Adieu Waheed Bakare, Editor of the New Telegraph on Saturday. A very good Muslim, a fine writer and a reliable friend. Since we met 20 years ago in Ibadan as reporters, we struck a rare bond. Your brilliance made me to drag you from THE COMET to THE PUNCH. My great boss, Editor Bolaji Adebiyi(who was then in charge of the South-West for THE PUNCH) wasted no time in employing you.
I thought you had survived the worst. While in transit to check me and my family in Ilorin in 2003, you had a fatal accident in Iwo and one of your hands was amputated. As exceptional of THE PUNCH, the management flew you to Germany for the best care. Yet, you put up a bold courage to rise to the top of your career as an Editor. Never trained to complain, you bore your travails with absolute courage. At the last NGE conference in Lagos, I watched you sweating profusely and rushed to the toilet after a meal. The Editor of BLUEPRINT, Abdulrahman Abdulrauf and I were uncomfortable when you didn’t come out on time. You later managed to come out with dizziness. We administered First Aid. I remembered Abdulrahman was almost being knocked down on the road to a shop opposite Airport Hotel, Ikeja to buy a drink while I was stabilizing you. You later recovered to drive home. We never knew what went wrong with you. But you assured me of seeing your doctors regularly. We spoke about a week ago to compare notes on your career without knowing you will depart so soon. May Allah grant you Aljanna Firdaus. Aaamin!
Alhaji Yusuf is the Managing Editor, Northern Operations, The Nation Newspapers
