By Taiwo Obe
The book, Atiku
– The Story of Atiku Abubakar, has the author’s name as Ojo Adinoyi.
Unless, of course, you were familiar with the author or, and, knew that he was
a special aide to the former Nigerian vice-president, you would have thought
that it is not the same person as Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo. But then, when he joined
The
Guardian as a reporter in June 1983 immediately after his National
Youth Service Corps primary assignment at Radio Nigeria, Ikoyi, his name was simply
Shaibu Ojo. Till date, one of our colleagues at The Guardian still calls
him, perhaps jokingly, Shaibu. He had written an article celebrating Nigeria’s
rich culture including taking pride in our traditional lines, signing it with “Shaibu Adinoyi-Ojo.” A reader responded
wondering why he was bearing an Arabic name, Shuaib (that’s the correct
spelling and it means “stream”), advising him to live by example. Trust Shaibu,
a principled person, he quickly dropped that name. His father’s name was Shaibu
Onukaba. His own middle name was Adinoyi.
 |
| *Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo |
So, he became Onukaba
Adinoyi-Ojo. He likes now to be identified as Adinoyi Onukaba Ojo. As that is
mouthful, we shall agree here to call him simply Onukaba, which is what I call
him. He calls me Taye, which most people who knew me from childhood still call
me. Taye, of course, is the abridgement of To
aye wo – (I came to) “taste” the world for my twin, Kehinde, who the Yoruba
lore says, sent me – which, for convenience, has also been clipped to Taiwo. By
the way, Onukaba means hard work and Adinoyi is “father of the multitude.”
Seest thou a man who
is diligent in his work, that’s Onukaba. Anyone who is familiar with this
wonderful guy – and this is not patronising him – knows that he gives his all
to any project he commits to, and, yes, he’s truly someone who bears the burden
of many, particularly his kin, some of whom won’t think twice before abusing
the privilege.
Onukaba and I bonded
almost immediately when we met. He had studied theatre arts at the University of Ibadan and had been taught playwriting
by Prof. Femi Osofisan, who was the one who influenced his admission to The
Guardian. He was a quintessential reporter. He shunned unethical
practices like a plague.
A little digression,
please: the other day a visitor in my office overheard a telephone conversation
where I was vouching for Onukaba’s incorruptibility. The visitor wondered if he
was a Nigerian. Yes, he is and a proud one at that.
