retired to meet once a month and virtually have fun. This was until the Apapa roads became a nightmare to navigate, putting paid to the monthly get-together.

Thanks to that medium, Muyiwa Adetiba, Kenny Adamson, the late Yomi Onashile continued the get-together, this time to savour the Amala delicacy close to my residence. We continued to meet sporadically until we had enough members to find the Amala Group. Uncle Sam, the Grand Patron of the Group, always puts his weight behind its activities, always supportive whenever we have private functions. And he still dances too even though the limbs are not as nimble as before!!! 

Thanks to  extroverted Uncle Sam, the Vanguard premises could be a home-away-from-home experience. Some 16 years ago, when I was trying to wrap up my second book: Yours Sincerely, The Vanguard Years, the Stock Market crashed suddenly, and I was in a bind. Not only did Uncle Sam give the nod that the book should be printed by the printing section of Vanguard until I could complete payment, he used his muscles to get Ashipa Ahmed Onibudo (now late) as the Chairman of the launch. The invitation cards boldly stated him as the Chief Host. The icing on the cake was when the Managing Editor then, Gbenga Adefaye, agreed to review the book. Come the day of the launch, Uncle Sam was one of the early arrivals,  wanting to know if everything was in order. I couldn’t believe the turnout of dignitaries that turned up in spite of the heavy rain. There was no price for guessing who the crowd puller was! A few days later, I was back in the printing department to happily redeem my pledge!

Uncle Sam has always been more of a father figure than a boss, turning up at members functions no matter where. And never afraid to wield the stick when necessary.

This is congratulating the Vanguard  Group and our darling Uncle Sam for their forty years of making journalism refreshingly different!!!

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