By LANRE OGUNDIPE

There are birthdays that merely add another year to a man's life. There are others that compel society to pause, not to count the years, but to measure the influence those years have deposited upon humanity. Such occasions are less about age than about legacy; less about longevity than about significance.

The eighty-seventh birthday of Aremo Olusegun Osoba belongs unmistakably to that latter category.

Some lives are biographies. Others become reference books.

Osoba's life has become one of those enduring texts from which successive generations continue to draw lessons on journalism, leadership, public service and, above all, character.

Every generation is blessed with men who master a profession. A few redefine it. Fewer still leave behind standards against which those who come after them are measured. In Nigerian journalism, Olusegun Osoba belongs to that increasingly rare company.

He came into journalism at a time when the newsroom was a temple of discipline. Reporters were not celebrated because they were loud; they earned respect because they were thorough. Editors guarded credibility with almost religious devotion. Facts were pursued patiently, verified painstakingly and published only after surviving the sternest editorial scrutiny.

It was within that demanding culture that Osoba's professional identity was forged.

His reputation was not built on sensational headlines or manufactured controversies. It rested upon a stubborn commitment to accuracy, courage and painstaking investigation. He understood early that journalism was not the business of exciting public emotions but the solemn responsibility of informing public judgment.

Long before investigative journalism became fashionable, he had demonstrated that truth was worth pursuing, however inconvenient or uncomfortable.

That philosophy would define his career.

Yet, it is not professional accomplishment alone that explains the enduring respect he commands.

Many have been successful. Few have remained respected.

Respect is earned not merely by achievement but by consistency between private values and public conduct.

That perhaps is the greatest lesson embedded in Osoba's remarkable journey.

He moved from the newsroom into politics without surrendering the discipline that first made him outstanding. He proved that journalism and governance need not exist as opposing worlds. The habits of preparation, accountability, intellectual curiosity and respect for facts that shaped the reporter also enriched the administrator.

Power came. Power went. Character remained. That is no small achievement in a society where public office too often alters personalities more rapidly than it transforms institutions.

One quality particularly distinguishes Aremo Osoba. He has never appeared imprisoned by his own importance. Those who know him closely speak not first about his offices but about his accessibility. They remember his simplicity before they mention his titles. They speak of his willingness to listen before recalling his authority to decide.

Humility is perhaps the rarest companion of greatness. Yet in Osoba, both have travelled together. Therein lies another lesson for younger generations.

Influence is not sustained by power alone.

It is sustained by character. Perhaps his greatest contribution has been his quiet investment in people.

The true measure of leadership is not the number of followers gathered during one's lifetime but the number of leaders inspired after one's season has passed. Across newsrooms, lecture halls, public institutions and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, his influence continues to reproduce itself in younger professionals who may never fully realise how much of their own professional outlook bears his imprint.

Institutions endure because certain individuals quietly dedicate themselves to preserving standards when others become fascinated with trends.

Today's media environment bears little resemblance to the one that produced Olusegun Osoba. Technology has democratised publishing. Information travels with astonishing speed. Every citizen now possesses the power once reserved for newsrooms.

Yet one thing has not changed. Truth still demands discipline.

Facts still require verification.

Credibility still remains journalism's most valuable currency.

That is why Osoba's generation still matters.

It reminds us that journalism is not merely about breaking stories.

It is about building public trust. It reminds politicians that authority is temporary. It reminds journalists that integrity is permanent. It reminds young professionals that excellence is never accidental but patiently cultivated through discipline, sacrifice and an unwavering commitment to principle.

There is a Yoruba saying that a good name outlives its owner. It is one of the profound truths of our civilisation. Wealth changes hands. Power changes occupants. Fame rises and falls. But a good name acquires a life of its own.

Perhaps that explains why, at eighty-seven, Olusegun Osoba occupies a place that neither age nor retirement can diminish.

He has become one of the moral reference points of Nigerian journalism.

His greatest legacy is not merely the stories he reported, the elections he won or the offices he occupied. His greatest legacy is that he proved a man could succeed without surrendering his values.

In an age increasingly tempted by shortcuts, that lesson may be more valuable than ever before. As another year is added to his remarkable journey, we celebrate not simply the longevity of one man but the enduring relevance of the virtues he represents—professional excellence, intellectual discipline, humility in leadership, fidelity to truth and an abiding faith that institutions are strengthened one principled decision at a time.

History will remember Olusegun Osoba as a distinguished journalist.

Politics will remember him as a successful administrator. Ogun State will remember him as one of its illustrious sons.

But journalism, I suspect, will remember him for something even greater.

He helped prove that a reporter armed only with truth, courage and integrity could become a statesman without ever ceasing to be a journalist at heart.

That is a rare distinction.

It is also the measure of a life well lived.

Happy 87th Birthday, Aremo. May the years ahead be as graceful as the legacy behind you.

•Lanre Ogundipe, Former President, Nigeria and African Union of Journalists, writes from Abuja.

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