For a broadcast czar, it’s 365 days into eternity

In the evening of May 29, 2023, I found myself paying tributes to Dr Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi. “They didn’t know you and they never will,” I wrote.

The broadcast czar and unrepentant exponent had just undergone a most unexpected apotheosis and emotion was very thick in the air. He had completed his final episode of life which awaits every human and had departed in a most heroic way.

Progressively, the tribute has come to mean even more to me as the nation didn’t really understand the man who seemed to have come our way before his time. Now more in retrospect apropos reality, there is overwhelming evidence strewn our way.

On the night the nation gathered to celebrate you at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, I was invited to the studio to run some commentary. As a mark of befitting honour to your legacy, AIT News 24 was called into action for the first time. It was my first time in that studio. I knew you had something cooking on the fire but I never asked for details.

I stood in that studio completely lost. I could have been in one of those studios owned by any of the international broadcasters in Abu Dhabi or Doha or even at the National Association of Broadcasters Conference (NAB) in Las Vegas where new broadcast technologies are introduced to industry professionals and regulators. But this is Nigeria; you transformed the world with your final act so much beyond our human imagination. I was looking at the video wall round the expansive studio and your huge image literally leaping at me perhaps with a taunting message that they knew very little of what you carried. For the first time, I got openly overwhelmed and really just cried bitterly. At that time, I realised this is the only way you would be speaking to us henceforth, with pictures and actions, and more with your manifest enterprises spread across the nation, and with your good that is interred in the hearts of men.

AIT News 24 is the final act of a man who saw well into the future; oh, is that what they call futuristic? It is the product of a large heart who wouldn’t spare any cost to achieve a dream. Those who maligned you had no idea how complicated your mind was, the rate of work and how you could throw a last dice for the ultimate result. I am sure you were building AIT News 24 as a game changer. Even now I can say your dream is not misplaced.

Oh, you came ahead of your time? I will recall the story of the solar farm very close to the Daar gate at Kpaduma Hills. Long ago, perhaps when you were putting finishing touches to your house at Kpaduma Hills, you went to China, and one of the things you returned with was a container load of solar panels. The container was out there untouched until one day, after you reviewed the Electricity bills being sent to your residence in millions of Naira, you asked Madam Tosin, are you happy paying all these bills? When are you going to install the solar panels, after my death?

The solar farm was born. Long before the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) would increase electricity tariff by as much as over 231 percent and introduce discriminatory tariffs they call ‘bands’ which Nigerians are still unable to understand. Even more difficult to understand is increasing the price of a product they hardly have. But you saw the future and built a solar farm!

You spoke of death so lightly, like it had no power over you. In your apotheosis, a lot of Nigerians saw the kind of passing they would love to enjoy but which they can’t because of the wickedness of their hearts. It was a moment of exceeding glory, of tributes across tribes, nationalities and even party lines.

They were united in speaking of your goodness, your kindness and your readiness to help the rich and the poor, and above all, the bridge builder whose patriotism underlined every of your actions. You were a rare germ who hardly had enemies even in politics. I was there looking at their faces on television, those who would come to you in the cool of the evening or dead of night to seek advice or direct media interventions. In the Bible, they call that Nicodemus relationship; you had so many of them. Thankfully, some top politicians, including some former and present state governors, confessed the help you rendered them at no cost. In your apotheosis, your image got much bigger and achieved that national status which politics couldn’t offer you. Please, let me add that you were much appreciated by the ordinary folks for whom you fought a life-long battle.

You always told me that Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, now President, was your friend in spite of some brushes deriving from political differences; the social life you enjoyed together and the political battles jointly fought even subterraneously to make Nigeria a better place. Your friend wanted to start his tenure with the speed of a Formula 1 car by announcing the removal of fuel subsidy in his inaugural speech. This was soon followed by the floating of the Naira. I am told life and politics don’t go with such speed. The country went into a tailspin, the effects of which may not have been properly communicated to him by those whose perennial ambition is to be ensconced in political offices.

But your friend may have found out and is fighting to stabilise the nation with both hands. It has to be a long fight, however. My youth corper friend once told me an Ibo proverb in those days when we served in Port Harcourt, that as you try to patch life, life continues to leak everywhere. Headline inflation is 33.2 percent while food inflation which strikes at the heart of families stands perilously at 40.5 percent.

There are some positives without doubt. For instance, the coastal road from Lagos to Calabar. Although its introduction was badly mismanaged, the road comes with many positives that cannot be drowned in politics. Your friend needs more fire in him and the capacity to listen to the complete story – from his party and others, including the cries of the people – to enable him give this nation a befitting leadership.

Your contributions to broadcasting have been duly acknowledged, but much more is your political activism which a significant number hardly knew until your apotheosis. Have you seen your former boss, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra State? Both of you acknowledged each other’s brilliance in your biography, The Handkerchief. He departed on December 14, 2023.

There is so much to say in 365 days but let’s put a break here. Your presence at our corner is sadly missed but the araba still continues to provide a great shelter, and Raymond Dokpesi Jr is lacing the shoes quite boldly. For me, it’s always an apotheosis and your good will never be interred.

You Are Always There for Me

After over three decades in the pen profession, I still find myself asking the same questions: what does it take to write a good line, a good verse or beautiful lyrics? Does it look like the good blend of the apothecary, the perfumer at his best, producing a perfect blend with its beautiful odoriferous details to distinguish its wearer?

As I listen to Dr Paul Enenche’s acoustic version of You Are Always There For Me, the questions return. Except that this time, it’s not just about good lyrics but good lyrics with perfect rendition, some little chant, escorted by restrained acoustic guitar infusion, to release a soothing, mellifluous music that serves more significantly as spiritual elixir to the soul.

Unlike the product of the apothecary that vanishes mysteriously with a swipe of coffee bowl across the nose, the music by the Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Church, remains, melting into the body to lift the spirit above every momentary worries.

A former boss once told me, when you prepare for an international trip, the first thing you put in your bag is the Bible. Permit me the latitude to modify this. When you prepare for a trip or even your day, the first download you should have on your phone or iPAD is You Are Always There For Me. You need it as a perfect escort to regulate your mood, sweeten your spirit and attract audacity to confront challenges, knowing that God is always there for you.

This is what I do now. I put on my Beat headsets, connected to my iPAD with continuous play of You Are Always There For Me, and go to sleep. It’s pure bliss, pure heaven. Really.