Yesterday Dr. Ogunbiyi about his years at The Guardian,his job schedule and relationship with the Publisher, Mr. Alex Ibru and how things fall apart. Here’s his conclusion.

NOT unexpectedly, our forced resignations led to a flood of other resignations and the company faced, in my view, its first self-inflicted crisis.

The manner of the departures was painful. We all moved on, but the pain lingered for a while. And although the Publisher and I made things up, thanks to his lovely wife, Maiden, we never really came to terms with what led to that season of rancour.

Unfortunately, the Publisher and Dr. Macebuh never patched things up before Dr. Macebuh himself died; which was a real pity because they were, together, a formidable team. Without either, I doubt that the Guardian, as we know it today would have happened. But now that they are both up there, I am sure they will be forced to sort things out!

Like all who are destined for great things in life, Mr. Ibru’s life was a study in self contradiction, the most obvious being the fact that he, a very private person, headed one of the most public of our institutions.

In a country that thrives on flashy, self-promotion, he, the prime custodian of a key medium for such excesses, was the very embodiment of self-effacement. Ever his own man, he, the very quintessential businessman, never once displayed a staid mediocrity to the intellectualism that was dominant at the Guardian, at least, during the early years. Shy, without being utterly unstuffy, the very ordinariness of his immaculate persona could be deceptive.

For, while Mr. Ibru could be warm and even generous, he had the opposite capacity to be unyielding like a tough combatant who could take on unpleasant facts head-on. His less charitable critics accuse him of ruthlessness, impulsiveness, snobbishness and even arrogance.

There is no doubt at all that he was an astute and keen-eyed businessman, with a copious original mind. There is also unchallengeable evidence that he acquired a measure of discipline from the bureaucratic machine which his oldest brother, Olorogun Michael Ibru had set up. He was, undeniably, a brave, gutsy entrepreneur who, in the eagerness to get quick results, could be tough, obdurate and even pugnacious.

But he was no snob. And if snobbery implies sycophancy, then the word is absurdly misapplied here because Mr. Ibru never bowed in humility to power, not even during his tenure as Federal Minister.

In retrospect, I am happy that we both made up long before he took ill and that I got to visit with him a number of times, especially during the past few months. He remained his old confident self to the end, although his austere convictions had now given way to deep philosophical reflections about life. I recall my very last visit, barely weeks before he died, when he implored me to thank his wife, Maiden, for being so dedicatedly supportive of him. It turned out to be a most moving last encounter.

In the end, his contributions to Nigerian journalism will be adjudged monumental. Nothing, not even the fact that he was aided in that process by Dr. Stanley Macebuh, could detract from his immense contributions.

History will be kind to him, essentially because he earned the right to such recognition. Because of him, the history of Nigerian journalism will be written differently. We shall all remain perpetually in his debt. The immediate challenge that remains is for Maiden and her lovely children to ensure that the legacy he has bequeathed us is sustained for all time.

Dr.  YEMI OGUNBIYI,  wrote from Lagos.