During his six decades as a newspaper reporter, editor, radio and magazine manager and ace columnist, our great media guru Dan Agbese, who departed from the world yesterday, November 17, wrote hundreds if not thousands of columns, in addition to books.
I want to recall one small one today to show why his writing was so unforgettable. In 1990, when military ruler General Babangida created the NRC and SDP political parties, they set about trying to establish their state structures. When Kwara State SDP chapter held its congress, two men contested for the post of Legal Adviser. One of them was a lawyer and the other one was a professional tailor. When the votes were counted, the tailor defeated the lawyer by a landslide.
In his Newswatch magazine column that week, Oga Dan praised the party men’s wisdom in choosing a tailor as their legal adviser. He said, “If the party leaders meet and decide to burn down the house of their rival party’s chairman, if their Legal Adviser is a lawyer, he will say, “Whereas arson is a crime under Section so-and-so of the Penal Code and is punishable under Section so-and-so of the Penal Code by many years’ imprisonment…”
But if their Legal Adviser is a tailor, he will say, “Ah! Let us not burn down the house of their chairman because they will retaliate and burn down the house of our chairman!” Oga Dan then asked, of these two “legal advice,” which one do you think will be more compelling?
