Olusegun Osoba: It Was Devastating When IBB Told Me He Was Hostage to Those Who Staged His Coup

Eighty-five years old today, Monday, July 15, former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, weekend, played host to Nigerians from all walks of life and in their numbers, including the Vice-President, Senator Kashim Shettima, at the launch of his book: “My Life in the Public Eye”. The event held at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, being the peg of his 85th birthday celebration, nearly shut down the state of aquatic splendour. First a journalist before anything else, Osoba is one individual, who has paid his dues, and sometimes at the risk of his life. He has proof for this: his expensive contacts that cut across class, age and status. But, away from politics and its many distractions, Osoba would rather he shared some personal moments with Olawale Olaleye, reminiscing on his days as a journalist, concerns on the state of the profession, some private considerations about life and his thoughts as a family man. Excerpts:

You look pretty good for an 85-year-old. Is this your real age, or some fabrication for certain considerations?

It’s my real age, because I was born on July 15, 1939, in Osogbo. At that time, there was no register of birth, but my dad recorded that I was born on a Saturday. And if you Google, you will find that it was a Saturday. Therefore, it’s my true age.
In our time, we used to have a school age, where the teacher would take the average age of everybody, and just assign a certain age for you. They assigned 1941 to me, when I grew up I reverted to my original age of July 15 1939.

Indeed, at some points, you had two ages in use. What really happened that you had to go back to your real age?
What’s the point if I continued to use the school age at my age? I should be honest with myself and be true to the facts rather than twisting it.

How did you feel that you had to deal with those two dates of birth?

No, because it was the norm. Take for example, when I was young, to start primary education, you had to put your arm around your head. That determines whether you will be allowed to start primary school. That happend. And then when I left primary school, my uncle took me to Ilesha Teachers training, to be trained as a teacher.
When the expatriate inspector then came for inspection on my first week or second at the teacher’s training, in fact, I was too young and too short. So, I was denied admission. I had to come to Lagos, wasting a year or two before I was admitted to Methodist Boys High School. So, along the line, I kept losing years. That affected the age that was recorded for me as my official age. As I grew older, I had to revert to the truth and be honest with myself.

So, what does it feel like to be 85 years old, contrary to Nigeria’s life expectancy, which is 56 years, according to the 2024 UN chart and table?

Well, it’s all in the mind. Truly speaking, I keep wondering. I always ask myself, too. Am I really 85?  Because, when I was younger, people above sixty, we called them Baba, Pa, and to be seventy then was seen as an achievement. I thank God that I advanced to 85 years and I feel quite alright with myself. I tell you, I don’t play with my Doctors instructions and advice.

You are not just alive to be 85, you seem very healthy. It may be hard to find a contemporary, as agile, hale and healthy as you. How have you been able to maintain a healthy life and safe living?

I must confess to you. First of all, as a true Nigerian, I attribute everything to the grace of God. But I can tell you, one of the major attributes that one needs is to learn to do everything with moderation. Whatever may be the case, even the food you eat, you must do it with moderation. It is very very important. And give yourself a total rest of mind.
You must have contentment. I don’t envy anybody. And I don’t use anybody as a parameter or barometer for my own life. I believe in myself. I live my life the way I want it. And I don’t envy anybody. Secondly, I hate to carry an issue overnight. Because, if I envy somebody and I carry it overnight, I don’t sleep well. So I deal with all issues during the day.
There was a time when I was governor, I had to tell some of my close friends, who were strong and close enough to tell me the truth. People like Oba Otudeko, Peter Àjàyí – they were friends who would tell me bluntly what they felt.
We usually talked almost every night. At a point, I had to plead with them that if they found something wrong that I was not doing well, they should not be telling me in the night, they must tell me in the morning, so that I would have dealt with it during the day to avoid carrying it overnight. So, you must give yourself total peace of mind. As I repeat, contentment; don’t be envious and you live the rest to God

So, what do you do with your time since you no longer work?

With this order of internet platforms and connectivity, there is so much to read. In fact, I get bombarded that I struggle everyday to catch up. For example, as a politician, I have 7000 thousand contacts on my phone. So, coping with “happy Monday”, “happy Sunday”, “happy new month”, “happy these and that”.
Then I belong to so many platforms. Old classmates, clubs. They don’t like me to pull out. Professional websites and platforms. So, there is so much to read and with modern day technology, events happen so fast.
News happens so fast. I am a curious reporter, I have always wanted to be up to date. But one thing I do is that I rest as much as I can. I listen to my body. It is very important that one should listen to your body talking to you. If my body tells me not to get up, I don’t get up. As a result, I always mute my telephone all night and I don’t open my telephone before 12 noon.
I don’t answer calls before noon. By then, I would have had my early morning sleep, which is the best and when I get up to start the day, it’s like that till midnight or sometimes past midnight. So, again, one must be in charge of one’s activity and importantly, listen to your body and obey your doctor’s instructions.

Given the many curves that life has taken you, did you ever think that you could actually live up to 85?
Well, when I look back, for example, my News Editor at Daily Times, Animashaun, left office and was heading home. I don’t think he was up to 40. Driving home, he died in his car. He must have had a heart attack. And when I look at some of my friends, who died young, I used to wonder whether I too would live beyond the ages of those young ones who died. Well, thank God, now I am 85. I never thought that I would live up to 85. So, one must be doing Thanksgiving everyday.

So, was there any time that you ever gave up on life?

Never! I am an optimist. I give myself rest of mind. I don’t think I have cause to regret my life at any stage. I can tell you I’ve lived it well. At every stage of my life. In my younger days, myself, Gen Babangida, Gen Ike Nwachukwu, Air Marshal Abas, Air Marshal Bello, we used to paint Lagos red in our younger days.
I have no regrets. I thank God at every stage. I live it up and enjoy myself. In fact, Kabiyesi, the Awujale of Ijebu-land is always telling me that if I slaughter a ram everyday in thanksgiving to God for what God has done in my life, it is not too much. Kabiyesi is 90. He used to tell me that, watching me, at every stage of my life, I had the best of everything. That I should always be thanking God every day, which is true.

Eighty-five years on earth could actually make you an encyclopedia on life’s many issues. But what is that one lesson that life has taught you, that you’d love to share for people to learn from?

If you read my book. My autobiography, you will find that I said, “Battle lines: Adventures in journalism and politics”. One thing that I will say is that one should never give up, no matter the circumstances. Be battle ready. And if you’ve read Battle Line, you find too many challenges that I went through. And I thank God I had the courage never to give up. Never! Never to accept defeat.

Life is made up of good and evil. There can’t be one without the other. With the benefit of hindsight, is there anything in life you would have loved to do differently or in the best case scenario, undo, looking back?
Each time I look back, I can’t find anything I would say I regret. No. If I have to go through it again, I don’t think I would do anything differently. No regrets at all. In everything I did, I have no regrets.  None.

Olusegun Osoba is a household name.  Interestingly you made this name as a journalist and not as a politician that many reckon today. How does that make you feel?

I always feel good within myself, because when you look at many who have been governors in the country, whether military or civilian, many who are still alive have been forgotten. I tell my children that one thing I would do over and over again is to be a reporter. Being a reporter is a university by itself. You get to know so many people. You get to learn a lot. You get to develop contacts.
For example, my daughter gave me a grandson in March. She is to come back home this week to be around for my 85th birthday and she had to go and get an emergency travel certificate for the little boy. And she came back so elated and happy, that, getting to the High Commission in London, the name Osoba was so respected that she was given virtually a VIP treatment and she came back and said, “daddy, I wonder how you do it.”
I said well, that is part of  the grace of God that I gained as a journalist and not as a governor. I have forgotten that I was a governor. In fact, when PDP rigged the election in 2003, I just decided to return home. I didn’t go to court. In spite of the fact that Gen Buhari proved in court that the election in Ogun State was grossly rigged.
And the election was canceled by Justice Tobi, who was the chairman of the presidential election tribunal. I didn’t want to force myself on Ogun State. I wanted to serve, and if they said “no more”, why not? I returned home and gave myself peace of mind. The goodwill that I enjoy at all levels, is more than enough for me. It gives me great joy.

Again, you didn’t just make a name as a journalist, you also made very expensive contacts at the highest level of leadership in the country. How were you able to balance it, without conflicting your professional obligations?

Well, you will see, like I tell you, there has been no head of government that I was and still not close to. Right from Tafawa Balewa. Tafawa Balewa to Gen Yakubu Gowon. Ironsi was the only one I wasn’t close to, but his was short. His time was short. Murtala Mohammed to our Obasanjo, Obasanjo to Shagari, Shagari to Gẹn Buhari, Buhari to Babangida.
Abacha I knew even as GOC in Ibadan before he became head of state. Although he was after me to kill me because he felt that being close to him I should have gone all out for him. Then from Abacha to General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Abubakar back to Obasanjo. Obasanjo went back to Yar’adua, whose brother was very close to me as Chief of staff to Obasanjo then. We developed a very close relationship.
Then to Jonathan, who I knew when he was deputy to Alaymesigha, and from Jonathan back to Buhari and now to our first progressive president, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. There has been no president in this country that I don’t know. So, balancing the situation, I can tell you, the training that we had from Baba Jose was very influential to my attitude.

I never never compromised my professional standard with all the connections that I had. If I had wanted to make money, anything I asked or be an agent to some businesses, I would have made millions.  But never!
I will give you an example. General Mobolaji Johnson was my house captain in Methodist Boys High School and he became governor. And he was the one that allocated most of Victoria Island. As close as I was to him, one of my classmates was his commissioner, Rasheed Gbadamosi, and my boss, Odunewu, was also commissioner in his cabinet. I never asked for land in Victoria Island.
You will not believe that it was when Mudashiru became governor. Mudashiru grew up in Isalẹ Eko, and married one of the sisters of my classmate, Babayemi. It was he who was shocked to learn that I didn’t have a single sand in Lagos as Managing Director of Daily Times. He was the one who, by force, allocated a plot to me in Lekki.

It was the first government land that I have had all throughout my career until I became the MD of Daily Times. I never had a plot of land in Lagos. It was shocking to Mudashiru. And it paid off for me. Because, all these people I mentioned have respect for me and those of them who are still alive still have tremendous respect for me.
I still enjoy that goodwill. I did not compromise my professional ethics and standards. It paid off for me. Anything I wanted, up till today, I got it done. Up till today, I have never had any government business or contract that would create any scandal for me. So, I am lucky. The benefit of it came in different forms, for me.
I can tell you that even as Governor, I was never a candidate of EFCC or ICPC. Overall, that goodwill will come through other sources for you to get on in life.

Still talking about your expensive contacts, many of whom were majorly senior military officers, how did you situate that against the push for democracy, both as a journalist and progressive?

You see, even under the military, I always tell you people that you should praise us that we were able to produce papers that were still sellable under military dictatorship. You people operate under civilian government. You don’t know what it was. The truth is that those military people knew that in-house, I will tell them the home truth.
I remember one incident when Felix Peter, myself and one or two other people met Babangida when he was military president. We bluntly told him a lot of things that were wrong with him and his government. It was so devastating that Gen Babangida said, “Let me tell you boys, I am hostage to those who staged the coup and those who put me here. And if I didn’t listen to what they wanted, they would get me out in seconds. And that there are no absolute powers.”

Even him as president; that those who stuck their neck and risked their lives to make him president were still there. And that he must continuously and constantly listen to them. Because we were telling him many things that were wrong with his government then and he appreciated it. And he said he would call a meeting of his mentors and promoters and explain to them that these were the facts that we had brought to him.
So, you see, behind closed-doors, we told them the home truth. So when we wrote stories, they already knew that we had told them the truth. And then tolerated us. Take for example, when Irabor and Tunde Thompson were charged to court for not disclosing their source of information. I was very close to Idiagbon. And I went to court to testify and give evidence on the side of the Guardian, Irabor and Thompson.

In fact, Alex Ibru said after the case that day that I  should park my things and be ready to go. But, unknown to him, I had had a long argument with Idiagbon that it was unethical for us journalists to disclose the source of our information. So, by the time we got to court, Idiagbon knew that I had told him the truth.
I gave evidence against the government of the day, but they didn’t sack me. Because as soon as it happened, I was there to tell them the home truth. And when I went public giving evidence on the side of the Guardian, it was not something new to them. That’s how to survive.

Is it not surprising that at 85, you still enjoy referring to yourself as a reporter. What really is it with you and journalism?  

I used to tell people that we, the reporters, are the infantry belt. We are the foot soldiers of journalism Anybody can be a columnist. Anybody! You don’t have to get any special training to be a columnist. In fact, in my younger days, Tai Solarin was one of the best columnists in Daily Times. Yet he was not a journalist. He was an educationist.
Anybody can be a writer. You can express your opinion as a columnist, that doesn’t make you a journalist. In my days, there were desk people, sub-editors, who would plan the pages and edit our stories. Yes, I agree. But they were in the background. We were the ones who went out and took risks. We were the real soldiers on the battle front. And that’s why I take pride in being a reporter.
Professor Akin Faleye propounded a theory that, even in heaven, there would be reporters because God himself will communicate to us who are in heaven. If there is going to be communication, there must be reporters to disseminate the information. So, why would I not be proud? In my life, I am a reporter, and when I get to heaven, I will still be a reporter. So, there is life after here for me in heaven.

One of the very noteworthy events of your life as a reporter was your discovery of the corpse of the first Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa. Aren’t there other news breaking discoveries that stood you out and also gave you prominence?

Too many. Take for example, the body of Colonel Taiwo in Kwara, when he was murdered, I and Obateye were the ones who discovered the body on the way to Offa. Take the case of Shugaba. He was the leader of the House of Assembly in Borno then.
And he was physically taken, a Nigerian, taken to the border and thrown into jail. A Nigerian elected to the House of Assembly and deported by young Maitama, a young man who was Minister of Interior. He took him physically. It was a big story. And he went to court and we followed him.
Take the case of Balarabe Musa. When Balarabe Musa was having his war with the NPN. We opened an office in Kaduna for him and had a Radio station. We followed Balarabe Musa’s story all over.
There are so many stories. Look at the case of Dimka. After Dimka assassinated Murtala Muhammed and absconded. He was found in Abakaliki and I happened to be in Enugu. Kafaru Tinubu was Commissioner of Police in Enugu and he saw me and said Segun.

I followed them with the military governor face to face with Dimka. I was there sitting down quietly, Dimka was being interrogated in my presence and I came back to Ilorin. For the next one week, I was doing different stories on Dimka and that shot up the Herald as it became a national newspaper.
I had too many exclusive stories. People talk too much about Tafawa Balewa. It was just one out of many national stories I was involved in and shot up any newspaper I belonged to at the national level.

Before the advent of the online and the influential media, you’ve always expressed concerns about the approach to news by the soft-sell  genre of journalism. Are you still worried about the current state of the media in general?

Very very worried. It didn’t start today. And I can tell you. In FAME, then, Mayor Akinpelu, wrote a story that I had 30 cars as governor of Ogun States in 1992. Online now is not starting today. Mayor Akinpelu and I eventually became friends. I had to sue them to court. Because K. A. Abrahams, a friend of mine, who was doing business, whenever he came to see me in Abeokuta as governor in 1992, we used to drive around in any new car he brought.
And so, FAME just went haywire and wrote that I had 30 cars. And I said well, if I had 30 cars, it means I can only drive one car a day in a month. It’s not starting today. Like I always say, bloggers are serious threats to our profession. And I have been preaching with my colleagues that the only way to deal with this is for all of us to go online.

Like Dapo Olorunyomi with Premium Times, Musikilu, the Editor in Chief. These are trained journalists. And whenever Premium Times does an investigative report, you enjoy it. Simon Kolawole, in Cable, you will know that you are reading stories developed and investigated by journalists.
A recent example was the one who went and wrote that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila collected sixty houses from Yusuf ‘Tunde’ Sabiu. That’s like having half of Ikoyi, in Abuja. Sixty houses! That’s taking an estate. You can’t bury an estate. The blogger went ahead to write that, and to say that Gbajabiamila collected millions of dollars from Sabiu Yusuf, ‘Tunde’.

Where will Gbajabiamila bury millions of dollars? Is it in the soakaway in his compound? At the end of the day, the management of his website denied him. He had to resign. We must fight the bloggers, who embarrass us, who are serious threats to our profession. They promote fake news.
There was an example of Macron. The bloggers put words in his mouth, addressing the United Nations, apologising for French stupidity in their colony. In spite of my being a first class reporter, I didn’t crosscheck, and I was posting this thing round to everybody, only for the father-in-law of my daughter, Ambassador Apata, to point out to me that ‘this is April’.
Then the date was April and the United Nation General Assembly is usually in September. It was then I realised that they have put words in Macron’s mouth through artificial intelligence. So, we have to be very careful. We must not defend these bloggers, who are thorough embarrassments. The answer to it is that all of us must go online and produce like Olorunyomi’s premium times, like Cable, to produce credible online platforms to deal with the untrained dangerous so called journalists.  

An average journalist is poorly paid. And not just that, the salary doesn’t come as it should. You are not oblivious of this fact. There is hardly any serious media gathering that you are not invited as a stakeholder, don’t you discuss issues that are fundamentally germane to the overall wellbeing of journalists?
I feel sorry and unhappy. I am torn between the publishers and the reporters. The publishers are suffering because the cost of production is everyday escalating. The cost of importing a ton of this print now, at one thousand plus to a dollar has escalated. So, the publishers themselves are not making money. They can’t print enough. People are not even buying as much as they used to buy. People go online, so the publishers are not making money.

That they are not paying the reporters is an unfortunate situation. It makes me sad. Whereas in our days, salaries were paid fortnightly by Alhaji Jose. He broke the salary into two. Every fortnight you’d get paid. And during the weeks, you’d make claims about your movement searching for news items. Alhaji Jose knew that we cooked it up, but if you have been doing good stories, he would just sign you out. We used to laugh at ourselves by asking, ‘have you submitted your swindle sheet?’.
It’s a pink paper that you write: Monday transport to Kakawa, from Kakawa to Ebute Meta, Ebute Meta to Yaba to Ido. You rip it into pieces so that by Friday, you get something for the weekend.
In our days, we were spoiled. Weekends were fine. Fortnightly salary came in. But now, some of you don’t get paid for five to six months. I’m sorry. And when I talk to the publishers, they too are in trouble: cost of production keeps running high, they are not selling much. advertisement is not that much, So I am torn between the two. And they don’t want to sack. If all of you are sacked, who would produce the paper?

Journalism is a profession you love so much and always proud to identify with. What future do you see?

As I said, I believe there is a great future. In spite of AI, forever and ever there would be journalism. Like Akin Faleye said, dissemination of information will continue forever. Journalism will never die. In spite of AI.

With the digitisation of the media, which has forced everybody to go online, don’t you think that the traditional media, the print in this case, could go extinct soon?
No. I don’t think so because the only difference will be that we will be giving newspapers free. In London, now, there is a daily newspaper, Metro, it’s free. And by the afternoon, the Evening Standard is out and it’s free. There will still be newspapers. It’s just that it will be free. And the money will be made from advertisements.

Everyone’s prayer for you is to live many more years in good health, but at 85, are there things you still look forward to before the universe calls time on you?

Nothing! I just do thanksgiving to God.  I always say, I don’t pray to have an aircraft. I don’t want to buy aircraft. I don’t want to buy Rolce Royce. The vehicles that I have for now will still last me for the next five years. The only thing I do everyday is, the bible teaches us to count our days. If I am going to live until 90, I have about 2500 days from now to ninety.
And I always asked myself, what will I be doing for the near 3000 days. Because if I live until ninety, nobody can say that I didn’t live well enough. So, I always want to get the best of everything in the daytime. Rest well. I don’t eat much, but the little I want to eat I want to eat quality food. If there is anything I enjoy most, it’s music. So I give myself the best and relax.
I have worked all my life and want to spend the rest of my life living a relaxed and enjoyable life. Sam Amuka used to tell me that when he is 90 years, he would like to go and he would be 90 next year on June 13. And I have told him that we won’t let him go at 90. The mother died at 108. So I told him that when it’s 106 or 107, we would force God to take him away then.
Like him, I thank God. I live to count my days, count my weeks. So, if I live to be 90, I still have about 300 weeks left. Why shouldn’t I give glory to God everyday and enjoy every day of my life to the best of my ability.

Lastly, what is family to you? And where has family always been in all that life has thrown at you, even at 85?

Well, I thank God that I have a good family. I have only one pity, that all through my life as a journalist, I devoted all day, all night to the profession. It is in old age now that I try to give as much as I can to my grandchildren what my children didn’t have. As a successful journalist, you have to be hardworking all day. You don’t go to bed until the paper goes to bed. And that is not before midnight. So, my grandchildren are the ones I am giving it all to. I look forward to my grandchildren and enjoy their company.