June 12 annulment ended my journalism career —Aluko

Prophet Akinyele Oluwole Aluko, journalist, management consultant and shepherd, English Chapel of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Lagos, is Head, Project Monitoring and Remediation Office, NIRSAL, Akure. TUNDE ADELEKE listened to his life story.

What made you opt for the corporate world, having trained and practised as a journalist?

The passion to write and be read by many drew me into journalism since my university days in Calabar. We had the campus Press club which was vibrant and drew the attention of many students. After my first degree in Philosophy, I wanted to read Law, but the then Minister of Education said that those that have already had a first degree should not be allowed to do another first degree in Nigerian universities anymore. Consequent upon that policy by the then minister, Prof Babs Fafunwa, I lost my admission to read Law in the University of Lagos. I regretted leaving Calabar. That was how I decided to attend the Times Journalism Institute to learn the rudiments of both print and electronic journalism.  Unfortunately, what one encountered on the field was different.  The environment was inclement. Employers tried, but the iron fist of the ruling military junta did not help matters. Cost of living kept increasing in Lagos and other cities, hope for a brighter future in the career dwindled by the day. At the time in question, only the print media (dailies and magazines) were growing in numbers. Maybe, if we have had the plethora of radio and television stations we have today, one may have thought twice about taking a bow from the profession. The annulment of the June 12 election was the last straw that broke my carmel’s back. I felt betrayed, the travels covering elections and the attendant risks with no result to show for it, hurt me to the marrows. I decided to look for my fortunes elsewhere. My brother in-law, Mr. Femi Ajepe, took me up and introduced me to training and management consultancy. I later met the late Professor Akin Aju, who dramatically changed the course of my education into the development of small & medium-scale enterprises.

How is your family background?

I was born into the family of the late Chief Samuel Ajayi Aluko and Mrs. Mary Kehinde Aluko. My father hailed from Ise-Ekiti in Ise/Orun Local Government Area of Ekiti State. My mother came from Odo-Ape, Kabba, in the present Kogi State. The duo met and fell in love in Okene where they were posted as young teachers in the early 50s.  They got married and gradually gravitated towards Owo in Ondo State before settling in Ise-Ekiti. My father, a graduate of History and Economics from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) retired as a school principal and my mother, who had an Associateship in Education from the same university retired as a school headmistress. We are seven siblings, two are medical doctors practising in North America. Our father was a strong disciplinarian, maintaining the Saint Andrew’s College Oyo standard. Our mother was far more accommodating, though very strict too. She was a teacher to the core.

How was growing up?

Growing up was beautiful, minus the very strict discipline from parents who were teachers. The cane was ever handy. I enjoyed most of the days in the Christ’s School, Ado -Ekiti, where my father was a teacher for 10 years before joining the Federal Civil Service Commission where he spent just one year. We travelled a lot due to transfers and the many visits to our maternal grandparents in Kabba exposed one to the varieties of culture and food in the country. Apart from reading and schooling, agriculture was the other important assignment in our lives. Our father owned a big cocoa farm interspaced with oranges, tangerine, kola-nut, pineapple and also a coffee plantation. Everyone went to the farm; however small you may be, once you can walk and talk, you have a duty to perform. I also want to say this, food was available, we were never hungry and as children of teachers, we wore shoes to school.

No grandparents’ involvement?

My grandparents were part of the growing up. During the holidays, we travelled to Kabba, then in Kwara State, to visit grandpa and grandma. We cherished the roasted melon seeds called “Itoo” and “Warakanshi” – boiled cow milk. The journeys were done in father’s Volkswagen Beetle WAG 426. Back at home, our paternal grandparents, especially grandma, was also fantastic. She spoiled us with dried fish and meat and very protective of us when the canes were grabbed by our parents. By the time I recognized grandpa, he was already very old, and home-bound, he only managed to shuttle between his house and my parents’ house. He always promised to take me hunting and I waited eagerly for the day, until, I guess, it dawned on him that real old age had caught up with him. He called me one day and asked me to take his old dane gun, although I did not even know how to load it, not to talk of firing it. But I cherished it for many years. Growing up was interesting although with so many challenges, both on the spiritual and physical planes.

How did you go about schooling?

I started my elementary school at Saint Marks’ Primary School, Ise-Ekiti where I read Primary 1 & 2. Uniquely, my mother was my teacher in Primary 1. On moving to Ado-Ekiti, I attended Emmanuel Anglican Primary School for the rest of my primary education before gaining admission into Christ’s School, also in Ado-Ekiti in January 1973. I attended the Special Sixth Form College, Ikare-Akoko, later branded Ondo State College of Arts and Science. My university education was in the University of Calabar where I met the likes of His Excellency, Godswill Akpabio and Dr. Reuben Abati. As said earlier, I attended Times Journalism Institute, Eric Moore in Iganmu area of Lagos, and later, Olabisi Onabanjo University for my master’s degree. I attended several other courses within and outside the country. I am an alumna of the Negev Institute, Beersheva Israel. I am currently undergoing a Ph.D program at the Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State.

Can you tell us about your love life?

Well, I would have married an Ibo lady I fell in love with in the university, but her family truncated the relationship because she is the only female in the family.  I eventually fell in love and married the late Barrister Taiwo Olubunmi Kayode. We met in Lagos at the wedding of her twin sister to a senior friend; she was the chief bride’s maid and I the best man. We were married for 23 years before she succumbed to cancer in 2015. I remarried in February this year to Princess Adeyemi Adebumiti.

How about your career journey?

My career spanned journalism, public relations, management consultancy and agribusiness management. Notably, I worked with the Citizen Magazine, Kaduna; Centre for Technology Policy, Lagos, (later CETEP City University); the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry; USAID NEXTT Project and Successory Nigeria Ltd.

Can you recall some of your peers, classmates, and the pranks you played in your youth?

I can still recall majority of my classmates, seniors and juniors in Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti. One of the pranks we played in those days was entering “space”. Climbing into the ceiling from one end of the room and jumping out from the other end. One day, a new teacher saw students who were supposed to be in the Assembly enter into the broken asbestos ceiling. He thought they were in for it, so he waited there patiently till other students came round and he sent for a ladder. On climbing, he discovered that students had exited from the far end of the block and went their ways. Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti brought me in contact with friends and classmates like Tunde Afolalu (Old Major) now living in the United Kingdom; Olusola Owojori, an accomplished actor and Babalola Sunday (Babson), also living in the UK. I missed most late Dr. Adewuyi Ologunde, he left Christ’s School when we were in Form II, due to his health challenges, but went ahead to become a medical director of the popular Egbe Hospital in Kwara State. He was the senior brother to the popular musician, Bisade Ologunde (aka Lagbaja). However, my best peer as a child was my junior brother, Mayowa. We were troublesome or naughty, so to say. We cycled as if we were preparing for tour de France and when we started driving, we were bold,but decent on the steering.

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Were there consequences?

We took our dad’s cane together because we were always in trouble together; we disobeyed and obeyed together. On one good day, we were still in the primary school, daddy said, “do not remove your shoes in school today”. We chorused, “Yes Sir.” At break time, it was time for football. We had to remove our shoes to play with other kids. Within minutes, I shouted! A nail had pierced my right foot; as my brother was running down to me, he also shouted and held his left leg. I thought he was making jest of me, but it was true he had suffered the same fate. We took our bags and started limping home to our daddy in Christ’s School to take us for anti-tetanus injection. Children will always be children, you would say. Our father almost died because of that incident when a male nurse gave him an injection which reacted negatively. He managed to drive us home and collapsed on the bed, but we did not know anything. Our mother waited for him to come and pick her up from school to no avail. She then started finding her way home. She saw him almost passing out on the bed and raised an alarm. She did not know how to drive then; she ran out to call his colleagues in the school compound,who rushed him to the hospital.

How would you describe yourself as a family man?

Caring and loving I will say, but firm and prayerful. I love children, especially in their formative years when they are full of innocence and childish pranks. My family takes priority over other issues, although I have high commitments to my profession and priestly assignments.

What’s your favourite dish?

White rice and vegetable soup is my favourite; however, in all sincerity, garri, soaked in cold water with nothing added is my most handy food. I always carry it to anywhere I go within and outside the country. There have been cases when I am in Lagos alone that I take garri in water for three days at a stretch. It is almost an addiction and I easily infect people around me.

What are your likes and dislikes?

I cherish hard work, commitment and dedication to a cause. I also like reading and research. I dislike liars and cheats and those that do not have the fruits of the Spirit in them as stated by the Bible. Taking it in grades, I will say I like young boys and girls that are ready to face challenges, hard working and obedient. I like truthful and sincere adults who are equally hardworking and are ready to play their roles for the benefit of the society and mankind.

What are your pastimes?

Backyard farming, and music. I play the keyboard and Alto Saxophone. This has helped greatly to enhance my pastoral duties in the Church. I take leisure in other lives around me which has necessitated my keeping pets, like dogs, cats and geese. I do watch television programmes, especially the Nollywood series when the family is tuned to it. But if I have my way, I can sit on National Geographic Wild for a whole day or on the news channel. Of recent, I developed interest in the cinema, precisely last year. You can imagine, I watched cinema last in the university between 1983 and 1987.