How Did I Get Here?

Three years ago, I posted an old picture of myself on my WhatsApp status and someone I greatly respect said “You’re a Vet doctor? Wow!”

I know why he was surprised. He never imagined I could be a Veterinarian because of the way I wrote. We had come in contact in a very interesting way months before that day. It was through an article I wrote about Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich. You can read it here.

That article gave me many admirers. The man asked for the author and collected my number to tell me how much he enjoyed reading it. He was a senior man who'd worked with ESPN in the past. I admired him too and we connected on personal levels afterwards. He also shared my contact with people I’d long admired. He wasn't the first and would not be the last.

Let me tell you how the years rolled.

I was a 300-level Veterinary Medicine student at the University of Ilorin, fully dependent on my father’s monthly allowance. I wasn't great at spending and that meant the money I got from home hardly lasted. Oftentimes, I got into the habit of having to seek loans from friends to spend the last days of the month. I needed to make money but didn't understand how I could. Enter Bunie Arah.

Bunie at the time was a 100-level student. She was smart, very inquisitive and eloquent and was quite confident. She was never afraid to speak her mind. I wrote poems and articles and posted them on my faculty’s WhatsApp group regularly. Bunie liked what I wrote and we often spoke about it.

It was during the holidays when she chatted me up and said somebody needed a writer for his website. My ears stretched beyond their normal shape. I wanted to get in as quickly as possible. Bunie introduced me to Debola Daniel who ran idey.me at the time.

Debola and I exchanged contacts and we spoke at length about what he intended to achieve with his website. I wrote about everything. Sports, world politics, music, everything, and school was still biting hard.

My results dipped a bit in school as I got sucked into chasing money at the expense of my academics. I lost my balance. A bit. That was the first time I got paid in foreign currency. I enjoyed it but my grades suffered a hit.

I enjoyed those days a lot. They were an important first push. The walk to GTbank UNILORIN every month to change money from Western Union was a walk of satisfaction. Looking back at it now, the money wasn't huge but it made me very comfortable. I didn't need to call home every time I was cash-strapped. I never took loans again. What I made lasted me for a month and beyond.

Debola loved my work ethic and he soon increased my salary. We also began to connect beyond work and spoke about many things. We exchanged ideas on many things. He was a great guy, still is and always will be. His compassion is exceptional.

I remember something that happened to me at 500 level. I was preparing for my first semester exams when my Infinix phone began to mess up. I saved all my PDF notes on my phone because I didn't consider it important to have a PC at the time. It also came at a point that was difficult for me financially because I'd spent on different things.

I chatted Debola up and explained my predicament to him. “No problem bro” was all he said. The next day, he sent me some money which I used to get a new phone and recover all the notes I’d lost. It is something I can never forget.

We stopped working on Idey.me afterwards as the website didn't fulfil their (he had a partner) objectives and needed a redirection. However, we stayed in contact because we'd gotten close. I'd also learnt a thing about business and relationships. Never be afraid to let go if it doesn't work. Debola was fantastic to me and to this day, we still chat once in a while.

Shortly after I stopped working with Debola, fate took me to one of my greatest relationships outside my immediate family. It was a case of seeing someone you admired and probably idolised and seeing them become your friend based on your talent, skill and most importantly, personality.

How I met Sulaiman Aledeh was purely fate at work. One of my well-respected Egbon, Dr Adedara Oduguwa posted on his WhatsApp status that Aledeh.com (now Gatekeepers News) needed a lifestyle writer. I'd never considered myself a lifestyle writer but the name Aledeh was of great interest to me.

Dr Oduguwa shared Sulai’s contact with me and he asked me some questions. It was quite clear that he was affable. Sulai asked me to send a test article. I scoured my phone and discovered that I’d only done poetry for a year. I needed something fresh.

I wrote an article on Fela Anikulapo Kuti and he published it immediately on the website. It was enough for me. He liked my work. We discussed money and earnings and to be honest, I could have worked for free for Sulai.

Our relationship at the beginning didn't start exactly well because my returns got scuttled by some personal issues I dealt with. Once that was out of the way, I showed my level and proved my worth. With Sulai’s mentorship, support and leadership, I think I became a better writer. Funnily enough, he taught me journalism but I've never considered myself one. I just believe I’m a writer.

Sulai taught me to grow an eye for news and content. He polished my skills with his correction and presence. I didn't need hand-holding but we were a good force together. The money I earned was enough for comfort and to even be responsible at home. I could buy gifts for my nieces, nephews and grandma. That sense of responsibility is important to me. He also spurred my interest in art. Through him, I became a fan of Tobe Nwigwe, Chika Oranika — two American rappers of Nigerian descent who have quality.

In 2020, when I left Aledeh Media Network, owners of Gatekeepers News after more than three years, Sulai took it in good faith and we never stopped talking. I needed a new challenge at the time and had begun to aim higher financially. He understood me. Before the end of that year, we were back working together again. Sulai had mentioned my name at News Central TV as a good researcher and writer and asked that he needed me on board and we did great things together. We still do.

His home became second home to me in Lagos. I've met many people but I haven't met many with a fantastic personality like Sulai. He's honest, brave, super clean and suave. We still have those conversations today and is someone I will always call my friend, brother and father.

When I left Gatekeepers and worked as a researcher and scriptwriter at News Central, I also worked as the Chief Editor at Soccernet, one of Nigeria’s biggest football websites. Oh, I am still a Vet doctor. I read, follow updates and try as much as possible to stay in the loop.

Soccernet came about on the back of an article I wrote about Taiwo Awoniyi.

When I woke up that morning in Ola’s house at the Odogbo Barracks, I felt a bit weak. I had not written a personal article in a long time and everything I did was for News Central. When I opened my Notes, the only name that came to mind was Taiwo.

Knowing Taiwo’s story was fate.

In 2019, I exchanged contact with one of Nigeria’s finest sports journalists who has an incredible reach and respectable contact. We worked on many stories together. He would get the stories and I wrote them. That way, I got to know many things about Nigerian footballers. I was privy to those stories because he shared them with me.

I got to know Taiwo’s too and I particularly loved how spiritual it was. He loves God and constantly talks about it. That morning when I woke up at Ola’s house, I just wanted to write about Taiwo. And I did. I titled it “Taiwo Awoniyi: A Brief History of a Walk With God”

One thing about everything I write is intention. I have never just written for the sake of it. I write knowing what I've written can get anywhere and be read by anyone. I've never limited my thinking. So sometimes, I may argue one thing about football or anything and what I write will be completely different — more holistic, honest and deeper.

Writing that article about Taiwo wasn’t about being analytical. I wasn't analysing his game or his life. I just wanted to write about a guy I genuinely felt connected to his story. When I published it, I didn't know how far it could go. I must be thankful to Oma Akatugba who made me aware of that story in the first place.

The article I wrote about Taiwo was seen by Lolade Adewuyi, a former Editor at Goal Nigeria and an absolute gentleman. He is also Soccernet’s Managing Editor and a journalist at German media giant, Deutsche Welle (DW).

Mr Adewuyi was tasked by DW to get a Nigerian who could help with a documentary on Taiwo. The Nottingham Forest forward was at the time at Union Berlin where his goals were coming thick and fast. DW wanted to know his roots and how everything began.

Mr Adewuyi reached out to me and said he'd seen that we shared the same group as Arsenal fans — a group of successful and mostly older professionals that I’d been added to based on a Twitter post I wrote in 2020.

He asked me if I knew Taiwo personally. I didn't at the time but told him I was willing to go to Ilorin to ask about him — his story, coach and where it all started from. I didn't ask for anything from Mr Adewuyi.

While I was in Ilorin, DW had reached out to Taiwo and his agent asking that they'd like to hold a documentary. He refused at first due to some issues he explained to me later when we met in 2022.

When Mr Adewuyi approached him, he asked to talk to me. There I was sitting in my car in front of Shoprite Ibadan on a call with an international football star and his agent. He asked me about what DW wanted to do and he only approved that his coach should talk to me after that meeting. I felt honoured.

Other than the story Oma had once shared with me, I didn't know much about Taiwo but visiting his family in 2021, speaking to his coach in Ilorin showed me how down-to-earth he is. We shot a good documentary (which I was well paid for) and it has been seen 127,000 times on DW’s official YouTube page.

That article I wrote about Taiwo was the precursor to all those opportunities. He told me it was the best thing he’d read about himself and he later shared it with the communications team at Nottingham Forest when fate brought us together to live in the same city again. Taiwo invited me to dinner in 2022 after inviting me to watch his game against Arsenal and that was all from one article.

Before Nottingham, Mr Adewuyi had contacted me on an opening at Soccernet as they needed a Chief Editor. I considered this offer for some days but eventually accepted it and it was an enjoyable role. I did it alongside my role at News Central.

I was Soccernet’s Chief Editor for seven months before I travelled to the UK in 2022.

Before Soccernet, I had an opportunity to join Pulse NG who wanted to pay higher, but turned it down as I wanted something different at that point in my life. Also, I would have needed to leave News Central TV but Sulai has been good to me and took me as his brother. It wasn't something I considered for a long time — only because of Sulai.

At the moment, I’m not attached to any media organisation but work in Public Health in the UK and still publish football and other articles on my Substack from time to time. I enjoy writing and the people I met made it worthy for me. I read so much, and my evolution is quite non-linear. I don’t know what's next but whatever it is, I will be caught making great relationships and respecting people.

It’s only my close circle who understand the entirety of these stories but in life, there's nothing you'll ever do alone. You need positive voices, people who will say good things about you behind closed doors and you must be well-intentioned.

Lest I forget, I didn't meet Sulai until more than a year after we’d worked together. I've never physically met Mr Adewuyi, Oma and Debola but we have kept good relationships and they're all people I greatly respect. Physical relationships could be a bit overrated in an age where technology brings us so close. You should treat people from a distance as you’d treat them if you ever met them - physically.

You'll go through people at every point in life. I'm not anywhere near destination yet, but this journey has been a good one and those people deserve their flowers.