Ten years after the death of ace Yoruba broadcaster, Kola Olawuyi, encomiums have continued to pour in for the popular presenter.
Mr. Olawuyi, the Managing director of Kolbims Communications, died on March 4, 2007 at a Lagos hospital.
The renown broadcaster, popularly called Akolawole, until his death was the producer/presenter of “Nkan Nbe” on television and Irinkerindo on radio.
While speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, Sulaimon Adegbenro, an independent radio presenter said, “He was an enigma who dared to unravel the remote and immediate causes of mysterious happenings in the society.”
Mr. Adegbenro, popularly known as “Consoli gbadun” in entertainment circle, noted that the late Akolawole was fearless and thorough in his investigations.
“He was fearless to a fault but painstaking in his endeavours. He fashioned out a new genre for broadcasting in Nigeria that was unprecedented and yet to be surpassed,” he noted.
“He was a scientific reporter with native experience,” he added.
On his part, Alawiye Akinyemi, an Abeokuta-based presenter, said, “Late Kola Olawuyi was one of the pioneer of independent production, a fine and certified broadcaster. He was a thorough bred broadcast journalist who cut his teeth from the Radio Nigeria.”
Mr. Akinyemi, otherwise known as “Alawiye Egba”, said Mr. Olawuyi was one of the people who influenced many presenters of his generation to go into independent production.
“I was privileged to be a bit closer to him then just because of his closeness with my own boss then, the late Gbenga Adeboye, so that gave me the opportunity to know a bit about him,” Mr. Alawiye told PREMIUM TIMES.
“He doesn’t joke with his productions at all. As we all know that he was more into investigative production, he wouldn’t leave any stone unturned to unravel the mystery behind his stories before coming on air.”
Commenting on the controversies surrounding his death, Mr. Akinyemi said the late Mr. Olawuyi was a devoted Christian, noting that he was a man of peace.
“He was a devoted Christian, even though many people think he must be fetish due to the kind of program handled but the Kola Olawuyi that I knew then was a redeemer,” he said.
“He was a man of peace and this is due to his humble nature; he was so humble to a fault.
“He was a family man to the core and a man of one wife. He was also a loving father and a caring husband.”
For Ibadan-based broadcaster, Muhammed Abolore, the late Mr. Olawuyi was a great role model to many young broadcasters rocking the airwaves today.
Mr. Abolore who presents “Fuji Repete”, a popular radio programme among listeners in Ibadan, told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Olawuyi was a fearless journalist whose works were based on facts.
“He was brave, confident and factual. In fact, the industry is yet to get a perfect replacement for him, since he died.
“He was known for his thorough investigative journalism to which he deployed to uncover evil doers’ secrets.”
The late Mr. Olawuyi was born to Williams Olawuyi in Ibadan, Oyo State. In 1992, he conceived and created the popular radio programme, “Iriri Aye,” a human angle magazine show on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan.
He had HND in Mass Communication from The Polytechnic Ibadan and was about rounding off his Masters programme at the University of Ibadan before he died in 2007.
He was survived by aged parents, wife, Abimbola Olawuyi, and children.
Mr. Olawuyi helped train a generation of radio and television presenters, notable among whom is Yinka Ayefele, the ‘Gospel Juju’ musician who doubles as radio broadcaster.
In 1999, Mr. Ayefele was in the employ of Mr. Olawuyi’s Kolbim Communications when he had the accident that crippled him. He was on his way to the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation, OGBC, Abeokuta, where his boss, Olawuyi was to present his “Irinkerindo” programme.
In 2015, the almost forgotten radio programme of Mr. Olawuyi, “Irinkerindo Akolawole” was revived on Mr. Ayefele’s radio station in Ibadan, Fresh FM.
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