The memory still stings like a jab of injection! It was way back in 2001 and I was a Reporter/ Researcher with the defunct maverick Tempo Magazine.
My Editor( Bamidele Johnson) just returned to the Newsroom with a tape of an exhilarating interview with Soyinka.
Getting the interview was like wading through the thicket of Sambisa forest owing to Prof’s tight itinerary. I can’t recollect if I was part of the interview team, though my Editor would always want me around, especially taking notes while “worshipping” at the popular Mama Itsekiri’s joint around the office!( don’t ask me my preferred drink there then!)
So, the interview done and tape handed to me for transcription. I don’t know that demon from my village that wanted me dead for misplacing the tape! Misplace Soyinka’s interview tape?
I didn’t know the tape was missing until I got home. Oh, that night was worse than hell! I threw my preganant wife into panic and the whole house was tension- soaked.
What would I tell my Editor?What would my Editor tell our boss, Kunle Ajibade, Soyinka’s devotee and semblance of apostle Peter to Jesus? What would Ajibade tell Soyinka?
What would be the basis for a repeat interview with the revered Kongi? That night was the longest in my life. I became an emotional wreck, a pitiable pack of worry and fear!
As the day broke, I hurried to the office. Not long after, my Editor came in wearing a murderous smile! ” Oyeee, how far with the transcription!”, he bellowed. I couldn’t find my voice, my diminuitive frame shaking like a rickety Oshodi bus!
Then, he burst into laughter, held me shoulder- tight and delivered the pain- killer: ” You forgot the tape on my table. You can have it back!”
I still owe my Editor so many things! However, transcribing Soyinka was a course for me, an engaging academic journey and misplacing his interview tape was a near- death experience too dramatic to forget!
Happy Birthday, Prof!
