Death is indeed an incurable affliction, afflicted all mankind.
I have received the passing of Oga Yemi Ogunsola, my boss, mentor, and a father figure that the journalism profession has given me with utmost devastation.
A fine journalist, an unblemished editor, a voracious reader, and an embodiment of knowledge, Oga Ogunsola had a glorious sojourn as a Writer, Sub-Editor, Chief Sub-Editor, Production Editor (Saturday) in the Guardian Newspaper. He had previously worked at The Nigerian Tribune, The Daily Sketch, and elsewhere, before our paths crossed at the Rutam House. Coincidentally, we briefly met at The New Diplomat, where I was ultimately offered to take a similar role, Content Editor, after he had left.
He was a go-to person on complex subjects such as Religion, Philosophy Humanity, Spirituality and Existence. He was always a delight to listen to and learn from.
Pleasingly, his profound knowledge of the world is usually clothed in humility, and mostly in his quiet and modest outfit.
Sometimes, in a bid to establish the infallibility of his position in an intellectual discussion, he would convey lorry-loads of documents to the newsroom, to show some curious learners and some of his challengers. He always appeared to have a superior knowledge of each of the topics.
Some of these encounters have led me to having some of his books in my possession till today. He would say, “Shakirudeen, take this book, go and read it and come back let’s finish this discussion”.
In this way, I ended up reading more of his books and developing similar curiosity on why the world is created and function the way it is.
Incidentally, I found my own answer to this philosophical inquiry in the Holy Quran.. The holy book did established the legitimacy of the need to interrogate this world, saying Allah SWT deemed it a sign of superior IQ/power/wisdom/desire to question the Existence of God and the creation of this world. “Only the wise can reflect” “But we are talking to only the wise”, such phrases/sentences doted various parts of the Quran.
However, I could vividly recall that one of the topics Oga Ogunsola was so passionate about and took time to shed light on was the UFO phenomenal.
Universal Flying Object (UFO) is believed to be the airplanes/transport being used by the Aliens! While the Scientists have confirmed the existence of these creatures, with inclination that they have far more superior intellectual and technological powers to the humans, Oga Ogunsola had repeatedly linked their super powers to that of the Yoruba Progenitors, Ogun (The God of Iron) and other gods.
He once postulated that the Astronauts,’ Space Suite is an idea taken from the African Masquerades’ Regalia (Eku Eegun).
To substantiate this, the discussion took us on a voyage to two important books, The Bamuda Triangle and The Philadelphia Experiment, which we read one after the other.
Oga Ogunsola likened the claims in the Philadelphia Experiment to the regular defense mechanism of the African (Yoruba) Warriors/Powerful.
For instance, the Philadelphia Experiment was an account of how a War Ship was caused to disappear from one location and appear in another location and reappeared in the original location after some minutes, causing disorientation and brain damages on those who were witness to the out-of-this-world experience.
Oga Ogunsola disagreed. “Kanako and Egbe (Voyage Shortener and Invisibility Powers have always been with humanity. Before the advent of motor vehicles, railways and planes, people have always embarked on long journeys. Some privileged powerful have always had the power to shorten long journeys and even invoke the spirit of invisibility, disappearing from a location and appearing in another, with high level precision,” one of his submissions is roughly recreated here.
One of my fondest memories of him was when we used to play Scrabble Game together in his office back at the Rutam House.
He loved Scrabble and the day he knew I play the game, our bond became stronger. He beats me a couple of times. But I remember I always whip him, overall. He would say, ‘Oba je (you are disrespectful for beating your boss in a game). He was not a regular power-drunk boss.
He gave Reporters their greatest desire, the freedom to retain their original expression in a story. He would also call for permission to make structural or a complete rewriting of a sentence in a story.
Many editors don’t do this. They don’t also call the attention of the writer to the final edited copy before publication.
This humility/professionalism stood Oga Ogunsola out amongst his peers as an Editor and a boss.
I will miss him dearly.
May Allah SWT forgive his shortcomings, exempt him from the torments of the grave and grants him Al-Jannah Firdaos, Amin.
Shakirudeen Bankole, is a journalist, former Content Editor at The New Diplomat and the immediate past Communications Lead, Center for Democracy and Development (CDD).
