*Adebeshin-Kuti*
By Shakirudeen Bankole
Musbaudeen Femi Adebesin-Kuti, the multiple award-winning Photo Journalist and Photo Editor of The Guardian Newspaper, Nigeria, breathed his last early hours of Friday, January the 5th 2023!
It was a news no one wanted to hear. .
On that Friday, graveyard silence enveloped the glamorous newsroom of the Rutam House, the workstation of the deceased, as the unfortunate news of the passage of this unarguably most friendly and jovial senior staff of the company filtered into the news house.
The gloom reached an unbearable pitch when the photos of his burial proceedings in Abeokuta, Ogun State, his hometown, were being sent to the newsroom by his colleagues, who had gone to offer support and condolences on behave of his employer.
Chuks Nwanne , the Saturday Editor, Olaiya Temitope Templer , the News Editor, and Adeyemi Adepetun, Assistant Communication Editor, were on the delegation..
“Oh God! Oh Lord. He has been buried! Oh Lord. Femi is gone! Oh Lord,” Auntie Eno-Bassi Ekpeyong, the Production Editor, Weekend Titles, cries.
She was unconsolable.
The deceased worked closely with her and they shared an impenetrable bond of friendship on the job.
“Subuhannallah! Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilehi Rajiun (Oh God. Unto you we came and unto you we all shall return), the Sunday Editor, Dr. Kabir Alabi-Garba, kept on interrogating the seeming nothingness called life.
How did we get here, I asked the Editor.
“Well, he was on leave and was meant to resume about a week ago. But he filed a complaint of ill health, something very unusual of Femi. Then the next we heard was he has been hospitalized”.
Alabi-Garba explained, sharing several interventions being made, including financial supports, to ensure Adebesin-Kuti, received adequate medical care, post treatment and recuperation support.
” There was a particular money we were contributing, to be forwarded to him today (Friday). I made my own transfer during the midnight because bank network was terrible the night before,” he said, apparently indicating how unprepared they were about the eventual news of his passage.
There were few staffs on duty in the newsroom who were duty-bound to see to the production of the next edition of the newspaper. Their traumas need no telling..
Eno-Abasi Sunday Olawunmi Abiodun Ojo Gbenga Salau , Onyedika Agbedo, Azeez Olorunlomeru Gregory-Page Nwakunor and others were among them.
“The saddest part is that this job does not allow us to grief properly,” Nwakunor , the Deputy Editor (News), whose Aunt had died the previous day, said, as he glue his face to the large Mac Desktop Computer, reading copies to be okayed for the Saturday edition.
The same for Agbedo, who had also lost someone who died in a auto accident on his return from the festive holiday in his hometown in the East.
He was also duty-bound to deliver his pages.
Sadly, this was one of the hazards of the Journalism profession. At least, in this clime.
Death is indeed an incurable affliction, but some afflictions are more unbearable than the others. The death of Adebesin-Kuti is one of them. Not because he isn’t a mare mortal whose terminal end, like the rest of us, have been foretold and anticipated, but because he left rather quite early and unannounced. And he represented one of the rare personalities whose enviable characters put smile on the faces of the people.
I was at The Guardian Newspaper between 2005 and 2013. After a brief stint at the Sports Department of the African Independent Television in Kola, Alagbado Area of Lagos, I moved to the Rutam House in search of knowledge and meaning to my journalism career.
And in my entire stay, I found knowledge, experience and expertise required to excel as a professional journalist. My character and leadership qualities were also sharpened by some individuals of impeccable characters in the organisation. Musbaudeen Femi Adebesin-Kuti was one of them.
I call him Egbon (Elder Brother) and “O Kuti” (someone who can’t be killed ). The O’kuti numeclature was derived from his name “Kuti”.
I recalled that we covered a couple of assignments together. The Lissa Village Plane Crash, the Matogun Plane Crash, two General Elections, Ijedodo Pipeline Explosion, and uncountable Corporate Events. In all, he never came late nor does he give excuse in place of result.
Egbon liked Amala and Gbegiri and Ewedu alot. And we had multiple memories visiting Iya Mulika’s Canteen together. At the canteen, he was once begged to not let out his jovial attitude to prevent people from biting themselves or sniffing pepper into their brain.
To think he was the same man who has covered multiple World Cups and Olympics Games, would beat anyone’s imagination.
He was that funny, humble, diligent and easy. He doesn’t hold grudge. He was a plain and sweet-hearted fellow.
On Fridays, the peak of my production (I was on the Saturday Desk), Adebesin-Kuti would come to the newsroom, after cracking many ribs open with his jokes, whisper to my hears, “Shakirudeen, don’t be late for Juma’at Prayer.”
As I penned down the fondest memory I had with him in his Condolence Register at the Rutam House, the thought of how my own end would be, rushed to my mind! Subuhannallah.
Oh Allah, accept the return of Femi Adebesin-kuti and all other dead Muslims, forgive their shortcomings, exempt them from the torments of the grave, and grant them the best abode in Jannah, Amin.