Dele Momodu… Journey and Journalism

IN 1985, I walked into the bustling newsroom of The Punch at Onipetesi, affectionately known as the “mad house.” The late afternoons were particularly vibrant, with reporters returning from their beats to write their stories. We would submit our reports to the central pool managed by Fausat, the newsroom typist, who would type them out on “off-cuts” – remnants of newsprint used to print our stories.

The process was meticulous. After Fausat typed our reports, we would submit them to the news editor, (Eric Teniola, Baba Erico, Ademola Osinubi), who would assess their worthiness before passing them to the sub-editor.

As page editors, (Saturday Highlife), we would plan our pages, create dummy presentations for the graphics team, and paste our stories into the lithography papers.

The heart of the Onipetesi Newsroom was the Lithography/Production Centre, where every night was a whirlwind of production activity. I fondly remember working alongside talented individuals like Oyeh, Adebisi, and Jide Kutelu (the roving Copy Editor or Sub).

At The Punch, I was privileged to experience complete journalism. My colleagues at other mainstream newspapers, such as the National Concord, had similar experiences.

One notable colleague was Dele Momodu, who would later leverage his experiences to establish one of Nigeria’s most successful magazines, Ovation magazine, a breathtaking human interest publication.

Our journalism days and experiences were filled with excitement, camaraderie, and deep passion for storytelling. That era group of intense and determined journalists took stories from the street beats and served our readers as news. They were before breaking news. Dele Momodu was at the forefront of those frontiers. Those experiences shaped us into the journalists we became, and we continue to cherish the memories of our times at Onipetesi and at National Concord.

So, to those who came at the completion of the Castle and claimed ownership while dismissing the qualification of one of the known builders of the castle, Dele Momodu, what were your experiences? Did you walk those pathways to Journalism? Dele Momodu was a Journalist before social media, before the internet, before cellphones, computers, tablets, iPads and iPods, and best of all, before 24 hr cable news. Dele Momodu will continue to impact our world as a revered and accomplished, celebrated and celebrity journalist, especially these times that he celebrates 65 years of an amazing planet-earth presence. My dear friends and followers, please salute a dear colleague on his spectacular birthday.