Celebrating Uncle Sam at 90
A few days after I turned 60,I told Uncle Sam Amuka-Pemu, better known as Uncle Sam of my new status. We were in the course of a nice lunch of amala, ewedu and fish stew at his guest house.
He gave me a wry smile and teasingly described me as a ” pikin”.
When a soon-to-be 90 year old man calls you a small child, despite your grey beard, all you need to do is acknowledge, with all humility, that 30 years is not a joke!
How did I become his guest that Saturday afternoon? I missed his calls earlier in the day on Wednesday, then I received a text: ” Call your uncle”.
It was a directive. So i called.
” I need to see you,” he said
“Okay sir, but I am in Abuja.” I replied.
” I know…you are with Dele in Solid Minerals now!”.
I got the message. So I promised to break my plan by travelling to Lagos to see him that weekend.
Although the subject of our discussion is not the purpose of this article, the event captures the kind of relationship Uncle Sam maintains with his mentees. He pulls us up from our lower and younger status in life to be his friends.
He monitors our progress in the positions we occupy and networks with us.
One day in 2019, Uncle Sam invited me to his home. When I arrived, he took me to his bedroom. On the bed was about 12 emboidered native caps already put together.
He said: “I see that you like wearing these caps a lot. I don’t need these caps because I dont attend occasions the way I used to.” He packed the caps into a bag for me to take home. When I tried them at home, I found out they fitted very well!
He monitors our projects. I began Echonews as a schools newspaper in 2004 and set up the community version in 2007. Both were on newsprint until they became digital.
Uncle Sam ensured that I sent copies regularly and took tTime to share his experience in publishing with me. When we did a story on the “10 Top Amala Joints in Oshodi-Isolo”, he called to commend the choice of the story. He said he was sure it would resonate with the common man on the streets.
In my darkest moment, when I was kidnapped for five days in 2013, Uncle Sam stood by me. The editor, Gbenga Adefaye, told me he instructed that my story must be on the front page till I was released.
The most significant value I have taken from Uncle Sam is humility. Against the notion that men of modest physique tend to be driven by the urge to force themselves on their environment, Uncle Sam flows peacefully and humbly within any space, without intending to disrupt or distract.
At the second terminal of the Murtala Muhammed airport, I found him sitting gently in one corner close to the exit one day and offered to drop him at home.
He thanked me, declined my offer, jokingly telling me to ” carry your motor go, mine will soon be here. “ I couldn’t leave him there.
So I waited, and we continued to chatat. It turned out that the vehicle had some fault and was not available. So he consented to my standing offer to take him home.
As soon as we approached Maryland and the street traders began to harass us with different wares, Uncle Sam called the one selling jalamia and asked for one each for us. He insisted on paying for the two dresses and recommended it as fit for relaxation!
Giving and living with what you really need is contentment at its best. I remember the first time I received a cash gift from Uncle Sam. It was 1991.
Vanguard had just published a series of my features on immunisation. Uncle Sam arrived the premises of the newspaper and was climbing the stairs when he saw me. He stretched his cash-filled hand towards me
” Take, you do good features”,he said. Soon, I got used to these regular handouts from the publisher each time my story impressed him
I have moved round a few newspapers, from The Guardian to Vanguard to Concord and The Punch. My toast to Uncle Sam as he clocks 90 is that he provided the most stimulating environment of my journalism career.
I joined as Features Writer in 1990, became Assistant Saturday Magazine Editor in 1991 and Deputy News Editor in 1993. In 1992, I won the prestigious Vanguard Journalist of the Year.
To crown it all, in the same year, I led the Vanguard chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists to negotiate a 100 per cent end-of-year salary bonus for all the staff of Vanguard newspapers.
I couldn’t achieve so much without the liberal and professional culture Uncle Sam nurtured at Vanguard.
Sir, God shall preserve you to mark a century on earth. And even more. You are a wonderful gift to mankind. I cherish you.
Kehinde Bamigbetan is a communicator and former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy
