“Bayo Salami from New York”, a voice ricocheted through the zoom platform. I had organized a virtual gathering for that day to discuss issues bordering on “Finding Your Way Forward during the Pandemic” in which I invited a Harvard professor and a former Law Enforcement officer in the US as guest speakers. Senator Bayo Salami had attended upon my invitation and he introduced himself to all as the meeting was about to kick off.
Exactly a month later, on December 21, Senator Salami had called me at exactly 8:36 in the morning (EST). I missed his call. He then sent me a text message in response to my earlier text message “Still in NY. I called just now, I guess you are busy”, he wrote. We eventually spoke that day. Since he arrived New York just as Covid 19 entered the nomenclature of our daily vocabularies in March 2020, we did not cease to discuss public affairs issues at least every fortnight. From Nigerian politics to the US politics, we were usually saddled with dissecting the political developments of both countries and world affairs in general. My last message to him was on Sunday January 3rd. He did not respond but the WhatsApp was read or at the very least opened on his phone. I did call as well but his phone was switched off. I had no inkling that he was indisposed. To my utmost shock, a friend from Nigeria sent me a message at 3:18pm on Thursday January 7th “Prof sir, I just heard about the demise of our own senator Bayo Salami. This is a very hard one to take sir. A very lovely person to be with sir”. That was the message that shook me to the core. Could this be a rude joke or what? I was visibly shaken with my wife by my side at a shopping plaza. I did not utter a word. I wished within me it was fake news. I tried to call his first son but could not reach him. I then called his last son who was in New York. He confirmed the worst news of 2021.
Senator Bayo Ayoade Salami was a senior friend, a senior brother and a mentor. Our path crossed for the first time sometimes in 1991 when he became the first chairman of the newly created Olorunda Local Government, Olonkoro, Osogbo. He had come from Kaduna where he was a businessman. I was then a young political reporter with The Guardian newspaper. Alhaji Salami, as he then was, was a veritable source of scoops for a young reporter to feed on for his stories. The relationship endured ever since. I was part of his team when upon the creation of Osun state, he decided to venture into the race for the governorship of Osun state. He was to many, a small fry that would not go far in the race. He proved the bookies wrong when he came tops at the first NRC party primaries. However, he did not fulfil the requirements to be declared a winner. Then a run-off was called. The leaders of the party in Osun state led by the late Chief Olaniyan Alawode had called a meeting in Alawode’s house to request that Bayo Salami, a young but dynamic political rising star, should step down for another older aspirant. At that meeting, Alawode had started a political rhetoric tending towards the leaders’ agenda. Before he could conclude, Bayo had walked up to Alawode and told him something that would change the course of event that day “I am Babangida’s candidate”. Being an experienced politician himself, Alawode understood that whoever was the military ruler’s candidate at the time would stand a good chance of winning the general election. The tide turned in Bayo’s favour and the leaders declared that the run-off should go ahead. Bayo won and became the party’s governorship flag bearer, even though the General election was lost due to some other undercurrents I was privy to which would not be appropriate for this piece. Talk of the ability to think on one’s feet and Bayo Salami would score high.
Fast forward to 1999, Bayo Salami had indicated his intention to be the governorship candidate of AD. The political undercurrents of the time schemed him out of the race, but he was compensated with the Senatorial ticket of the party. He won and became a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1999.
As busy as he was, Senator Bayo Salami, would not forget his “kid brother” who was in Germany for his PhD at the time. He found time to attend my doctoral defense at the University of Leipzig in Germany on June 26, 2001. He came with his wife to cheer me up at the public defense that is the German academic tradition. In my autobiography titled “My first 50 years: People, Politics and Poverty”, I had written as follows; “In the course of my work at The Guardian, I got to meet Alhaji Bayo Salami during the period. He was the Chairman of the newly created Olorunda Local Government in Osogbo…. Later Bayo Salami became a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a relationship ensued between us and has endured till today. My relationship with many Local Government chairmen helped me to break many stories for The Guardian. The Newspaper became a reference point in Local Government reporting. Of course, The Guardian has always been the flagship anyway and my breakthrough in Local Government reporting was just an icing on the cake”.
Senator Salami would later invite me to consult for the Senate Committee saddled with the task of investigating the mysterious bomb blast that shattered Lagos in January 2002.
One afternoon in 2006, Senator Salami had requested that I joined him in Chief Abiola Morakinyo’s house in Gbongan. On getting there, he had introduced me to Rauf Aregbesola who then was a governorship aspirant of the ACN party in Osun state. I later became part of the think tank of Aregbesola prior to the 2007 election. Just like he did in 1992 in Alawode’s house, Bayo Salami pulled a similar stunt in Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun’s house in 2007 to see Aregbesola emerge the ACN governorship candidate. To clear the path for Aregbesola, his preferred candidate, Bayo Salami had insisted that all aspirants should be made to pay a fee to be considered serious aspirants of the party. Many aspirants dropped off in the process. Bayo Salami’s commitment to Aregbesola’s cause would see him locked up in Ilesa prison in the aftermath of the 2007 governorship election in Osun state. He would also miss his daughter’s graduation in Ago Iwoye on the day the ACN governorship candidate would be decided in Alhaji Oyedokun’s house in Inisha. His GRA house was also attacked by unknown gunmen for the same reason. Bayo Salami was not one to back off once he believed in a cause. He would even nominate me as one of the two initially nominated to be Aregbesola’s running mate. Neither of us was eventually picked as Aregbesola preferred a female deputy.
Even though I had decided to run my political race on a different political platform in 2018, Bayo Salami remained a source of political tutelage. He would call me intermittently to encourage me and appreciate my political moves. One afternoon after the PDP primaries, he had called me on the phone that I should expect a call and be prepared to attend a meeting in his house late that evening. As it turned out, the meeting was arranged for me to meet the ADP governorship candidate, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, who proposed at the meeting that I should be his running mate for the 2018 governorship election on the platform of ADP. It was not an easy discussion based on my notion and experience of the unsavory manner many governors treated their deputies. I was not prepared to be a “spare tyre”. Bayo Salami would leave me to take my own decision at the meeting, but he advised that I should consider the implication if no Osogbo indigene is on any ballot on election day. He was a lover of his people and even though a nationalist, he would stand up for Osogbo whenever necessary. But his political network cut across the length and breadth of Nigeria. Through his political sagacity, the ADP became a political force in the politics of Osun state in the 2018 governorship election. He was the brain behind ADP’s political foray during the period.
In one of our discussions before his demise, he had told me of his plans for his 70th birthday, which was to come up in May, this year. What a loss! Bayo Salami was a family man truly so called. He was close to his children and his two wives. Despite the 19-year age difference, he made me his confidant. I saw him not only as a friend but a destiny helper. Despite his age, Bayo Salami was comfortable in any gathering, among the young and the old. On his 69th birthday in May 2020, he had gone on a bicycle ride around his neighborhood in New York. He was passionate about keeping fit.
He was also an avid reader. He would pick up a book and would not drop it until he was done reading. The latest book on his shelf was the book written by Mary Trump “Too Much and Never Enough”.
When the COVID-19 Vaccine was released, I had told him to take advantage of his senior citizen status in the US to get the vaccine. He was ready for it, but his age bracket was not among the first recipients. He was preparing to go back to Nigeria this January.
Born in 1951, Bayo Salami attended Ifeoluwa Grammar school Osogbo and Yaba College of Technology where he studied Accountancy. He later procured an MBA from the University of Ibadan.
Even though you died at a most unexpected time, you were by no means a loser. You were an achiever by every inch. You came, you saw, and you conquered. Sleep on my brother, mentor and destiny helper, Bayo Ayoade Hamzat Salami.
Durotoye, a Professor of Political Science lectures at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti and hails from Osogbo.
