My story with Wabara and Akanbi

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My story with Wabara and AkanbiMy story with Wabara and AkanbiCharles OkogeneJul 14, 2024Uncategorized0LikeHow and where do I start telling my story with Ebere Wabara and Festus Akanbi, the two gentlemen I met in the Daily Times of Nigeria PLC newsroom in the 1990s?I first became close to Wabara who was in the proof reading desk like Akanbi. We began to roll very well because he was the one that they usually assign my entertainment pages to proof read and he always had good words for the stories I file in, especially the ones about Fela, and for that I became interested in him.Akanbi was also assisting the production editor of the then Business Times edited by gentleman Ndu Ughamadu. The production editor was another likeable fellow, the late Leke Yusuph, who was one of the closest journalists … Akanbi, Scorpido, that Abeokuta-based Fuji singer.I began to move very close to the two gentlemen to tap from their fountain of English language knowledge, especially Wabara, who is a wordsmith. Wabara, in regularly maintaining his weekly column, did not spare any of the editors and other journalists whose write-ups he corrected ‘brutally’ and they never liked him.Rather than caution Wabara in his choice of language when correcting people’s gaffes, Oseni nudged him on and sometimes patted him on his back with gifts. And part of this prize money we spent at NiteShift Coliseum on Fridays. Wabara had a Volvo 244DL (grey in colour), which made our night cruising in those good old days very easy. We will first stop at Allen roundabout to take tantalizing aboki tea, bread and egg en route to NiteShift for the grand finale with other Glamour Boys!In fact, I can say, categorically, that it was in those one of our NiteShift runs, that I initiated Akanbi into beer drinking before then he was a teetotaler. Even when we left Daily Times, Wabara moved to The Post Express as Deputy Editor with Kenneth Ugbechie as the Editor, Akanbi crossed over to The Punch and I berthed at Fame Weekly, Nigeria’s undisputedly foremost celebrity publication, we were still close pals to the extent that when Wabara was getting married, a wedding that was sponsored by Marc Wabara, MD/CEO of the defunct Hallmark Bank, I was his best man. Till date, we are still friends.




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