• Areoye Oyebola has shown impact in various fields
The irony of biographies and the human penchant for theatre is that we are often more likely to recall controversies than soaring accomplishments.
Chief Areoye Oyebola turned 80 recently, and what many analysts have focused on are not his books that are stellar or his journalism that was distinguished, but his tiff with another giant in the world of journalism.
But what will endure for many are his books, especially the generations of young people who read and grew to be fond of him because they relied on him to pass their examinations in economics.
But this did not just happen. His interest in writing dates back to very early in his life, especially at St Paul Anglican School, Yemetu, Ibadan. Writing became so natural to him that later he wrote articles with ease for his secondary school magazine, The Mountaineers, at Ibadan Grammar School.
It was there he caught the travel bug that shone later in his life, but he travelled locally making notes of his sojourns as a young boy and school enthusiast in the old Western Region. He became enamoured of the English language and a teacher encouraged him to acquire a notebook to preserve great phrase.
It was in those years that his writing life dovetailed to a sort of activist awakening with his association of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens and also was elected chairman of Opara Youth brigade.
His writing became so prolific that they illumined quite a few publications, including the Tribune. Although a freelance, when he was offered a job at the Daily Times, Nigeria’s towering newspaper at the time, his employer thought he was already a full-time staff of the Tribune.
As a writer, perhaps his most seminal work is titled, ‘The Black Man’s Dilemma’, which represents the range of his intellectual mind but also his vision of the black man in the sweep of human history. It also shows a world citizen in his travels across the United States, Europe and Asia.
Though his works on economics taught a generation the basics, this man has written at least 26 books.
His career as a journalist and controversies often overlooks his distinguished time as journalist where he also ran an informed column, Frank Talk from 1972 to 1975.
But the controversy woven around his exit from the Daily Times continues to be a grist for professional reference and a metaphor of backroom manoeuvres and allegations and counter-allegations of back-stabbing, imperious power play and the fragility of conscience.
It is also an irony that it represented a microcosm of the larger society. Head of State General Yakubu Gowon had just been ousted in a coup by officers led by Murtala Muhammed in 1975. It provided the context and pretext for the boardroom onslaught that made Oyebola a former editor and Chief Segun Osoba the new one.
Oyebola also served as commissioner for home affairs and information in the old Western Region, serving as one of the first from the profession to transmute from the media to media manager in government.
Oyebola has also spent a good part of his life as religious devotee and has set up Worship, Warfare and Miracle Centre in Ibadan, which is part of his story of conversion that began in Lausanne, Switzerland, when he gave his life to Christ.
During the Abacha years, he also joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in the battle to restore democracy in Nigeria.
A writer, educationist, journalist, author, economist, activist, Christian faithful, administrator, Oyebola has been a man of protean abilities, and he must be congratulated as he turns 80.
