Who is this Steve Babaeko for whom I broke all the rules?

By Victor O. Johnson

The last few weeks have witnessed a virtual Media frenzy over a Steve Babaeko & his new outfit X3M Ideas. But the stories were short on his antecedent. I mean where he really is coming from not starting with when he started to wear braids, shocking imagery to us of the Old School, never mind the attempt to rationalize it in his interviews.

So who is this Steve Babaeko over whom there is so much song & dance? I know and will tell, a la Fela Kuti’s “ma a l’ anu bi apere”. He is a boy that I took under my wings and hand-reared despite stiff opposition & a titanic battle over his employment. But he did not disappoint me as he distinguished himself to make me proud. How?

It all started in 1994 after I took over as CEO of MC&A with the attendant challenges. I met staffers whose loyalty remained fiercely to my predecessor. They wouldn’t give me the time of day which really, was not against me per se but what I represented and what they saw me as – an interloper and pretender who took away the job of their idol. Also, my reputation as a hard & uncompromising against the laissez–faire management that I inherited preceded me to contribute to their hostility. Many of them left before I resumed whilst others soon followed such that by the end of my third month, I had lost all Heads of Department, their deputies and many other senior staff. Even the maiguard & my Secretary left. The only people of consequence left were Gabriel Abah & Louis Toweh in Client Service. Sad to say, these staffers were some of the best welded into a fraternity and a terrific team bristling with panache. I am talking about Paris Agaro, a juggernaut artist,  easy-going Don Opurozor, gentleman Ope-ewe, avant guard Mikky, all-rounder Jimmy Bankole, the copy wizard (he left long before my coming on-board) & polite Bennard Okhakume who has surprisingly blossomed into a Marketing & Communication authority, churning out doctoral treatises in his weekly MC&A column (how did CAC register the same name as MC&A the Ad. Agency?) in The Nation on Sunday and which has earned him a deserved professorial accolade. And it cannot be said to be a fly-by-night thing as the column has been running for over 18 months.

There was a bright side to this mass exodus as, given circumstance of Agency’s dramatic decline, a radical surgery was indicated to restore her to health. The exodus, thus saved me the unpleasant chore of doing the needful. It also afforded the opportunity to bring in people who will be loyal to the flag and untainted in any way. Deprived of key people in a business where they are the main  assets, I found myself in a bind, in a hole, in a manner of speaking. But because life must go on as nature abhors vacuum, replacements had to be found and quickly too.

In those early days, having to contend with all kinds of chicanery, rascality and not knowing whom to trust, I took to walking round the Agency many times a day as a pilot walks round his plane, to get a feel of what’s going on, so as not to be surprised. I also banned visitors to the Agency except those on business. This was how I spotted this timid, pleasant & honest-looking boy in a nondescript T-Shirt always hanging around the Radio/TV room, which, by nature of its operation, always had a crowd of people – TV producers, models, translators, voice-over artistes etc that I could do nothing about. Then, in April 12^th 1995, the fellow with a surprising boldness committed a sacrilege of barging into my office. Instead of chewing him out as I would ordinarily have done, I did my first strange act where the boy was concerned by inviting him in against my own iron-clad rules and to the chagrin of my shocked secretary who could only stare dumbfounded. Inside, the chap timorously regaled me with pathetic stories of his plight and ended with applying for a job. This was when the second strange thing happened as I employed him, literally, on the spot without seeing his papers and without a day’s experience, although he had done the homework of learning what the job was about. I based my odd & impulsive decision on a gut feeling as you don’t get to my age and level without, acquiring a sixth sense and a nose for things. I also took refuge in the belief that if my nose let me down and he fell on the job, our traineeship program would flush him out, if he did not disappear on his own without being shoved. Till date, I can’t fully explain my impetuous act other than his face exuded honesty and that no negative vibes emanated from him. Welcome Steve Babaeko to start of his Communication career.

Mercifully, my nose did not disappoint me neither did Steve fall. He gave a good account of himself, demonstrated a surprising knowledge level, way above his station such that I gave myself a pat on the back but with a sneaky feeling that this Babaeko is a strange one. He took to the job like a fish to water, not like a greenhorn or a wet-behind-the ear rookie that he was and never looked back, He was always coming up with fresh & brilliant ideas, one of which, together with a senior writer, Paul Ugoagwu, gave us the Texaco business in a fiercely contested pitch that featured three largest-billing Agencies. A pitch, where nobody gave us a chance, where a respected practitioner took a look at our materials and sneered with “no wonder you people don’t win new business, if this crap is the best you can do for a big pitch like this”. But we won the business hands down and serviced it so well that it stayed with us till closure of the Agency.

Because of the situation in the Agency, I handled or was closely involved in all multinational accounts which were our mainstay – Malta Guiness, Multichoice, P&G’s Vicks Lemon Plus & Head & Shoulders. Predictably, it was Paul & Steve that worked with me on the accounts. And they were outstanding and we never had a copy or idea rejected neither did we loose any of them until the loss of the Saatchi & Saatchi affiliation under strange and painful circumstance.

The forth strange thing, was opening my arms to Steve him with an undisguised friendliness. God! What’s happening? A VeeJ didn’t make friends this easily, not with staffers anyway, although one HOD was known to be my friend. This closeness to me was to give Steve an Omo Baba handle, a distinction he enjoyed with Paul, a veritable wordsmith, warehouse of hot ideas with a huge sense of humour, Hogan Ekong a versatile creative veteran, soft-spoken & prolific Vincent Adetunrimo. One thread that ran through them was that they were all Creative, writers or visualizers, dedicated, sharp, smart as all get out, nimble on their feet and producing dazzling results. Nobody could have been “my friend” otherwise.

Through the grace of God and efforts of these young Turks, we didn’t loose any business to any departed staff as I feared apart from Bridgestone Tyre which, in any case, had always been serviced as a private account of a Departmental Head even long before I got to the Agency.

I ran into hot waters over by-passing the Head of Creative on the appointment of Steve which was the fifth strange thing that I did as all recruitment usually started from the HOD. The boss took umbrage at having to hear about him from me instead of the reverse and also that I took a position on him without his say-so. Not one to back off tamely, he took a strong dislike to Steve and crossed his legs against him. This led to my doing the sixth strange thing when I took sides with Steve to prevent the hapless boy from being railroaded undeservedly to loose an asset that he was. I was not about to allow the Agency, in such dire staffing straits run like a Civil Service. Being so shy, Steve almost ran away in the face-off between his boss and me especially my open support against all expectation, as the boss was known to be my confidant. But for me, the job came first over an ill-conceived alliance.

Steve was peaceful & respectful and would rather run than fight. He didn’t remonstrate or argue with his seniors or force issues but masks his true intentions with a trademark and disarming, ranka dedee sir. But, he was nobody’s fool and boasts an unsuspected strength of character, knew what he wants and where he is headed, street-wise with plenty of native intelligence. Considering myself a master at coining words & proverbs, maybe conceitedly, Steve taught me a thing or two on them. For God’s sake. Who is this fellow, running rings round a Baba VeeJ?

Knowing what my reaction would be, he nearly wetted his pants when I ran into him wearing braids atop leather trousers and jacket at an AAAN function. But typically respectful and well-brought up, he disappeared before I could remonstrate his braids and dress code – as if I could do anything about it. Not with him already earning mega bucks and me scrounging.

I expressed a disappointment at the scant credit that he gave MC&A in his interviews when, but for the moulding that he got at the Agency, he would probably now be a Head Teacher or Principal in an obscure secondary school in Malumfashi, Brinin Kebbi or Brinin Kudu. He apparently heard of my dim view of his remiss as he promptly called with his rankadede baba greeting to apologise. He ended his apology with a heart-warming phrase – Baba, how can I ever forget you or MC&A, when it was you that gave me my first break. Thus mollified, I asked him to carry go.

If what I know about him is anything to go by, if he chooses right, if he crosses his legs to satanic distractions and is guided by lofty considerations, his success and x3mideas are assured – braids, leather jacket and all. No question at all.

Johnson is a former CEO at MC&A (Saatchi&Saatchi)