Danladi Bako: Ten Most Exciting Moments of My Life

. The day I first read the 3.30pm News Bulletin on Radio Nigeria Sokoto in July 1973.  I was 16. Mu’awiya Idris , the Head of Programmes had trained me for just two weeks and thrust me onto the microphone. I felt ten feet tall thereafter.

2.The day I won NTA Sokoto’s best all-round staff of the year in 1980. It was an incredible year that saw me at 22, become a household name in the North West as NTA Sokoto signals reached Koko in Kebbi State and Gusau in today’s Zamfara State.

3. My first lesser Hajj to Makkah in 1989. It was simply glorious and spiritually fulfilling. I felt accomplished and prayed that heaven be my final abode when I depart this world someday.

4.Visiting Robben Island in South Africa and seeing the cells that housed PACs Robert Sobukwe , ANCs Nelson Mandela , Govan Mbeki, Saddik Isaacs and others. I covered President Mandela’s visit to Nigeria along with Winnie in 1990 after release from prison.

4.Visiting Vilakazi Street in Soweto. This is the only street that has two Nobel Prize winners President Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu living as landlords on the street. It was a humbling experience seeing the very earthly and sedentary living their homesteads were.

5. The day I was turbaned as Kogunan Sokoto on May 12 in 2001 by Sultan Muhammad Maccido. It was a very touching and reflective day for me. Sir Emeka Offor gave his aircraft to transport guests from Lagos to Sokoto and back free of charge. The British Ambassador to Nigeria Zimbabwe’s Francis Sengwe and 3 other envoys were at the ceremony. I was proud of myself.

6.The day Nigeria’s Olympic football team “the Dream Team” won the Olympics gold medal in Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games in the United States of America. I was Senior Special Assistant to the Hon Minister of Youth and Sports Chief Jim Nwobodo. Unmatchable ecstasy.

7.The day President Olusegun Obasanjo decorated me with the National Honour- Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 2006. Allah Akbar. The joy was indescribable.

8. The day I met Sir Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, the legendary Studio One Producer in Kingston, Jamaica. Coxsone was the rival as well as successor to the iconic super-human Arthur Duke Reid. Both operated in the 50s and 60s and were part of the evolution of Ska, blue-beat, rock-steady and eventually reggae. Coxsone auditioned  the Wailers in 1963 in Studio and after hearing “Simmer down” gave them their first major break on his label.

9.The day the Senate of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria awarded me Doctor of Philosophy degree in Development Communication on November 4th 2019. It was two semesters of Coursework and lectures followed by  36 months of research, fieldwork and data analysis. I felt complete thereafter. A PhD degree gives you a totally different view of yourself, indeed you from that moment have become a world citizen respected all over.

10.The day the Sultan of Sokoto Sa’ad Abubakar took Alh Kabir Tafida, Isa Bajini Galadanci and  I to Clarence House in London to meet Prince C harles in 2010. Extremely decent, humble and compassionate I found myself appreciating the Prince whom I think the world seems to undervalue. He went on to become King Charles the third of Great Britain.

Fulfillment

All above moments are just a few of a plethora of what is generally now a life of fulfillment and contentment for me these past 68 years.