By Francis Ewherido
Today makes it exactly 10 years since my brother slipped through our fingers and left for the great beyond. Today, I reminiscence on some of the magical years, especially the early years, we spent together. It goes back to Ughelli, then Ozoro, Effurun and Warri. At Effurun, he introduced me to reading of newspapers in 1980. When we were in Ozoro in the 70s, my father always bought Daily Times and Nigerian Observer, but I had difficulty reading them. I would see a headline, “FG…” Govt….,” or SMC…” I did not know the meaning of the abbreviations and acronyms; they were not part of the English we were taught in school, so they were not in my vocabulary.
In 1980, we relocated to Effurun. That was when my brother started buying newspapers and tasking all of us to save money for newspapers. Newspapers were between 20 kobo to 50 kobo then (I am not sure anymore). He was the one who rekindled my interest in reading of newspapers and helped me to cross the hurdles of the acronyms and abbreviations: FG, GOVT, and SMC. He was obsessed with the National Concord. On Sundays, he bought New Nigeria Newspaper because of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (then Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Matthew Kukah). He was a firebrand columnist and my brother loved his column. He would send my younger brothers out as early as 6am to 7am to wait for the vendor. Concord was hot cake then and you could only get it if you came early. In the case of New Nigeria, few copies were sent to the Effurun-Warri axis. It was printed in Kaduna and was generally seen as a Northern Newspaper. Arguably, only Kukah’s column made many people to buy the paper on Sundays in our part of Bendel State (present Edo and Delta States) to the best of my knowledge.
It was also during this time that his interest in politics became apparent. He followed the events of the second republic diligently until it was truncated by the Buhari/Idiagbon coup on December 31, 1983. His interest in newspapers spurred mine and made me to opt for Mass Communication when I wanted to write JAMB exam in 1983, but there was a problem. Only four universities offered Mass Communication: University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Lagos, University of Maiduguri and Bayero University, Kano. All were considered too far from home. The only university my father was comfortable with was the University of Lagos, his alma mater, but there was a snag. It only admitted direct entry students for Mass Comm. I did not want to spend two years doing A’ Levels. So my brother advised me to choose Theatre Arts, which he explained to me was close to Mass Comm, in the University of Benin. I did and scored 279. My name was second on the list, but I was denied admission because I did “not write English Literature in JAMB Exam.”
I was devastated and temporarily relocated from Effurun to the village where my father was the school principal. I did not come back to Effurun until after I finished writing JAMB Exam in 1984. This time around, I reasoned with my brother that it must be Mass Comm, my initial choice. I chose Mass Comm, UNN. UNN was dreaded then because the competition to get admission to UNN, especially Law, Mass Comm, Accounting, Medicine and Pharmacy, was stiff, but I was encouraged by my 279 score in JAMB in 1983. My brother was also there encouraging me. I wrote JAMB again in 1984 choosing Mass Comm, UNN. I scored 284 and my name was fourth on the list. That was how I started my journey in the media world before adding insurance and other endeavours.
Meanwhile, my brother also did not get admission to study law at Uniben, so he left for Ife to study philosophy where he emerged the best graduating student in his class. He went back to Uniben later to get a degree in law. We believed we were denied admission partly due issues my father had with someone, but that is in the past. Law was always his first choice and philosophy was second. He was preparing to do a master’s degree in Philosophy at the time he died.
During our stay in the university, we compared UNN and Ife. I said UNN was better academically. He was not really interested in being drawn into that argument, but he was emphatic that Ife was more beautiful. There was no basis for comparism. UNN was not even beautiful then. We exchanged letters regularly and compared notes. During holidays, we (himself, Ufuoma, my immediate younger brother and myself) would coil up in bed and talk about the future. We discussed our plans, dreams and aspirations. There was a burning desire to uplift the family name and circumstances.
When my father died suddenly in 1988, he jettisoned his plan to take the offer of a graduate assistant at Ife, by virtue of being the best graduating student, and using the opportunity to pursue his master’s degree. My father had set a target of minimum first degree for all his children. Three of my youngest brothers were still in secondary school. He felt that everyone had to get their first degree first in line with my father’s wish. Not only that, the salary of a graduate assistant was N500. He felt that he would not be a participant, but a bystander, in the education of his younger siblings with that salary. He opted to do audio/video business to enable him earn more income. The business did very well and enabled him not only to support our youngest siblings, but boost the entire family’s finances. Later when he went into politics and became the deputy speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly in 1999, his distractors called him “ordinary DJ” and “disc jockey.” I was very pained and amused at the same time. They did not know the sacrifice he made for my family. Ignorance is a disease, and ignorance of history is a tragedy.
Much later, when my personal life was in disarray, my brother saw my despair. He intervened and linked me up with my wife. We are in the 25th year of marriage. Continue to rest in peace. I will love and cherish you all my life. Continue to rest in the bosom of the lord.
