I am still in shock. Prof Lai Oso, a great man he is. (I may never be able to use the past tense for him). He facilitated my admission into Ogun Poly in 1995 after my mum, who’s his relative, told him I’ve refused to accept the admission offered me by UNILAG.
After listening to my reason for abandoning my earlier dream to study law, Prof Oso encouraged me to study mass communication after meeting with me just twice.
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‘If you do and you do it well, you won’t regret it,’ were his words. I did. And I’ve never regretted that decision. It is the greatest thing I did for myself till today.
Prof Oso has a large heart. He believes that nobody, and in fact, nothing, is totally bad without remedy. He gives opportunity largely based on the willingness of the person(s) concerned.
Even when I got into school and became a unionist/activist who, with others, kept the management on its toes, he never rejected me.
He would constantly admonish me to balance my activities. When I get punished by the management for my activism, he never interfered.
He would usually send for me after the punishment or resolution of the faceoff for us, in his words, to review the development.” He balanced our relationship well
He never regretted bringing me to the school. Instead, he appreciated the good that I did and counsel against the bad that I did.
Fast forward, I graduated and went to serve in Katsina Poly. I got a job to lecture and stayed back for some years doing postgraduate studies at Bayero University, Kano. His interest in what I was doing increased.
Soon, i was called upon to join others to establish a mass communication department for Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic.
It was to Prof Oso and Dr. Sulaimon Sulaiman Osho that I ran.
Dedicatedly, they both helped me achieve this task. The first set of books used in the HUK polytechnic mass comm department were the ones written by these two great mentors and other staff of Ogunpoly.
And when I wanted more out of life and badly desired to return southward, it was Prof Oso who advised me to practice journalism. I did, and I never regretted it.
Till he left few days ago, he would unfailingly put a call across to me each time he sees my name in the cover of The Nation newspaper and those before it, or sees me on Television analysing politics.
He was proud of me. He encouraged me in many more ways than I could write here. He loved me and showed it. He is one of the greatest influences on me.
He did more than most relatives did for me.
I’ll miss him. He is a great man. I will continue to pray for his soul. I still can not say goodbye yet, sir. Maybe later, maybe never.
Dare Odufowokan, an editor with The Nation newspaper, writes from Lagos
