High Chief ‘Lekan Alabi: Celebrating a ‘Generalissimo’ at 74

On Sunday, October 27, 2024, High Chief ‘Lekan Alabi, the Maye Olubadan of Ibadanland and the first Culture Ambassador of the National Museum and Monuments, Ile Ife, Osun State, will be 74.

To say he has seen it all, is to say the least, as the man who prides himself as a journalist, author, PR consultant, Radio/TV public affairs analyst and a syndicated columnist, has transverse different countries across the world.

Aside from his outstanding qualities, intelligence and versatility, one thing that stands him out is the fact that he shares same month – October, with great minds – the likes of the former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, and many more, which is a confirmation that he is endowed with immense attributes that always stand him out among the crowd.

Though High Chief Alabi had revealed that his birthday, scheduled to hold at the Wole Soyinka Theatre, University of Ibadan (UI), with the theme: “Nigeria, Gowon, Soyinka & Ola,” will be celebrated through a symposium “in a way that will be far off the typical Nigerian birthday celebration gbamgbam,” but he was quick to add that it will be a mix of drama, poetry, stage dances and culture appreciation.

One would have wondered why the Planning Committee chose such a theme – “Nigeria, Gowon, Soyinka & Ola,” but the celebrant was quick to explain the mystery behind it. He said: “90, 90 & 74 – Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon, Professor ‘Wole Soyinka and Alabi – What 1968 joined together. The late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR, SAN, said only the deep can hear the deep. As a result, only discerning minds would have caught the whiff of my narrative above. I am the owner, so to say, of the figure 74, while a former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, Ph.d and Africa’s first Nobel laureate, Professor ‘Wole Soyinka, both shared the 90/90, Prof Soyinka clocked 90 on July 13, this year, while General Gowon shall God willing become a nonagenarian on the 19th of this month.

“1968, was a remarkable year when the General Yakubu Gowon-led Federal Military Government arrested Professor (then Mr) Soyinka and sent him, without trial into indefinite detention in Kaduna Prisons. Nigeria, then under General Gowon, was prosecuting the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War (May 22nd 1967 to January 15th, 1970). The FMG had accused Soyinka of giving tacit support, through his writings, to the Biafrans, led first into secession and later War, by the then Military Governor of the now-defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (now late).

“The whole world condemned the FMG for detaining Soyinka in Kaduna Prisons without trial. But I, then a mere 18-year old form three student of African Church Grammar School, Apata-Ganga, Ibadan went beyond condemning the General Gowon-led FMG, as I wrote a formal letter of appeal to the head of state, to either release the detainee – Soyinka, or take him to court. I also wrote Soyinka a letter of support through the Chief Warder of the Kaduna Prisons.”

Chief Alabi revealed that on Prof. Soyinka’s release from prison detention in 1969, Professor Soyinka wrote him a formal letter of appreciation, asking him to visit him in UI, where he was a lecturer in the Department of Drama (now Department of Theatre Arts), the rest is history.”

“2024 stands in for 1969. On his release, in 1969, from the indefinite detention he had been clamped into at the Kaduna Prisons, without trial, by the General Yakubu Gowon-led Federal Military Government a year earlier (1968), the detainee, Prof Soyinka wrote me a formal letter of appreciation, for my campaign/efforts to get him released by the Gowon-led FMG.

“The opening paragraph of Soyinka’s letter to me read: “My dear Rasheed, your letter was handed over to me, among other letters. I thank you for your support, while I was in indefinite detention. Please, see me at the School of Drama, University of Ibadan at anytime of your choice.”

He said the day he chose to visit Soyinka in UI, his Secretary told him Soyinka was out of town. “Although I made a visit to Professor Soyinka 52 years later in his Ijegba Republic home in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in 2021, the planned Sunday, October 27, 2024, my 74th birthday, is the ‘revenge’ day of the aborted 1969 visit.”

Born in Ibadan, Oyo State on October 27, 1950, Alabi is a journalist, author, PR consultant, Radio/TV public affairs analyst and a syndicated columnist. He is a senior member of the Ibadan South East Local Council Traditional Council. He attended the 7th-Day Adventist Primary School, Ita Saku, Oke Foko, Ibadan, 1958 – 1963 and was class captain from Primary Two to Four; School mail boy in Primary five and school head boy in Primary Six.

He attended African Church Grammar School, Apata Ganga, Ibadan 1964 -1969; taught at the Saint John’s Anglican Primary School, Akinajo near Arulogun, Ibadan (1971); was the pioneer editorial assistant at the Onibonoje Press Limited, Ibadan (1972); employed by the Sketch Publishing Company Limited, Ibadan in1973 as a reporter/writer/reader and was the company’s first dual columnist in the Sunday Sketch and Gboungboun.

He later served for four times as the Coordinator of the Sketch Newspaper. In 1976, he travelled to the famous College of Journalism, Fleet Street, London, UK for further studies and on his return to Nigeria, joined the former NTV, Ibadan in 1978 from where he joined the former TSOS, now BCOS-TV Ibadan as a pioneering editorial staff in 1982.

In 1983, Alabi was seconded from TSOS to Governor ‘Bola Ige of old Oyo State as the press secretary in charge of television matters. He served three military successors of Gov Ige as the press secretary till 1989 when he was appointed the pioneer Public Affairs Manager of the Odu’a Investment Company Limited.

Alabi voluntarily retired from Odu’a in 2006, as the pioneer General Manager, Corporate Affairs of the conglomerate. He is listed in Nigeria’s Who’s Who and was awarded the Doctor of Letters honorary degree by the Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State in 2012. Alabi is married and has children and grandchildren.