Guardian Tributes as ace photojournalist Obe passes on TUESDAY, 03 SEPTEMBER 2013 00:00 BY GBENGA SALAU NEWS - NATIONAL obe FOR Peter Oyeyemi Obe who passed on at the age of 81 on Sunday, it is time to relive fond memories of him as one of the founding fathers of modern-day photojournalism. At his 31 Masha Street, Surulere home yesterday, friends and colleagues gathered to commiserate with the immediate family. An Executive Consultant at The Guardian, Mr. Lade Bonuola, in a condolence message said: “As chief cameraman of the Daily Times and I as the chief sub-editor, we worked very closely together. He never failed in supplying me terrific action photographs for the front page. Once I shouted ‘exclusives’, I trusted he was on the way to the newsroom to supply page one photograph.” A former Sunday Editor of Daily Times, Mr. Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, said Obe, who covered many historical events in the country with his lenses, “was the ultimate definition for Nigerian press photography for a whole generation.” For Sir Odafe Othihiwa, a former General Manager of Daily Times, Obe indeed played a great role in Nigerian photojournalism. “We all mourn your demise. Rest in peace,” he said. Lanre Idowu, publisher of Media Review, lamented that “a great star has fallen from the photojournalistic firmament. I remember one of his civil war shots. It was a great shot of a soldier’s boot. Lying by the roadside, it raised questions on the whereabouts of its owner.... his fate and how the boot got there. May his soul rest in peace!” In his testimony, Editor-in-Chief, online medium, Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi, said it was an honour to praise “Obe’s unique and masterly contribution to the hidden tension in our visual culture, the sublimity of conscience, and the triumph of humanity. Those who studied his iconic images will understand with deep pain that this ripe passage had also brought great sorrow to Nigeria; to the enterprise of images, and to the noble art of photography. Then, perhaps it is inappropriate to now talk of death here but transition, and arrival. I salute the master of the art.” Former Photo Editor at the defunct NEXT newspaper, Mr. Gbile Oshadipe, who currently teaches photojournalism at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), wrote: “We’ve lost a pioneer in photojournalism at a time novices appropriate media space and pretend to be pros. “Surely, there will be many more commendations for the legendary work of this iconic photographer and the man himself - who also happened to be my uncle.” The Chairman, Editorial Board, Vanguard Media Ltd, Ikeddy Isiguzo, said that Obe became such an institution that there was nobody he could not tell he wanted his shot. Indeed, it would be considered an honour if he did. “One of my most vivid memories of his photos is the one of Brigadier Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Christian Chukwu and Sam Ojebode, captains of their teams, together at the centre of the National Stadium. “He got them holding a ball, beaming best smiles, to douse a mounting tension as IICC-Rangers played in the first leg of the final of the 1977 Cup Winners Cup. “Pa Obe still continued his art at a time many of his age had retired. He was truly a legend. I am not sure he even got a national honour”, he said. After speaking with two of his children, Femi Obe, the first son and the only daughter, The Guardian was taken to see his collections of personal pictures which were warehoused in the large room on the ground floor of his one-storey building. In the room were collections of pictures he took at the war front, Gowon’s wedding, among others. “He was actually okay, he had a problem with his throat and my brother who is a medical doctor had been treating him. He actually died in his hands. On Sunday morning, he slept very late around 3.00 a.m. so we decided not to wake him up because he slept late but by the time my doctor brother got here around past noon, he was already unconscious and died a few minutes after”, he said. Femi said that they would miss him very much, noting that he was very passionate about his works, even at the risk of his life. He revealed how he had to travel late in the night from Lagos with his father to Ibadan to cover Cocoa House, which was on fire. According to him, they returned to Lagos around 2.00 a.m. and when they got back, he proceeded to the studio to process the film in order to make the next day’s paper. His only daughter, Mrs. Folake Olawuyi, said that because of the nature of his father, he was a person anybody would want to relate with or have because though he was a disciplinarian, he was accommodating.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 08:08:46 +0000
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