By Mobolaji Sanusi
“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” — Betty Friedan (1921–2006)
Olusegun Osoba, the Akinrogun of Egbaland and Aremo of Ijebuland, is a journalism generalissimo and a political Trojan with a human face. He clocked 87 on July 15, 2026. Osoba is a sui generis statesman.
Undoubtedly, he is an intrinsic and extrinsic journalist par excellence. In our clime, in which professionals, after becoming successful politicians, abandon their professions post public office, Osoba remains an exception to the norm.
Whereas many doctors, engineers and others have fallen for the lucre of politics, not so with Osoba, the journalism icon. He stands out as the locus classicus of the cliché: “Once a soldier, always a soldier.”
With unapologetic confidence, I can say that Osoba is, till date, a committed journalist with an undiluted fervour for journalism. He sleeps, dreams and eats journalism. He achieved everything attainable in his beloved field of journalism from being a reporter, editor, general manager and the managing director of the then biggest newspaper in Africa, Daily Times of Nigeria. Any contemporary history of Nigerian journalism without the name Segun Osoba is incomplete.
He remains the only journalist of his generation, a minuscule number of whom are still around, with successful incursions into politics but who never forsook the profession that made him what he is today.
At 87, he is still agile, alert and smart. Akinrogun personally picks his calls and returns every call and replies to every message from both high and low members of society without discrimination.
He still has a towering presence in everything journalism at his elderly age and stature as a statesman of high credo. The Nigeria Guild of Editors, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, and the International Press Institute can attest to his steadfast commitment and presence of mind to his beloved journalism profession.
Osoba’s greatest asset is his matured calmness under provocative circumstances. He is imbued with the spirit of contentment. Our current president, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, GCFR, more than once personally told me that Osoba is one rare breed that never bothers him with financial requests. That is Osoba for you.
Yours sincerely is sufficiently close to him as a son, even when we don’t see every day. An incident happened in 2003. After Akinrogun left office as governor, his successor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, did everything under the sun to harass and frustrate him.
During a personal visit to Ilaro weeks after leaving office during his successor’s early tenure, and despite returning same day to Lagos, he got a foretaste of what was lurking ahead.
Otunba Daniel, his intolerant successor, sent the police after him in his Lagos residence. And on the day the cops came around 11 a.m. that fateful day, I was alone with Akinrogun in his house in Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos State.
They attempted to take him away, but I insisted that the senior police officer who led the team must show us the warrant of arrest. He didn’t have it and, pronto, he and his team disappeared, only to reappear around the evening of the next day when nobody thought they would still be coming. The harassment intensified with traction throughout the despotic reign of Daniel.
As governor, Daniel also refused to pay him his statutory salary, insisting he must physically appear every month to sign for it. Osoba ignored Daniel’s puerile antics and his successor in office denied him his statutory dues for eight years. But he never capitulated because he is a professional in politics and had prepared for life outside office.
The temporariness of power dawned on Daniel after serving out his statutory eight years of two terms. Senator Ibikunle Amosun, whom he did everything to politically exterminate but failed, succeeded him in office. Amosun served a bit of the menu he inflicted on himself and Osoba and he had nowhere to seek refuge like the biblical sinner.
Osoba is now the leading statesman that Daniel looks up to to rescue him from Governor Dapo Abiodun’s infliction of what he as governor gleefully forced down others’ throats as Ogun State governor.
Yet, Daniel planted the seed of governance tyranny against, and harassment of predecessors in Ogun Government House that he is condemning today.
Indeed, “whatever goes around, comes around.” What Daniel is going through today that Osoba endured over two decades ago is nothing but the inherent message in the above classic idiom of karma.
Akinrogun, the ‘brother-in-purpose’ of President Tinubu, is having the last laugh as Governor Dapo Abiodun continues to teach Daniel the biblical teaching: “What you sow is what you reap.”
Shockingly too, Akinrogun deliberately did not include some of these things in his book. But some of us close to him, when writing about him in future, will include them in our writings and memoirs to underscore the ephemerality of power.
Looking back, I remain deeply grateful for the privilege of accompanying Akinrogun on many memorable drives, both in London and Nigeria. A man who loves to drive, he would personally take the wheel of any of his beloved sleek automobiles and drive us from his residence in North London to Old Kent Road in East London, where I stayed at some point during my annual visits. In Nigeria, I also had the honour of riding with him on several occasions as he drove us in his choice vehicles to the Metropolitan Club. Those journeys often became an extension of our conversations, as we reflected on matters concerning ourselves, the nation and humanity at large.
A lot of top-notch politicians and others who knew about our closeness had sent me to him to curry his support. He never waved my requests aside. I can easily remember, amongst others, Senator Olamilekan Solomon Adeola, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the upcoming 2027 general elections’ approach to me a few years ago. I went to see the leader of Ogun State politics on his, the 2027 incoming governor’s behalf at that time, and issues raised were sorted, candidly. Akinrogun is a father to all and very accommodating and understanding.
As Pa Osoba turns 87, as usual, he should be in London by now. Once again, all I can wish this sui generis statesman is more fruitful years ahead. Congratulations, sir.
■ Sanusi, former MD/CEO of Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency, is currently managing partner at AMS Reliable Solicitors.