Samuel Tunde Ajibola: When It’s Bad To Say Goodbye!
By Buki Ponle
Dear Aji,
It has been ferociously sad and turbulent these past few days when you left us, your friends, as well as family of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) where as a pioneer staffer, you distinguished yourself as a foremost journalist for about 15 years.The suddenness and sequential rapidity of your departure make it more sorely painful and we wonder if this pain will ever heal because of its depth.
Many of your numerous friends, scattered across Nigeria and in the Diaspora, are still in utter disbelief, wondering whether it is true or a bad dream. Or how else can one explain it! Few minutes to your final exit on that black Saturday, July 4, we spoke, (as we always did almost on a daily basis) with you at the other end of the phone sounding better for sleeping well after few days of almost sleepless nights. Another close friend, Segun Adeyemi, who spoke with you, confirmed that you sounded better.
Then, all of a sudden, a shrill emitted from Victoria, your wife….. thus making that discussion our last conversation. Oh death, you are a bad creation! And if you are sensible enough, you couldn’t have touched our Aji, at least not now, for the sake of those who leaned on his broad shoulders of support and his unfathomable wealth of knowledge.
However, if Aji had a fault, it was his extreme honesty, over-simplicity and blatant refusal to bother people with his problems when actually, he should. For instance, for a towering man of international repute to have been neglected medically when he needed assistance at a time like this, having held sway at the World Health Organisation for 16 years as a senior officer before his retirement six years ago at the organisation, speaks volumes of our new approach to healthcare delivery in the country.
Again, shame unto you death as you only succeeded in taking Sam’s body but not his ideas and character, already flourishing in some friends! You succeeded by snatching away our human encyclopaedia, according to Prof. Segun Olanipekun, as well as taking away a brother and friend, according to Prof. Victor Adefela, but certainly not Sam’s replicas as exemplified in his children.
It is no more about Sam, for he is now resting in God’s bosom, but about us who must come to that stark reality that we can never see him again, except in our dreams, the Solomon of our time, the “Abiola” of our moment!
You were just one of the infinitesimally few among the 7.8 billion humans endowed with integrity and other attributes of all human qualities, rolled into one, and I must not fail to mention this story you once narrated to me:
You were one of the international journalists who covered the raging Cambodian war in the 90s during which many journalists perished along with other soldiers and civilians. You walked through land mines, you were used as human shield and embedded in armoured tanks. Yet, you survived!
Months after you had left the war front, your huge salaries and other entitlements (in foreign currencies) were being remitted into your account. As a man of integrity, you refused to be tempted by the allure of dollars or the staggering amount; instead you despatched ALL the money back to sender. What a man and how many can overcome such temptation!
A quintessential journalist of great repute, a workaholic, honest globe trotter and a free-mixing polyglot with eyes, nose, ears and mouth for quality details.You can even take him for a secret service agent owing to his demeanour. A man of few words but at his appropriate time to talk or write, he would defend his position convincingly and with pinpointed accuracy!
At NAN, (and till death) you became the darling of our first editor-in-chief, Victor Adefela, when in the 80s, he sent you to Argungu to cover the fishing festival. You produced eight feature stories from a single day event. Many journalists in and outside Nigeria were still at the event when their editors were using your stuff.
A man of perfection, with big eyes for quality and critique of self first before turning to others, weighing in details before making terse pronouncements which friends and foes hardly countered.
Your counselling provided compass to the lost, the heartbroken and the bewildered, your support gave anchor to the hopeless, and with measured smiles tucked in your facial expression, you always won the admiration of would-be attackers. What a man!
Your humility level is incomparable, yet you have seen it all. Your brain was a mobile computer, yet you would stay at the back bench surreptitiously directing the affairs on the high table where you ought to have sat. You cared less about your mode of dressing, whereas you were a prince and first among equals. What a man!
Sensitive to people’s feelings and giving honour where it is due, endowed with leadership skills, a hospitable folk who never looked down on people. A man of conscience and of great empathy, solving other people’s problems amidst his own mountains of problem. What a man!
Your darling wife has remained inconsolable, and may remain like that for years to come, as she had always been with you even till the last minute when you slumped on her helpless arms. I can’t help sobbing each time I call your children. Only few men can measure up with you when it comes to being a real “family man”.
So, where do we go from here? Today, Sam’s name is being etched in gold because of his positive superlative deeds. However, there could only be one Sam Ajibola, but we can all strive to be like him. He has done his bit. He has come, he has executed and he has conquered. By our deeds, we shall reap what we sow, and whether we stand commended or condemned will be resolved by our positive or negative input into human development.
Aji, the good man, good night.
Buki Ponle, a former Director at NAN, is a friend of the deceased.
