Jahman Anikulapo @ 50: In praise of a journalist and gentleman

By Chris Ihidero

I received a call from the personal assistant of a top CEO sometime in 2008. He calmly informed me that his boss would like have lunch with me. The boss’ name did not immediately ring a bell, but I accepted the invitation nonetheless. I was the Editor of MADE, the men’s lifestyle magazine, at that time, and I was sure the invitation had something to do with the magazine. I investigated and discovered that we had featured the CEO some six months before I got that call. We met for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Victoria Island, and he confessed that he arranged the lunch to meet me in person and say thank you for the feature. I told him he was featured because he had an interesting story and that all that was needed. At some point during lunch, he let it slip that apart from me, the only other newspaper or magazine editor that didn‘t ask for a payment to do a feature on him or his company was a certain Jahman Anikulapo of the Guardian on Sunday. I smiled. Apparently, my journalistic fruit had not fallen too far away from the tree that bore it.

I call Jahman ‘Baba Editor’ because he mid-wifed my path into journalism. When Life Magazine started in 2006, I was one of the writers that contributed weekly. All it took to get the gig was a chat with Jahman. ‘Can you be consistent?‘, he asked. Yes, I answered. ‘Okay, write four pieces and we can start‘. That was all it took. Sixteen months later, I was appointed as the pioneer Editor of MADE, based on my contributions to Guardian Life. I wasn’t alone. Take a cursory look at the arts and culture desk of any Nigerian newspaper, and Jahman’s footprints are easily discernible. He either trained the journalists that man the desk or trained the person that trained them. Talk to any brand manager in any company that has inroads into the arts/culture/entertainment sector who has encountered Jahman at some point in their careers, and they will willingly confess to being grateful to him for one thing or the other. Ask Deji Toye, Ayo Arigbabu, Jumoke Verrissimo, Onyeka Nwelue, Sam Mukoro, Chude Jideonwo, Emilia Asim-Ita, Samson Adeoye, and Chucks Nwanne about Jahman Anikulapo, and they will tell you that he is a great man. Ask me and my tales of his greatness will be unending. That I’m a filmmaker today is due to the grace of God and the part played by Jahman Anikulapo and Toyin Akinosho.

Jahman will hate this article. In today’s parlance, he hates to be ‘washed.’ In fact; if you ever have a problem with Jahman, it would most-likely be because you have been frustrated by his refusal of your gratitude or the need to be celebrated. If you want to embarrass Jahman, put him in the limelight, say something nice about him in public, or tell the world what favours he has done you. You don’t often find journalists combining the mannerisms of a perfect gentleman with their trade. Jahman is a worthy exception. His fieriness is reserved for his writing and advocacy; take that away and all you have left is a compassionate, humble and often very shy man. Woe betide you, though, if you’re a journalist working with him and caught slacking: hell hath no fury like a Jahman scorned by a journalist’s ineptitude.

Baba Editor, my veritable egbon; on behalf of all your ‘children’ I say a very loud HAPPY BIRTHDAY sir. E pe fun wa o. Thank you for the mentorship, thank you for being a worthy example of how one can be a Nigerian journalist for well over two decades and retain one’s integrity and sense of worth.

You have influenced a generation that are proud to call you Baba.