THE BOY WHO LOVES BOOKS

  Dare Babarinsa reviews Nyaknno Osso’s  ‘Against All Odds, My Testimony,’  during the 70th birthday of the ace Librarian 

Nyaknno Osso’s life is an adventure in the search for knowledge.  

He grew up as an only child of his mother and then destiny seized him, and escorted him on a life journey that would take him to all the corners of the earth, dinning and wining with the high and mighty and ultimately leading him into self-discovery as a child of God who has been favoured in many special ways.  

Osso has revealed his true self in this enthralling autobiography, Against All Odds, My Testimony, published by Biographical Legacy and Research Foundation. In this 400-page book, you will discover that Osso is a long-distance runner who started from a truly humble beginning to become a man of global consequences.

Fate singled him out from the start. How can he be the only child that survived out of eight children if not the hand of a benevolent fate? His parents, afraid that he may suffer the same fate like his older siblings, gave him the name, NyaknnoAbasi, which means “I leave him in the hand of God”.  

It was a prophetic name that seem to have guided Osso in his life adventures. His uncle wanted him to be doctor. He wanted to be a soldier instead and he got his admission to the Nigeria Defence Academy through its commandant, the late Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo. God chose a different path for him and our country and humanity is richer for it.  

Osso is not a man to boast about his achievements and this book is written in the plain language of a seasoned journalist. There is no bombastic, no beating of the chest and no flourish. Just be ready to be entertained with facts and information.  

After working with journalists for many decades, Osso has imbibed the reporter’s skill of just plain reporting. It is the simplicity of this book that is so engaging and enthralling. You cannot put it down once you begin. It is an autobiography, but also a bit of our country’s interesting contemporary history, the sociology of his native people of Akwa-Ibom State and a classic exploration of the power-play in Nigeria with the ebullient and enigmatic General Olusegun Obasanjo at the centre of this narrative. 

As a young man in search of his future, Osso had been invited to Ibadan by his uncle, a university teacher, who wanted him to become a doctor, but Osso drifted into information science. He loves books and thus began a lifelong romance with the library.  

It was in Ibadan that he met many interesting people, learnt to become a disc jockey, like the unforgettable Tunji Marquis and Alex Conde, both of the Western Nigerian Broadcasting Service, (WNBS) Ibadan. He enjoyed the highlife. But then in 1975, he took a trip to Calabar on the promise that he would get a job in the library of the new University of Calabar, but instead got a job with the public library where the great Ray Ekpu, then editor of the Sunday Chronicle, happened on him one day.  

Osso was precocious, even daring. He accosted Ekpu and gave him an information that struck an unforgettable chord. “I know your girlfriend in Ibadan, Uyai,” he told Ekpu. “She says you are going to marry her.” Simple; straightforward. That is Osso in a single sentence.  

Thus began a lifelong friendship and mentorship. Ekpu was invited to join the federal government owned Daily Times by President Shehu Shagari on the recommendation of Governor Clement Isong of the then Cross River State. Ekpu became the editor of the highly-rated Sunday Times and from that pedestal, his sun shone across the land. He was cerebral, engaging, daring, informed and fearless. His Sunday column was a must-read and the circulation figure of the Sunday Times soared.  

But the owners of the paper were displeased and they decided to knock him off his high horse and he was posted to edit the staid Business Times. Even then, he resumed his irreverent column in the Business Times until he was forced to resign and took employment with the Concord Group of Newspapers where he served as the chairman of the editorial board. It was at the Concord that Ekpu teamed up with two other editors, Yakubu Mohammed of the National Concord and Dele Giwa of the Sunday Concord to start the pioneering news weekly, Newswatch, with Dan Agbese from the New Nigerian stable.      

With Newswatch in incubation in 1984, Ekpu told his colleagues that the man to make a difference was Osso. Giwa travelled to Calabar and brought him in tow insisting that Osso must start work immediately to build the best media library in Nigeria. Osso was the first staff employed by Newswatch and he was perhaps the best. He pioneered the practise of the library opening almost 24 hours daily, especially during production period. He would be the first in the office in the morning and the last to leave.  

Newswatch understood the critical position of accurate information to the success of the enterprise. Osso was sent to the best media houses in the world to learn more and bring the trophy home. It was during those tours that he met many media legends, including Lance Morrow of the Time magazine.

He had so many unforgettable moments in Newswatch. It was in Newswatch he produced and edited the great book, Newswatch Who is Who, that was to win him world-wide acclaim.  

One day in 1986. Osso had gone to the office and met Giwa who was in a morose mood. He had just returned from a disturbing interview with the State Security Service (SSS) at Awolowo Road, Ikoyi. “My brother, I don’t know why anyone would want to kill me,” Giwa lamented. The following day, Giwa was killed with a parcel bomb.

It was Newswatch that provided him with the opportunity to meet General Obasanjo, who had retired to his farm in Otta, Ogun State, after his service as Nigeria’s military Head of State. It was a meeting that was to change the course of Nigerian history and Osso’s odyssey. The general was surprised when Osso brought 20 files of information about him (Obasanjo) to his Otta during their first meeting. Osso’s fame was spreading rapidly as a first-class media librarian and it was not Obasanjo alone who courted his friendship.  

In 1991, he was invited to work with a Nigerian Head of State and was offered an initial payment of 10 million naira; a princely sum in those day. He was advised to return the money. He did not join the team. After General Sani Abacha seized power, Osso was invited to come and head the national library. “Please don’t go, “Obasanjo advised him. “They would frustrate you. They would reduce you to nothing!”

He declined the offer.

Then Abacha decided to reduce Obasanjo to nothing. It was a dark period for Nigeria and the author until Abacha died suddenly in 1998. Obasanjo rose from prison to become the landlord of Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja. Osso was with him throughout his eight years in power. It was then that the idea of the first Presidential Library in Africa took form. Today, the Olusegun Obasanjo President Library (OOP) is standing on many acres of land in Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State. It is s a lasting monument to Osso’s service to Nigeria and humanity. His ideas and efforts have made the library possible.  

The village boy from Ete has done good.

 Babarinsa is 

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Gaskia Media Ltd