DON-T THE KID
“I was born and had my childhood in the North, Zaria precisely. I was always either in Jos or Zaria until I returned to Ibadan in 1990. Growing up in the north was fun…mad fun!!! The fun was massive and limitless. It was a childhood filled with riding of bicycles, hunting and inventing things. Imagine, my friends and I rode bikes from Zaria to Zamfara! I began to drive cars at 13, can you imagine how wild and free we were as kids?! That childhood gave me a wild sense of imagination which later helped me a lot on the radio. We did daring things as kids and so there was boldness to always express ourselves. All of these helped me to shape my career in broadcasting.
School began at Therbow School, Zaria. It was one the best schools in the north. It was where all the elites and top-shots of the society brought their kids – the children of the Emir, the Dantatas, foreigners etc all schooled at Therbow. “Therbow was thorough and I would never forget Mrs. Walter, British, librarian. She had a special interest in me. She always forced me to read a book. For Mrs. Walter’s sake, I focused on English language and it paid off. In my last year, I left Therbow for Army Command School because I wanted to attend the Nigeria Military School; coming from a military primary school was meant to give me an edge but somehow, that permutation didn’t quite work out. Just about that time too, I had to pay my mum a visit in Ibadan. One visit, and I refused to return to Zaria.
So, I stayed put in Ibadan ever since.”
GROWING UP IN IBADAN
“It was a different experience all together. For the first time, I saw a childhood with restraints and with these restraints came a certain measure of fear. It was upon my relocation to Ibadan that I began to learn to respect my one-year senior by calling them “broda”. Well, I returned and I got admitted into Government College, Ibadan. However, I asked three of my friends what school they had been admitted to and they said Loyola College. I hated to be in a different school from them, so I did follow-follow and I got my admission worked from Government College to Loyal College.
Loyola College presented me with a different life altogether. My first days in Loyola were crazy. I was greeted into Loyola with students jumping out of windows, and stringing their backpacks with them everywhere they went. I found it bizarre having seniors looking old enough to be someone’s father. These seniors had superimposing statures and legendary beards. One thing that was prominent about me in Loyola was my oratory skills. Being bold and being able to express my views always made me the one to always bell the cat. I joined the Literary and Debating team as well as the Basketball team. My social life at Loyola College was on a high. We attended parties, dated the finest girls and rocked the latest designer labels – Tommy Hilfiger, Sanchos etc.
Loyola sharpened and shaped my oratory potentials. Beyond that, it taught me to be the best. The Loyola anthem reminded me continuously that I could not settle for anything less than the best. So, even in my darkest years and while at my lowest ebb, I had it ingrained in me that I was the best come what may.”
THE FRUSTRATION OF THE DON
“Right after Loyola College, I worked at getting admitted into the University of Ilorin but it didn’t work out. So, three months after graduating from Loyola, I picked up a job as clerical officer, I did that to while away time till I could go professional with my basketball games.
At last, I had a chance to go to Pearl University, Milwaukee, US to study and be a basketball pro, but I was denied visa at the embassy. That was when frustration crept in. After two years, I decided to return to the University. I got admitted into the University of Ibadan to study Geology. While at the University of Ibadan, I had to shuttle between school, my work, my dream of being a basketball professional, and my frustrations. It was so much burden for a young man like me, so it was not surprising that I didn’t go far with my program in Geology.
At that point, my frustration had gotten the better of me and so to slough it off me, I left the country to seek greener and better pastures. In a hard way, I learned that the leaving the country held nothing for me – in short, I returned worse off than I was when I left. Upon my return, I had lost everything that I even had before I left.
My life official hit zero-level.”
FROM RETURNING HOME DOWN-LOW.
“It was sometime in my low time that I visited a friend at Premier FM. He had prevailed on me to come by the studio sometime – just for a visit. I obliged him. While waiting in the studio, my friend gave me a chance to introduce the next song to be played. That song was Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean. A minute or two over the radio and the voice reverberated in the memories of many outside the studio. The voice lingered and drew attention. Everyone wanted to know whose voice that had been on radio. In the end, I got an offer to be on air as a freelancer. This, for me, was more than just a shot at broadcasting. This was a chance to get my life back together so I took it.
After a stint at Premier FM, I moved over to Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State where I was paid N5,000 per month. I was at BCOS for three years and from there, I moved over to Splash FM. Altogether, I spent straight ten years on the radio. I went back to school to get my diplomas in Mass Communication, Advertising and Print-Media. I never gave up till I eventually acquired my university degree in Mass Communications”
Off the radio, I never relax. I work hard. Hustle has defined the last 20 years of my life. I began to fend for myself before I finished secondary school and ever since then; it has defined me and framed my life. At some point in my younger days, I pulled two – three jobs.
I hustle hard; I cannot think of relaxation when there is so much to be done.”
MOMENTS ON RADIO
“Despite having the first airplay of some greatest Nigerian hits such as Dbanj’s Mogbono Feli Feli and P-Square’s Do Me, nothing beats the Diary Sessions that I ran over the radio. The Diary Sessions come together to form my biggest moment on radio. Helping people going through various traumatic experiences…providing a sense of direction to people caught at cross-roads of life; nothing can be more fulfilling than that.
My worst moment will be when a sponsored program was cancelled by someone in the board of management for no excuse at all, whereas the sponsors were waiting to hear the program on air.”
