A veteran journalist, who retired from New Nigerian Newspapers, Alhaji Tijjani Tajudeen Ajibade has described the late Alhaji Usman Ibn Abdullahi Lapai as a jovial, jolly, self-trained journalist, who hardly gets offended.
Alhaji Tajudeen, who worked together with Lapai at New Nigerian Newspapers before leaving for Punch Newspapers, said that Malam Lapai joined New Nigerian as a librarian but because he was a good writer and through self training, he rose through the ranks to become a reporter.
Malam Usman Lapai died as state correspondent of Blueprint Newspapers on Saturday at the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital after a brief illness and was buried same day at the Bachama cemetery in Tudun Wada Kaduna after brief internment at his Katagum by Zango road residence.
According to Alhaji Tajudeen, “Lapai was a jolly good colleague, a man who has morality. He is exceptionally good. He is also a teacher because whenever we are discussing issues he comes out with Quranic quotations and he hardly get offended. From his behaviour, he has good control of his house, he must have been a good father to his children.
“He met us at NNN, he was employed as a librarian, he his good in writing poems and was later writing stories. He trained himself went to Kaduna Polytechnics. He is a jolly good colleague, we are going to miss him. Everytime, he is the first person to come to the NUJ after his retirement from NNN, he has a corner where he used to sit, we talk of the past, we talk of today, but now he is gone, we would not be able to talk about tomorrow. We will certainly miss him.”
The 73-year-old Lapai was survived by a wife seven children and four grandchildren, as well as siblings.
His funeral was attended by members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists Kaduna state Council, executive members and officials of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and people from his neighborhood.
Among those that attended the funeral are National President of NIPR, Alhaji Mukhtar Sirajo, Chairman of Blueprint Newspapers, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Malam Mohammed Bashir Chedi among others.
Lapai was a staff of the defunct New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN), he later joined the Market Magazine, which metamorphosed into Blueprint Newspapers. He was an active member of the NIPR and served as a member of the immediate past executive.
