Sometime in 1991 as a Youth Corps member with the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation, news got to me that a body named the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations was going to hold her membership outreach for new intakes into the PR profession in Nigeria. Venue was the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Kofo Abayomi, Lagos. I was greatly elated about the news which I had been waiting for to start a fresh path on my long desired journey of PR professionalism or image making.

I had studied political science at the University of Ibadan. Eventually, the D-day came and I was at the auditorium of the Institute with multitudes of other green horns like myself. We had a couple of PR professionals who took turns to address us. In all of these, one personality that stood distinctly out of the crowd was Dr Adekunle Salu, a dark skinned dude, with an athletic frame and velvet voice. He was dapper with a uniquely barbed hair cut marked with an unmistakable airline called “parting” in our street lingo. He started by welcoming us with an infectious smile and candour which my mind had earlier conjectured as a true image of who an ideal professional should be.

An author of distinction, Salu has, in addition to his pioneer book “Understanding Public Relations” written the 1000 pager book “Topical PR” which is a collation of 70 per cent of his practical work experience and case studies in PR.

Pronto, Salu started reeling out the benefits of following the path of public relations as a profession. Being the pioneer Registrar of the institute, he convincingly directed our minds to the chartered examination route of the Institute which had just premiered. He counseled us to follow the exams path in order to be sufficiently grounded in both the art and practice of the profession. Looking back today, I cannot agree less with the sage. I took to his advice to be a chartered member of the Institute through qualifying examinations. My path was set and the rest as they say today is history, as I have through the grace of God and diligence risen meteorically to the pinnacle of my career as a CEO of a reputable institution today on the wings of PR, buoyed on the proverbial seed sowed by the iconic Dr Salu. I am sure many Image professionals today would regale us with stories of their life changing encounters with this icon of PR if time and space permit.

The fact that Dr Salu turns 90 and having put 70 solid years into the PR profession is worthy of being celebrated. Nigeria boasts only of such men in the ilk of the Accounting guru, Akintola Williams, and Insurance Grandmaster, Olola Olabode Ogunlana, in the prestigious league of longest serving professionals in our clime.

Dr Salu has been providentially blessed on all fronts despite his advanced age, his mental faculty and alacrity are intact. Having authored several professional books among them the best seller “Understanding Public Relations” which is a bible of some sort for PR scholars locally and internationally, the literary pen of his is still dripping with ink as he is producing more and writing so vigorously as if he was in his twenties.

A product of the Nigerian College of Arts and Science, affiliated to the University College that later transitioned to University College, Ibadan, also an affiliate of the London University, Salu started his career as an Information Officer with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. It remains to his credit till date that he personally undertook the first national audience research for the station, a feat that propelled him to undertake further courses in Edinburg and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London. It is quite auspicious to note that Ghana was the only country after Nigeria in the sub Saharan Africa that has undertaken similar research till date. While working with NBC, Salu was also teaching Public Relations at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).

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To break the frontiers of his aspiration and practice, Salu took over the job of Editor “Links Magazine” of United African Company (UAC) in 1969. Like the glittering star that he was, it did not take up to two years before Salu was promoted as PR Manager with the company for its Lagos operations, while Michael Okereke held same position for the Eastern Nigeria office of the company. Not long after that, the trio of Salu, Ikhaz Yakubu and Michael Okereke were promoted as PR Counselors of the company, to strengthen its relationship with the increasing customers and publics in the country.

It was not a coincidence that the paths of Chief Ernest Shonekan who later became the Group Managing Director and Salu crossed at the UAC. They were actually secondary school classmates, but coming from a privileged family, Shonekan was sent to London to study Law after which he returned to join UAC. Salu met Shonekan as an Assistant Legal Manager when he joined UAC and they kept a strong bond of affinity that oiled the delivery of Salu as one of the key Image Makers of the conglomerate. Their closeness was such that Shonekan deliberately delayed the signing off of Salu’s voluntary retirement letter from the company until he was able to convince him with cogent reasons why he had to leave.

While at UAC, Salu recorded some significant feats as the first Nigerian to edit the Links Magazine of the conglomerate as well as being the first PR professional to man the Lagos office of the company where it boasts of the highest clientele or customer base. It is also on record that Salu, out of crave to add value at his personal expense undertook studies on security in Germany and Austria which later became valuable to the company. He was once asked to address all Directors of Unilever in the UK, a rare feat at the time.

On exit from UAC, the bond of friendship and professionalism that strewn himself and Okereke remained strong and they resolved to fortify and expand the operations of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations through better ideation. Prior to this time, the Institute was essentially Lagos based. Mazi Mike Okereke later became President of the Institute and invited Salu as the pioneer Registrar. Regarded as the golden era of NIPR, the combination of the duo brought unimpeachable progress to the Institute as the enabling law was signed in 1991 under them. The Institute hosted the Commonwealth Public Relations Conference in Abuja, which was adjudged remarkably successful. Similarly, more chapters of the Institute were created in almost 19 States of the country. Salu was an unmistakable face of the Institute and a thinking head. NIPR under his Registrarship organized training for all Military officers and Commissioners of Police all over the country, while a faculty of trainers was inaugurated in the Institute. All Local Government officers (10 from each Councils), split between the administrative and executive cadres were trained by the Institute. There is surely no way the history of chartered examinations of the Institute would be told without a mention of Salu under whose tenure it was commenced. The Institute also worked on synergies with some notable higher institutions in the country, to give leeway for PR practitioners to undertake the course at the Post Graduate and Doctorate levels.

As Salu clocks 90, it still remains an irrepressible burden in his heart that the NIPR logs into the advantage of imbibing Neurolinguistics programing, taught by only one university in Europe.

An author of distinction, Salu has, in addition to his pioneer book “Understanding Public Relations” written the 1000 pager book “Topical PR” which is a collation of 70 per cent of his practical work experience and case studies in PR. Other books on faith with 36 Chapters themed “Gods Purpose Public Relations” are set to debut.

As Salu clocks 90, it still remains an irrepressible burden in his heart that the NIPR logs into the advantage of imbibing Neurolinguistics programing, taught by only one university in Europe. His opinion is that the programme is an embodiment of ten other professions that would make every PR professional encyclopedic and more valuable in the scheme of things. He has also recommended “quadri-lingualism for transformational leadership” as another inroad for greater knowledge and relevance of Image making professionals. If anything else, Salu desires to see greater acceptance of PR by all leaders in government and corporate institutions, considering the value of the profession as the fabric of social cohesion and unity.

As the czar of PR joins the prestigious league of the nonagenarians, all image makers in Nigeria and globally could only wish him many more years of divine health and undiminishing value to the profession and humanity.

*Tope Adaramola is a former chairman of Ogun State chapter of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations

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Headlined “MKO Abiola: Why IBB cancelled 1993 election” a news medium reported the story this way: Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has insinuated that former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), cancelled the June 12, 1993 election presumably won by MKO Abiola due to ‘bad belle’. ‘Bad belle’, Nigerian slang, is synonymous with jealousy. It is used to express the resentment of a person towards a thing or individual…The Owu-born elder statesman was honoured alongside (MKO) Abiola. The late philanthropist was awarded a posthumous vice-patron of the club. Obasanjo said IBB’s action denied Egbaland and Ogun state the privilege of producing three occupants of the nation’s top seat, including Ernest Shonekan, ex-Head of the Interim National Government (ING).

May we always have elders in the land, especially those whose head sits pretty on their neck and who will not mince words, regardless whose ox is gored!

“‘I want to thank the club for this honour being bestowed on me and the honour being bestowed on my school mate, MKO Abiola, which he richly deserved… When you win a cup three times, you keep the cup. Isn’t it? If not for ‘bad belle’, Abeokuta would have produced the President of Nigeria three times, in which case we should have kept it permanently’… Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, described Obasanjo and Abiola as proud sons of Abeokuta. The traditional ruler added that ‘bad blood’ didn’t allow Abiola to emerge President”.

Is this story not innocuous or ordinary on the face of it? I stumbled on it again days ago and began to read deeper meanings into it, more so in view of our present political situation in Nigeria generally but in Yoruba land specifically. Reading that story, anyone not familiar with the history of Nigeria, specifically the June 12, 1993 credible presidential election won free and square by MKO Abiola, its annulment by military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, the heroic struggle of Abiola and pro-democracy Nigerian activists and people who withstood the annulment, with Abiola himself eventually paying the supreme sacrifice on 7 July, 1998, and Obasanjo’s stand on Abiola and his June 12, 1993 mandate – anyone not familiar with all of that would think Obasanjo regretted that Abiola was not allowed to be president. But the same Obasanjo it was who reportedly blurted in 1993 that Abiola was not the messiah Nigerians needed: The same Obasanjo, in the eight years that he was president, never took kindly to anyone who broached the Abiola issue, despite the fact that the blood of Abiola and of other martyrs paved the way for the democracy that Obasanjo became its chief beneficiary. But time and circumstances change men!

Obasanjo said “bad belle” led IBB to annul June 12; some other reports have it that, like biblical Saul consenting to the daylight murder of Stephen (Acts 8:1, Acts 22:20), Obasanjo also consented to the annulment; whether or not it was against his personal wishes and desire is a different kettle of fish! The statement – against my personal wishes and desire – was famously made by Obasanjo when, after the assassination of the then military Head of State, Gen. Murtala Muhamed, on February 13, 1976, Obasanjo as his second-in-command was called upon by his colleagues to step into Murtala’s shoes. That statement, according to many, was vintage Obasanjo – coy, sly, foxy – desperate to mask any outward show of ambition which, in itself, is not bad. Stooping to conquer (Oliver Goldsmith) may not be a bad idea after all!

May we always have elders in the land, especially those whose head sits pretty on their neck and who will not mince words, regardless whose ox is gored! Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo’s response to Obasanjo’s “bad belle” narrative was short, sharp, full of wits but dripping with blood! The Kabiyesi retorted that MKO was prevented from being president because of “bad blood” Remember, Obasanjo had spoken of “bad belle” and had named IBB but Oba Gbadebo countered with “bad blood” but named no one. Now, what is “bad belle” and what is “bad blood”? “Bad belle” is the external enemy while “bad blood” is the enemy within. You cannot speak of one without speaking of the other. In fact, it is the enemy within (bad blood) that opens the door for the external enemy (bad belle). Both played a role in the annulment of MKO Abiola’s mandate and his subsequent murder in detention.

Obasanjo and Oba Gbadebo had a career in the military, with the Kabiyesi rising to the position of Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to retired Gen. Tunde Idiagbon, the then second-in-command to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as military dictator. Oba Gbadebo retired as a red neck (Colonel). Was there any classified information on June 12 in his possession that made him shed some light on the annulment or was he simply defending a former boss? Is he close to IBB as some have alleged? Chief Ernest Shonekan, the second Egba personality mentioned by Obasanjo and who was allowed by the powers-that-be to become Head of State died on Tuesday January 11, 2022 aged 85 years.  What many may not know, however, is that Shonekan fortuitously became Head of the Interim National Government (ING).

Three personalities had reportedly been shortlisted for the ING job with Obasanjo topping the list. The other two were Shonekan and Prof. Adebayo Adedeji (died, 25 April, 2018), formerly the Executive Secretary of the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). It’s like the three were deliberately chosen from amongst MKO Abiola’s kit and kin for obvious reasons. Scripture says a man’s enemies are the members of his own household (Matthew 10:36). As editor of The PUNCH/ SATURDAY PUNCH at the time, I got wind of the information that an emissary had been dispatched from Abuja to the Ota Farm residence of Obasanjo that fateful Friday with a message from IBB offering Obasanjo the ING job. I immediately dispatched a battery of reporters and photographers to Ota Farm to waylay the General bearing the message from IBB to Obasanjo. As both men came out of the meeting and Obasanjo was seeing the emissary to his car, my reporters hauled a missile at Obasanjo: Sir, have you accepted the offer to be ING chairman?  The story led the next day’s SATURDAY PUNCH newspaper with the trademark PUNCH screaming and bold headline! That story reportedly dropped their hands and the rest, as they say, is history. So, even Shonekan might not have been Head of State but for that story.

As the politics of 2023 gathers steam – and storm – it is instructive to note whether or not the Yoruba especially have learnt useful lessons from their recent history.

As the politics of 2023 gathers steam – and storm – it is instructive to note whether or not the Yoruba especially have learnt useful lessons from their recent history. Do they still carry on as a nation without a sense of nationhood and as a people disparate and failing to bind together in pursuit of common goals and objectives?  Without a sense of history and a vision of nationhood, can a people have a clear-cut idea and coherent ideal of nationality? Hidden in Obasanjo’s narrative is a problem that will plague the Yoruba down the line if it is not quickly addressed – it is called the national question. Left unattended to, it led to the dismemberment of the behemoth called the Soviet Union, the splintering of Yugoslavia that Josip Broz Tito spent a life-time cobbling together, and the velvet divorce of Czechoslovakia, to mention but a few. Wherever and whenever the spirit of nationalism takes roots, rationality recedes and intellectualism loses its allure. Better nip it in the bud than allow it to run rampant before fire brigade approach or damage control is applied. On the surface, the Yoruba appear monolithic but in the real sense are not. Yes, we have so much in common. All the same, we have our fault lines. There are the Oyo-speaking Yoruba (full and partial) and there are the non-Oyo-speaking Yoruba. We have the Egun, Awori, Ekiti, Ijesa, Ondo, Owo, Akoko, Akure, Ife, Egba, Ijebu, the so-called Ara-Oke people, the Okun, Kabba, not to talk of our Anago brothers across the border in Benin Republic, Togo, southern Ghana, etc. If one section continues to provide the leadership, as Obasanjo has itemised, while the others are shoved aside for whatever reasons, it will, before long, breed resentment – if it has not done so already. A word, they say, is enough for the wise. And the Yoruba, I do know, are wise people!

LAST WORD: In an age when reading, not to talk of writing, has taken the back seat in the rat race to get rich quick, it is heart-warming to see a young man, Idegu Ojonugwa Shadrach, striving not just to make a mark but also to, through his writings, help to change Nigeria’s unflattering narrative as well as affect humanity positively. As he inundates me with his writings, which I advise he continues to improve upon, I cannot but wish him the very best. Even the sky is too limited for those who constantly strive to make their best better!

*Bolawole (turnpot@gmail.com/0807 552 5533), former editor of The PUNCH and chairman of its Editorial Board, writes the “TREASURES” column in the New Telegraph newspaper and the “On THE LORD’S DAY” column in the Sunday Tribune newspaper. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

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Shonekan, who served as the Head of Interim National Government from August 26, 1993 to November 17, 1993, died in Lagos on January 11 at the age of 85

Gowon was accompanied by his wife, Victoria, to the service held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos.

Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun and Godwin Obaseki of Edo were at the service.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and some other members of the Federal Executive Council, members of the National Assembly, service chiefs, and traditional rulers, among others also attended the service.

Delivering a message titled, `A Life of Two Great Halves Lived in Service: A tribute to Chief Ernest Adegunle Shonekan,’’ Osinbajo said the deceased creditably acquitted himself in various spheres of life.

“If ever a man could be said to have lived a life of two equally consequential halves, and in service, that man would be  Shonekan.

“And so it transpired that within the first four and a half decades of his life, Chief Shonekan had established himself as one of the nation’s foremost corporate technocrats and a figure of renown in the boardrooms of many private companies, multinational  and indigenous in which he served as chairman and director.

“It was in this position that he became known as the face of Nigerian free enterprise.

“The UACN under his leadership fully evolved from a trading outfit to a manufacturing colossus with interests in diverse sectors ranging from agriculture and  automotive industries to cosmetics, electronics and textiles among many other areas.

“Known in the business community for his personal integrity and reliability, and trusted  in the corridors of political power for his  counsel and guidance by successive governments, Shonekan had a position in Nigeria that few had before him or have now.’’

The vice president said that Shonekan took up the challenge to steer the nation in one of the most turbulent chapters of its history.

Osinbajo said that in Shonekan’s own words, he was compelled by sense of duty and responsibility to accept the role and to give his best in shepherding his country through an experience unknown and unprecedented in our history.

The vice president said that Shonekan, once said in an interview shortly after he was named Chairman of the Transitional Council and Head of Government, “if your country needs you, leave everything that you are doing to go and help.’’

Osinbajo said that Shonekan saw the government that he was chosen to lead as, he, himself, described it, as “a child of circumstance” and his mission as that of ending a cycle of instability that was, as he said “leading progressively to a catastrophe.’’

He said that Shonekan lived his life always conscious of  and motivated by a burden of duty, as a citizen of considerable privilege, to give back, either in his many philanthropic and  civic  pursuits or in public service.

“It is a testament to that sense of duty that even while out of office, Chief Shonekan remained deeply vested in the fate of his country.

“In 1994, he founded the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) – a continuation of his life-long advocacy of free enterprise as well as a demonstration of his belief that national development is attainable only if the private sector and the public sector collaborate deeply.

“It summed up the professional duality of his own life as a businessman and statesman.

“In December 1996, he was appointed Chairman of the Vision 2010 Committee – a group of distinguished Nigerians from all sectors of national life charged with developing a blueprint for the country’s transformation by its fiftieth year of independent nationhood.

“It was an assignment to which he applied his customary dedication and diligence.’’

Osinbajo said that in the latter chapter of his life, Shonekan seamlessly assumed the mantle of an elder statesman.

He said that the deceased was supportive of all governments and served his nation in this role far above the trenches of partisanship.

“His was a consistently calm and dignified presence in the sanctums of the National Council of State and a steady voice of measured counsel to all that sought him out.

“But he was also a man of great wit and humour,’’ he said.

Earlier in his sermon, Most Rev. Peter Akinola, former Primate of the Church of Nigeria, said that when a true believer died, he would rise to eternal life.

He urged those left behind by Shonekan not to grieve endlessly like those were hopeless; who had no Christ.

“You have Christ; therefore, you have hope; you rejoice and give thanks to God instead and give thanks to God.

“He is in the bosom of Abraham because of  the life that he lived; because of his faith in Jesus Christ,’’ he said.

Special prayers were also offered for late Shonekan’s family.

Source: NAN

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The state Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, made the disclosure in a statement.

Oladeinde explained that all adjoining and feeder roads leading to inner Marina Road to Nitel building would be cordoned off.

He advised motorists to utilise JK Randle Street through Force Road to connect Broad Street and continue their journey as inner Marina Road/Odunlami Street from Outer Marina road would be barred from vehicular movement.

In the same vein, Oladeinde stated that motorists descending CMS Bridge to Cathedral Church would be temporarily diverted to UBA Roundabout or Apongbon for onward navigation to other inner parts of Lagos Island to connect their destinations.

The transport commissioner assured that security and law enforcement agencies would be deployed to all strategic junctions/intersections and black spots to reduce delays and ensure security of lives and property both along the routes leading to the venue and alternative routes highlighted.

Oladeinde extended the appreciation of the governor to the citizenry for their patience and understanding, adding that the state government sincerely appealed to the citizenry for any inconvenience the diversion might cause.

Source: NAN

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The ING was put in place after the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida exited.

Shonekan, according to TVC report, died at the age of 85 in Lagos.

He was the head of the ING between August 26 and November 17 1993 when he was ousted in a palace coup led by the late General Sani Abacha who was Secretary of Defence.

Shonekan was born on May 9, 1936 in Lagos.

He hails from Abeokuta, Ogun State, and was one of six children of his parents.

His father was a civil servant.

Educated at CMS Grammar School and Igbobi College in Lagos, he later got a degree in Law from the University of London and was called to the bar.

He also attended Harvard Business School.

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The Government of Ogun State made the denial on Tuesday.

According to the Secretary to the Government of Ogun State, Taiwo Adeoluwa, there was no iota of truth in the story.

 “It is a lie from hell. Baba is alive,” he said.

82 years old Shonekan is from Abeokuta, Ogun State.

A lawyer and industrialist, he was the head of the Interim Government put in place by former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, in August, 1993 after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election.

The election was won by businessman, Moshood Abiola, but the military refused to hand over to him.

Shonekan was however removed from office by former Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

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