- By Usman Bulama
Sir: The name Olatunji Dare has been ringing bell for over three decades in the sphere or elitist journalism. I saw him only once and for that matter at a distance while visiting The Guardian newspapers promises in 1991. However, I have been glued to his columns all these while as he wrote for The Guardian and until now as he wrote for The Nation newspapers.
He isn’t your run of the mill journalist reporting mundane stories and writing about gossips around town or making commentaries on sports; apologies to those who do these activities; for what is a newspaper without such contents? The media in general educates, inform and entertain. In all these, the field journalist is the nexus of the newspaper house. However, my segregating approach in describing our subject – Olatunji Dare, is because of his uniqueness as a multi-faceted communicator.
A professor at various universities at home and abroad who churned out and mentored many journalists who in their own right have become celebrated. He as well writes with fecundity all these years without a hiatus that I can remember. He has written over and over again whether in his Matters Arising while in The Guardian newspapers; or At Home Abroad in The Nation newspapers. His educative and informative articles discussed a plethora of subjects ranging from politics, economy and the egalitarian society all persons of conscience yearn for. He along with others told truth to leaders, defended citizen’s rights and imparted knowledge.
A satirist, an art in which he has no equal-thus someone describing him a man of style, biting satire and rib cracking humour and wit. And, he is an eminent columnist who for many is a must read. He is in a class of scholarly communicators in The Nation newspapers that have created a niche for themselves. The professor is nothing less than a maven in the field of journalism and an activist par-excellence. One rarely comes across such selfless people who commit themselves for public service and do so without pecuniary expectations in a materialistic milieu such as ours.
What is more, his academic forays are said to be landmark achievements whether as a recipient of a first class degree in mass communications at the university of Lagos and post graduate studies in America, his stints as columnist at both The Guardian and The Nation newspapers were also stellar as he handled the pen in most amazing and impressive ways.
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The greatness of this man is summed up by a fellow columnist at The Nation as presented respectively: “Professor has been equally celebrated by all institutions he attended or worked, starting from the university of Lagos, Columbia and Indiana universities”.
And the other says; “His retirement from The Nation’s back page as he clocked 80 isn’t just the end of a column, it is the dimming of a beacon that has illuminated the landscape of Nigerian journalism for decades”.
Indeed, it is the dimming of a beacon for those of us who just could not miss reading his masterpieces. However, we take solace in the professor’s own words as he wrote his last column/epistle titled Farewell in The Nation of July 23. Thus Retiring the column is not the same as retiring from journalism……I should make it clear I am retiring from columnism not from journalism.
That gladdens the hearts of his numerous admirers as once in a while we shall still read those scintillating and elegant prose. We wish professor an active and robust health as he hangs the pen for a well-deserved rest.
•Usman Bulama,
Mairi village, Maiduguri, Borno State.