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Tag: Sesan Ogunro

  • Sesan Ogunro: The advertising guru bows out in a blaze of glory

    Sesan Ogunro: The advertising guru bows out in a blaze of glory

    If the advertising industry had been hard hit, I am at a loss for words as to what hit the Christ’s School family where we are all like uterine brothers and sisters

    Not since we bade farewell to our late Deputy Governor in Ekiti, the late Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka, have I seen anything like it: the overwhelming outpouring of grief, the massive turnouts at all the events and the compelling consensus about how our late brother positively impacted lives and the advertising industry, in particular. Uncountable were the testimonies – from school mates, especially from Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, which he attended from 1965-69, as well as from his colleagues in the advertising industry where he is rightly regarded as a pillar.

    Without the least doubt, Sesan Ogunro was a colossus.

    Until he was violently cut down, evening of Sunday, 23 December, 2013 at the Alausa Business District after attending a Christmas carol service at his church, Sesan, Managing Director of Eminent Communications, was everybody’s delight. Adroitly self-effacing, you would probably need to be told this is the man who had played such a huge role in putting advertising on its present pedestal in the country courtesy the several brands that emanated from his prodigious brain and his unstinting service in various committees, some of which he chaired. A Fellow of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, he was one-time Chairman of APCON’s Advertising Standards Panel (ASP), Chairman of its Membership & Privileges Committee and Chairman of the Professional Practice Committee of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN, a position easily recommended by his uncanny ‘expertise, enthusiasm and objectivity’, to quote Akinde, his successor as Chairman, Adverts Standards Panel.At the industry’s special valedictory session for him at the Protea Hotel, Maryland, Lagos on Wednesday, 9 January ,2014 at which was present all the leading lights of the industry, Sesan was generously referred to as ‘Mr Brand ‘ himself. Tributes poured in ceaselessly from all sectors of the industry.

    If the advertising industry had been hard hit, I am at a loss for words as to what hit the Christ’s School family where we are all like uterine brothers and sisters. All of these two weeks had been hell on earth for us. There will be no words to describe what role Sesan played in revitalising The School. He has been a moving spirit and only a few weeks to his violent translation, he was being honoured by our Atlanta, U.S branch of the Alumni Association for his exemplary contribution to the school. You could call up Sesan at any time of the day or night for a Christ’s School matter. That we are seriously contemplating taking full responsibility for the running of the school owes largely to contributions by the likes of Sesan. Concerning The School, Sesan could very easily have been dubbed ‘Mr ever ready’. He was ever so unstinting in his support. And with him you knew exactly where you were. When my friend, a university Vice-Chancellor, intimated me with his university’s plan to set up an Advancement Committee and wanted a chair person, I hadn’t the slightest inhibition in recommending Sesan. I only asked my friend to let me consult him and his response was, ‘egbon, if you say so, who am I?’

    He was that humble.

    It will be appropriate at this point to hear the dirge from Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, as captured by Babatunde Faniran, a classmate of Sesan.

    Wrote Tunde:

    Our season and the two bullets

    He was a man of the people

    With his easy disarming smile and quick wit,

    Humour that penetrates and festers long

    His attributes all the way from The School on Agidimo Hills

    His legacy fit to cherish from now till Eternity

    He may agree or disagree with you

    But a ready smile of Tolerant Understanding

    He has for all on all occasions

    That indeed was our Sesan.

    Capable confident, a high- flier

    Humble beyond description

    A thoroughbred Product of Agidimo Hills

    Genius out of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria

    He rode the Advertising world like a colossus

    He built up the Nigeria Airways of old

    Just as he did Cowbell, “Our Milk”

    Sesan crafted the “MKO, Our Man” singsong

    The Award-Winning HOPE ’93 Slogan

    Which catapulted MKO to Nationwide Victory

    Nor can we forget “Pam Pam Pa Pa Pam Paam MILO!”

    Which still rings true and alluring To-day

    They all came out of his prodigious brain.

    He dined with kings and royalty

    His productive hands leaving indelible imprints

    Alas! Our prolonged rapport was not to be!

    Those wicked, soul-less miscreants from the very pit of Hell:

    They came, pulled the trigger and fired the bullet!

    With a bullet wound, our man sought medical Help

    To stop the Life-blood that was ebbing away

    But instead of Help, the Nation’s accursed Medical institution

    “Pulled the trigger” and fired a second”bullet” into Our man!

    It is finished!

    MOTHER-land snuffs out the life of her Worthy offspring!

    Alas, they knew NOT whom they have cut down

    Wicked, soul-less miscreants prowling our streets

    Products of an accursed, maladjusted Society

    Agents of the Cursed Spirit

    They will never escape eternal damnation.

    None of us you left behind is safe from these scallywags

    Even then we dare to say “SHAME on them!”

    They shall never know the Peace you NOW enjoy

     

    ADIEU! Sesan, Our Brother and Friend.

    Till we meet at the Feet of JESUS

    To part no more.

    Although I straddle Sesan’s two worlds of advertising, being a registered practitioner, and being six years his senior at Christ’s School, meaning he did not meet me there, I saw him always as my own younger brother; forever charming and his ready smile ever so captivating.

    When he was appointed Chairman of the Ekiti Sate Broadcasting Corporation the first thing I told him was that he had to put in place an aggressive training programme especially for the newscasters. Mindful of costs, I suggested he used one of our higher institutions’ Language Labs but Sesan’s uncompromising addiction to excellence would not permit paucity of funds stand between him and his determination to bring them to Lagos to have the very best from the best training school as well as get exposed to experienced practitioners as trainers.

    Completely devastated at hearing the news of Sesan’s untimely translation, the governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, was one of the earliest visitors to the family house to commiserate and give words of courage to Dupe, Sesan’s adorable wife, and the wonderful children . It was the worst end of year news for all of us from Christ’s School. And looking back now, how I wished Sesan had attended our own Lagos branch carol service which held at exactly the same time at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral Church, also in Ikeja bearing in mind he never misses any of the school’s events.

    But who are we to question God?

    I sincerely commiserate with Sesan’s family, the wife, the children and the siblings and do pray that the good Lord will comfort and strengthen them.

    And so shall it be in Jesus name. Amen.

  • Is Davido’s “SKELEWU” Spiritual?

    Is Davido’s “SKELEWU” Spiritual?

    SINCE pop star Davido released the video of his hit track, Skelewu, it has continued to generate controversy, particularly because of the money spent on it and the claim among the directors over whose work was the best.

    However, the latest about the song is that, it might be a spiritual song, considering the sad incidents connected to it.

    It will be recalled that Davido allegedly tweeted some days ago that Skelewu is spiritual.

    With this disclosure, many are beginning to think that he may have inadvertently dropped a hint about the song, against the backdrop of the sad incidents involving the two music video directors, Sesan Ogunro and Moe Musa. The two recently lost their dads.

    Sesan’s dad, Sesan Ogunro Snr., was shot by armed robbers while he was returning from his church’s Christmas Carol with his family. He was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

    Moe Musa’s dad died after a horrific gas explosion in his kitchen, here in Lagos.

  • High society mourns Sesan Ogunro

    High society mourns Sesan Ogunro

    The high society was thrown into deep mourning in the early hours of Monday, December 23, when the news of the death of one of Nigeria’s brightest media minds, Sesan Ogunro (snr), was broken to the public by his family. The late Sesan, father of popular radio presenter, Fade Ogunro, was said to have lost his life to the injuries he sustained from the bullets of gunmen who attacked him in front of International Church of Christ, Alausa, Ikeja where he had gone for the Christmas Carol service.

    His residence has since been hosting sympathisers who have thronged the place for condolences. The likeable advertising guru and chief executive of Eminent Communications had a sterling career that saw him traverse the entire realm of mass communication. The Christ’s School old student had a stint in Radio Nigeria, Lintas and until his demise the Chairman, Ekiti State Broadcasting Corporation.

    Uncle Sesan, as he was fondly called by admirers, is credited with the creation of the popular jingle ‘MKO is our man’, which became the main song for the late MKO Abiola’s campaign train in the build-up to the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He is survived by four children, including popular video director, Sesan Ogunro (Jnr).

  • Gunmen kill Ekiti Radio/TV chairman Ogunro

    Gunmen kill Ekiti Radio/TV chairman Ogunro

    •Son recounts murder of Eminent Communications boss in Lagos

    • Fayemi shocked

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi was in shock yesterday when he received news of the killing of the Chairman of the Board of the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State (BSES), Mr Sesan Ogunro.

    The late Ogunro, the Managing Director of a Lagos communications firm, Eminent Communications, was reportedly killed on Sunday night in Lagos in front of his church.

    He died at the Lagoon Hospital, Apapa, from the gunshot injuries he sustained in the attack in front of International Church of Christ, Jobi-Fele Way, Central Business District, Alausa, Ikeja.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, the governor said Ogunro’s killing had broken the hearts of Ekiti State residents, who he served diligently until his death.

    He described the late Ogunro as a thoroughbred Ekiti son and a professional who identified with his people.

    The governor urged security agencies to apprehend the killers and bring them to justice soonest.

    Dr Fayemi, who visited the family of the late Ogunro in Lagos yesterday, said those who killed the frontline advertising practitioner should not be allowed to get away with the crime.

    The governor promised that his administration would assist security agencies to bring his killers to book.

    He said: “We are appalled and shocked by this gruesome ‘murder’ of an Ekiti shining light, who was a role model to the young generation.

    “He (Ogunro) believed in hard work and rose to the pinnacle of advertising and marketing communications.

    “His sterling qualities inspired our administration to appoint him as the chairman of the state broadcasting service and he turned around the fortunes of the corporation within the short time he held office.

    “This is a monumental loss to the government and people of Ekiti State. We urge security agencies to do everything humanly possible to bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to justice.”

    The late Ogunro attended a Christmas carol at the church with his wife, children and grand children.

    It was learnt that the late Ogunro was attacked after he caught a thief in the church at 10pm.

    One of the late Ogunro’s sons, Timayo, recounted how his father was killed.

    He said: “It was a night of Christmas carol at the church. After the main carol service, people went down to eat. There was a man who tried to steal some money from someone and my father caught him. Other deacons and the minister of God started talking to the guy about what happened. That took some time.

    “So, as this continued, people started to leave the church premises. Eventually, it was just myself, my mum and my dad, some children and a few disciples of the church who remained behind.

    “My dad said I should take my mum and the children home, since it was getting late. We went outside and my mum remembered that she left some water in my dad’s car. So, my dad went to get the water from across the road. As I was about to open the door for everyone to get in, the gunmen came in a blue Sienna. I saw what happened but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

    “There were five of them. They spread out. Three of them came to me and hit me. I went down and gave them everything in my hand, including the car keys. I went down with my mum and the kids while two of the attackers walked up to my dad. He wanted to take the keys to his car but my dad told them: ‘Just take it; just take it.’ You know these guys: obviously, they were high and they just shot him.”

    A church member, Mr Sola Martins, said someone called him after leaving the church that he should call the police because there was shooting at the church premises.

    Martins said he received another call, as he was attempting to rush to the church premises, that Ogunro had been shot and that he should call the police.

    According to the church member, he reported the matter to the police and later joined the family at the Apapa hospital, where Ogunro died.

    Lagos State Police Command’s spokesperson Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP) said: “About 22:42 hours (10 pm) on December 22, a distress call was received by the Alausa Division of the police command. It was gathered that four armed men operating in a Honda Odyssey attempted to snatch a Mercedes Benz ML jeep belonging to Mr Ogunro.

    “The man resisted and threw away the key of the jeep, hence the armed men shot him. They abandoned the Honda Odyssey and escaped with a red Toyota Yaris car belonging to the wife, who was standing with him on the scene.

    “The scene was visited immediately by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and a team and the incident was confirmed. The DPO also visited the victim at the Lagoon Hospital where he was receiving treatment, though critical.”

    She said none of the relatives had made a statement on the incident.

    The police pokesperson explained that the Honda Odyssey was confirmed to have been snatched from somebody identified as Ali Balogun at Ebute-Metta at 8pm.

    The owner was reportedly dropped on Jobi-Fele Way in Alausa, Ikeja, from where she was taken to the station.

    Braide said the police had begun investigation into the incident and the search for the fleeing hoodlums.

  • Ojudu: we’ve lost a candle

    The senator representing Ekiti Central at the National Assembly, Babafemi Ojudu, yesterday said the killing of Sesan Ogunro was a big loss to Ekiti State.

    In a statement, Ojudu said: “At a time when most so-called professionals did not know how to cast good communication messages, a time when most TV and radio commercials were no more than a mixture of sound and voicing, Sesan Ogunro blazed the trail with unimpeachable ideas, ideas that seemed so good to be real. This same Sesan Ogunro worked on (the late) M.K.O. Abiola’s 1993 presidential campaign and created what still remains till today the most popular presidential campaign jingle: “MKO is our man o…”

    “Till today, that song remains evergreen to those who witnessed that era in Nigeria’s political history. The song remains a sad reminder of what should have been, but never was – a relic of how Nigeria was hacked down on the edge of greatness.

    “In that same manner, the creator of that jingle, Sesan Ogunro, was on Sunday hacked down by heartless gunmen, sending the advertising industry, family and friends into a shock. I am still in that shock.

    “Sesan Ogunro was not just a fellow Ekiti man. We did not just work together on (former Lagos State governor) Bola Tinubu’s campaign, (Lagos State Governor) Babatunde Fashola, (Ekiti State Governor) Kayode Fayemi, (former Governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in Kwara State) Dele Belgore and my own (election campaigns) as well.

    “When I made up my mind to contest for Senate, he sent for me and, in his office, he told me we must give a powerful branding to my bid. Before I could say Eminent, he came up with Ekiti Rebirth Organisation (ERO). ‘ERO’ in Yoruba means people. “Since then, wherever I go, it has been shout of Ero! Ero!! Ero!!!

    “Beyond all these, he was my egbon (elder), always looking out for me and patient enough to accommodate my demands. I could never get him angry.

    “No matter how twisted an advertising situation was. No matter how impossible it seemed. Even when all others could not come up with a single word, my Egbon, Sesan Ogunro would offer more than enough options – more than enough communication messages – that could sell anything to anyone, even to the most cerebral. This Midas touch was what he brought into media consultancy and advertising. This Midas touch, depth, innovation and a rare creativity, far above all other reasons, is why many of his associates would miss him the most, for his death, this death, is a devastating blow to all who drank from his well of uniqueness, experience and a family-like approach to business.

    “For me, another mentor has been grabbed from me by the cold and cruel hands of death.

    “He taught me that God is the spring of wisdom, flowing ceaselessly to his own. He also taught me that a claim to God without a heart that cares for mankind is as hypocritical as the biblical Pharisees.

    “As Chairman of the Board of Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State (BSES), Sesan Ogunro brought professionalism, sanity and a way of doing it better onto the job.

    “A lover of arts, a go-getter, hardworking, reliable, he taught everyone around him that in every impossibility abounds a myriad of possibilities.

    “I sympathise with his family. I urge them that though they cannot but be sad, they should have consolation that Egbon reproduced himself before the tragic incident. Sesan Jnr, his son, is a frontline music producer and a force to reckon with in the competitive Nigerian music industry. Egbon Sesan Ogunro has also reproduced himself in people like me and we would carry on the torch.

    “I sympathise with the staff of Eminent Communications, the company through which he gave a direction to advertising in Nigeria. Though you have lost a good boss, you cannot lose his good legacies in which you should always find strength to move on and make him proud the more.

    “I sympathise with the people and Government of Ekiti State and BSES. We may have lost a candle, but of more importance is to ensure that the numerous candles that this candle has lit be not allowed to die.”