By Dada Adekola, Cartoon Editor

“Come back tomorrow and stick your butt on this chair till you see me.

“We’re going to turn you into a monster.”

Those were the exact words of the publisher and chairman of Vanguard Newspaper, Mr Sam Amuka, in 1994, when I met him for the second time in his office.

I walked into Vanguard premises in 1993 on the invitation of the then Sunday Vanguard Editor, Mr Fola Arogundade, whom I met at Vintage People magazine, as the editor-in-chief. As the story goes, he left Vanguard with the pioneer editor, Mr Muyiwa Adetiba, to set up Prime People magazine. 

He wanted me to do some illustrations and cartoons for Sunday Vanguard as a freelancer. It was one of the cartoons that caught the attention of the Chairman, and I was invited over. When we met and after a brief introduction, I was asked to do an editorial cartoon. I produced two, and one of them was used on the front page. I was thrilled

and floated on air. The rest is history.

As Vanguard clocked 40 this year, I’ve spent thirty years at the organization. 

To me, the journey is akin to sitting at the window of a moving train and observing the images of people and objects as they whizz past. At the stations, passengers disembarked, and new ones joined the pack.

In retrospect, we have to hoof it to office from Mile 2 as there were no commercial motorcycles at the time and as the year rolled by, shrubs gave way to concrete pathways, make shift structures became architectural masterpieces. Colleagues that came in as young, single men, and women became parents and grannies. 

My daughter, Aina, who was four years old when I got my employment letter, is now a mother of three.

I started with editorial cartoons and strips like Landlord plc, Big Chief, and Sports Billy for the Sunday and weekend titles until the chairman asked me to contribute to the daily title as well.

One day, the Sunday editor said he’d like to have a front page cartoon like MR & MRS. 

After two weeks, I came up with two concepts: SARGE and the other, BROKEN BOTTLES.

SARGE was chosen and has become part of Sunday Vanguard ever since.

My job was made easier with the camaraderie around the Sunday crew: Sunny Are, Dayo Benson, John Nwokocha, Obi Nwakanma, Jide Babatunde (who is a graphics designer till date) and Abel Kolawole.

On the production day, which was Friday, Sunny Are would take us to Apapa where he’d treat us to Suya and drinks. It used to be a mini carnival of sort. We later christened it Friday Nite live.

Whenever the chairman travels abroad, he comes back with loads of newspapers and magazines of the country. On one of such occasions, he called my attention to a cartoon, which was in french language. He asked somebody to translate it for me, then asked me to produce a similar one. This was how the Pocket Cartoon on page 5 of the daily Vanguard was created.

Then came the MR & MRS cartoon.  On a Tuesday afternoon, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, the deputy editor was coming out of his office and as I greeted him, he said ‘Dada, can you handle MR & MRS?  I quickly replied in the affirmative.

Then he said, ‘do us a month’s supply. I couldn’t believe it. Forty-eight hours later, I gave him twenty pieces.

MR & MRS cartoon has been part and parcel of the paper since inception and was drawn by two cartoonists before I took over.

The pioneer cartoonist was Lawrence Akapa, then Sanmi Abejide. I have been in charge of the cartoon from 1997 to date.

It has been thirty years of learning and discovering a lot about journalism. I remember how I used a four-letter word SH-T in MR & MRS. Cartoon. This drew a long, four paragraph letter of protest from Mrs Obviagele, who was the mother of the house and Woman Editor. I was summoned by Mr Adefaye, and he angrily waved the letter in my face; ‘Who vets your cartoon?’ And what’s this nonsense in today’s MR & MRS he bellowed. I couldn’t say a word. A five-man army was designated to vet the cartoon henceforth. That’s how important it is!

Later in the year, I was asked to do an illustration for a piece Mrs Obviagele authored.  When I got to her office and I introduced myself, she said ‘Ah, you’re Dada, you’re gifted but the word you used that day is not meant for a family paper like Vanguard, not all Americans even use it. That never left me.

Paul Adams (now a Nollywood actor) was the cartoon editor when I was employed, and when he left, I was elevated to the position. Vanguard Cartoon Department has housed veterans like Bayo Odulana, Kenny Adamson, God Rico, Laobis Obilonu, Sanmi Abejide, and Morak Oguntade. When I became the cartoon editor, Laobis Obilonu (RIP), Nath Ngerem, Femi Arowolo, Tunji Oladuja, and Segun Awosiyan were in the department with me. After the demise of Laobis, Nath retired voluntarily, which leaves only Segun and I. But before then, Tunji had left for England, and Femi took his talent elsewhere.

Looking back thirty years now, am I really a monster?