Veteran journalist and a close associate of the music legend, King Sunny Ade, Mr Clement Ige, has described the death of the popular Yoruba poet, and artiste, Alhaji Olanrewaju Adepoju, who died recently as a great loss to the industry and humanity.

Mr Ige, who recalled that he had a smooth and cordial relationship with the deceased, noted that Adepoju was a truthful and fearless personality who stood for an upright Nigeria during his lifetime.

“I met Lanre Adepoju in 1982 through my boss, the late Olutade Makinde, who was the editor of ‘The Entertainer’, published by the Sketch newspaper and founder of The Variety entertainment magazine, of which I was the Chief Feature Editor. The relationship became more cordial when I did a good report on him without collecting a dime.

“With time, we got close as confidants despite the age difference. I was instrumental to the success of the record he did in 1985, entitled, “Iku Awolowo” where he centred on the former President Ibrahim Babangida in the flip side of the record. This was his best record ever that shook the whole of Nigeria.

“However, he had issues on the distribution of the printed records, because distributors refused to accept the work going by the potency of the work. But I ensured the work saw the light of the day as we both met with a marketer that handled the distribution of the work in Lagos,” he said.

Speaking on another unforgettable memory with the ace poet, Ige noted that he was the saving grace for Baba Adepoju when he was arrested by the men of the State Security Service (SSS) when he did another record about Abacha.

“His son, Jare, called me on that fateful day that his father was arrested by the DSS and was driven off in his Volvo car. I dashed to the DSS’s office at Alesinloye; it was the only building then. I met his car only on the premises. I identified myself and asked about him, yet they denied his arrest. That singular act with a cover story about his arrest brought about his release,” he added.

He revealed that the late Adepoju was a Christian and later converted to Islam. He later practised mysticism and eventually went back to Islam. He noted that Baba Adepoju almost made him a Muslim as a result of the bond.

“He gave me three original Qurans, but he knew I was a Christianity, though I was not a practising Christian then.

To my surprise, Lanre Adepoju, an Islamic prophet was the one who led me back to Christ. He told me that my destiny does not accommodate fetish things and that the only solution to the problems I was facing at that time was to pray and read the books of Psalms. The advice, that I acted upon, made me to be closer to God. The encounter was a turning point in my life in 1995,” he said. (Sunday Tribune)

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