By Oluwole Leigh
It was 2003. I was an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan. Posters sprung up around campus announcing his visit. I asked my friend Tolu Ogunlesi if he heard that our hero was coming to campus. He told me he had seen the posters. The RRESS association of the post graduate hall had managed to get him to chair a public discussion on terrorism. The venue was the Mobolaji Bank Anthony Hall near the Faculty of Social Sciences. His name stood out on the poster. He was neither a rock star nor an actor but he was highly revered on campus. He was the reason many students made their way to the newspaper spot on Fridays and Sundays when his column came out. His Postgraduate degree was obtained at the University’s Department of Theatre Arts. It was easy to see why we claimed him as one of ours.
It was not uncommon to see Professors and students gather to discuss his articles at the newspaper spot. His use of language was unparalleled and he had pioneered a unique style of writing. His style of using dramatic conversations to narrate his opinions was adopted by a lot of readers and is largely used by many young writers today. There were times when he wrote serious stuff’ and there were other times when he wrote the ‘unserious stuff’. The general feeling was that the latter part of his career would play out on campus. He knew about the intrigues and politics of the University system and had written about these issues many times.
The public discussion was scheduled to start at 4pm. Tolu and I had freed ourselves of all academic commitments that clashed with the discussion. We made our way to the venue of the discussion and found that it was almost filled up. Lecturers, undergraduate and postgraduate students from various faculties were in attendance. We awaited the arrival of our hero. The event kicked off in his absence. A quick decision was made to appoint a lecturer to stand in his place. The discussions were free flowing and there was no shortage of opinions. It is necessary to point out that this time period was less than 3 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The root causes of terrorism were examined on the stage of International Politics and solutions were preferred. The great one was still being expected. We were constantly staring out of the window to see if we could spot him walking into the hall. The major issue was that his column only offered us an avatar as his display picture. We wanted to see him in flesh. The organisers seemed to be worried that their star attraction had not yet arrived.
At about 5:30pm, there was a flurry of activities outside the hall. The Great One had arrived. He walked into the hall with the organisers in tow. Everyone in the hall stood up to acknowledge his presence. The organisers took over the mic and announced to everyone’s delight that he had arrived and would take over the discussions. He stepped up and apologised for keeping everyone waiting. He said he had been caught up in traffic along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway in Lagos. We were ready to accept any excuses as long as we had the opportunity to see him face to face. He participated in what was left of the discussions and he gave a couple of remarks. At the close of the discussions, the organisers made him a patron of their association and gave him an award. He promptly remarked that they quickly get on with the ‘rituals’. He was obviously not one for honours or awards. The lecture ended and a queue for pictures and autographs quickly formed outside the hall. Everyone wanted to take pictures with him. I got up to leave as I felt my mission had been accomplished. After years of reading my hero on the pages of the dailies, I had seen him and heard him speak. Unfortunately, my co-traveller was not ready to leave. Tolu Ogunlesi was determined to get a picture with him and possibly his autograph. He was determined to ‘touch the hem of his garment’. We had to wait for about thirty minutes before Tolu accomplished his mission. Beaming with smiles, he walked to where I was and we left the venue. We had seen our hero face to face.
I got back to class the next day and my course mates asked why I had missed the evening class of the previous day. I told them Reuben Abati was in town.
