Remembering Sani Lawal, golden voice of Radio Kwara, Cicero of Ilorin

Everything seemed to have gone wrong, but it could only be the will of almighty Allah (Allahu Akbar). A great and sincere man, a large heart, who meant several things to several people at several times, had suddenly ended his sojourn on this plane; my doting dad, Sani Lawal was dead. The elements appeared to […]

Everything seemed to have gone wrong, but it could only be the will of almighty Allah (Allahu Akbar). A great and sincere man, a large heart, who meant several things to several people at several times, had suddenly ended his sojourn on this plane; my doting dad, Sani Lawal was dead.

The elements appeared to have noted this sudden sad demise. The flight carrying us children, family members and other sympathisers scheduled for 3.00 pm did not leave Abuja till 4.00 pm and instead of its normal route, first to Ilorin, the aircraft flew past, to Ibadan before taking us to Ilorin. As a result, daddy’s burial scheduled for 4.00 pm same day, was delayed, and the pain of the loss protracted. And incidentally this great man I want to possess as “my dad” had many “children” in the broad sense, and they all came to grieve his exit. He had political children, he had professional children, he had spiritual children, he had adopted children, he had intellectual children, he had social children, and of course biological children. And he mentored all, equally and generously.
Born July 27, 1933, dad barely missed his 78th birthday. But it was a peaceful death anyway, a desire he shared with the great John Keats. Since we celebrated his 60th birthday some years back, he promised and prayed not to have any reason to disturb (with sickness) any of his children or anybody for that matter whenever his time was up. Allah accepted his prayers. Probably that was why the news of his demise came as a very rude shock to all of us. But Allah knows best.  Daddy still chatted on the phone with my younger sister, Raliat in Atlanta till about 3.30 am and so there was no inkling of his death around the corner. In fact, after his early morning prayers, he still spoke to some people by phone and gave a few appointments to meet later in the day. He called up a young man who usually managed his satellite decoder to meet him at home at 8.30 am and he warned the young man that “if you come late you would not meet me.”  Dauda did not meet daddy alive when he arrived at home at about 9.00 am.  
As secretary to the Emirate Council and Principal Private Secretary to the 9th Emir of Ilorin; Alhaji Sulu Gambari who also doubled as a minister in the administration of Sir Ahmadu Bello, late Sardauna of Sokoto, and dad was appointed as a Ministerial Private Secretary and discharged his duties with absolute loyalty and commitment. He displayed unflinching support to the emir during the period of political crisis which pitched the emir against a few elite politicians of the time. No wonder praise singers all over the great city of Ilorin sing “agbija oba ojebi Lawali akowe oba” literally meaning “he who supports the emir is not guilty, Lawal the emir’s secretary.”  During hearing at the Willink Minority Commission, Sani Lawal, my father, along other eminent Ilorin indigenes, in a show of solidarity with his people and the Emirate Council opposed the call for a merger of Ilorin with the Western Region. The issue generated serious controversy, with Ilorin voicing out strongly, forcefully and collectively against the planned merger with the Western Region. Eventually, the colonial government upheld the yearnings of the people and cancelled the plan. By championing democracy in this manner, my father became the darling of Ilorin people. I recall that my maternal uncle and then legal adviser to the Northern People’s Congress, Alhaji A.G.F. AbdulRazaq, was the lead counsel of the emirate at the commission and partnered strongly with dad, his great in-law.
The reach of the network of Radio Kwara at the time was up to Maiduguri and Sokoto. And those that lived around these places in the 70s would remember the golden voice on that station: “Here is the Kwara State news read by SANI LAWAL. First the main items…” Daddy brought class to news casting in those days, so much that a lot of people looked forward to the days when it was his turn to broadcast the news. His baritone, diction, phonetics and manner of speech were scintillating. For us his children, our friends and schoolmates were always quick to call our attention anytime dad was on air. And we were ever so proud of him. His professional colleagues also proudly attest that my father was a rare gem in broadcasting and that he taught them so many things through his constant advice, corrections and commendations.  
Meanwhile, not many people knew that he merely took to news casting for leisure. He was actually not a member of staff of the Radio House at the time rather he was in the administration of the governor’s office. In later years, he was appointed as the secretary to the Broadcasting Commission and also rose to become the acting general manager before his appointment as a commissioner and member of the Kwara State Executive Council following the return of civilian administration in 1979.
As commissioner for industries in the Alhaji Adamu Atta administration, my father, Sani Lawal, was upright in carrying out his duties as the ministry flourished. I recall his many visits to Erin Ile which eventually led to the establishment of the Kwara Paper Converter. His contributions in the ministry also led to the setting up of industries like United Foam and Adal (producer of Sabella juice). He was later moved to the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs where he also impacted positively on the traditional institutions which led to the upgrading of some foremost traditional stools in the state to first class status.
Daddy’s friends cut across the social strata and he meant different things to different people. Just as his contemporaries and age group will miss him, the younger ones will certainly miss him more as he identified with them effortlessly. At times he would sit among the teens and they would talk for hours, endlessly. On occasions, I met people a lot younger than most of us, his children, and they would introduce themselves as my daddy’s friends! He sure built in these young people a sense of worth. Dad also made friends across the ethnic divides of Nigeria so much so that many children lived with him and attended school, who were actually of  Hausa, Igbo, Delta and Yoruba descent and many of these ones  eventually adopted ‘Lawal’ as surname. They either adopted daddy as their father or he adopted them as his children.  
A family man, who and spent a lot of his time at home, words cannot express what this patriarch meant to his family, and what his family meant to him. He had loving wives who cared for him, only him and the wives can properly express the depth of their bond formed over several years together. As a disciplinarian he was not known to spare the rod. Alhamdulillah Allah blessed him with a lot of children but daddy was involved in the lives of each of his children and knew to a large extent what everyone was up to at various points in time. Even when most of us were grown and set up our families, dad still reached out and supported our everyday existence till his last day.
My dad, Alhaji Sani Lawal, was indeed a father. He was a lot of things to many people – ‘Akano Ago’ to those who were older than him and some of his friends, ‘Lawal Akowe Oba’ to the palace, ‘SA’ to his friends and contemporaries, ‘Daddy’ to his children, biological or not, and ‘Daddy Agba’ to his grand/great grandchildren. To his sons, daddy was an inspiration. No thanks could ever be enough for the countless things he did for them over the years, except to try to be as good a father to their own children. To his girls, he was the great love of their lives. It is usually very late in life that we realise how invaluable the teachings of our parents are. This great Cicero, man of many parts helped us become who and what we are today. Daddy was a fine teacher and it is with a great sense of pride that we bear ‘Lawal’ as our surname.
Hafsat Lawal is a staff of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)