I have often
wondered when the right time is. I know
through experience and research that if you wait for the right time or good
time to start a business, you’ll wait all your life.
Many people
have expected me to go ‘solo’ like the musicians who are in a group would say
after leaving the group to be on their own. Many have even tagged my being in
the camp of my boss of life, Mayor Akinpelu as not being manly enough to fight
the struggles of life.
At times,
when the pressure becomes enormous, I would simply say to them, everyone won't
be publisher; some will be reporters till the very end and some will never get
to be a publisher in life. But I knew all along where I was heading to; I knew
the journey won't be complete if I don't affix my name to the publisher's note.
I knew I was just bidding my time to that right moment when my sailing won’t be
disturbed by the turbulence of life.
My journey
into the world of journalism was one I never planned for; I was just a young
man who loves the literary and the art world while growing up. Then, I would
buy a big note book and pen a story in it. To me then, it was a way of making a
novel or more so a book. I never knew it was preparing me for a robust career
in journalism. Alongside this, I also had a huge flair for the music world,
then, I would assemble my friends and family members and I'll perform what I
thought was my best then; but my best to majority of them, was not good enough
to earn me a career in music. Then, it wasn't as if what I did wasn't good
enough, but the kind of slow rap I was doing was alien to them. It was these
talents that one of the most gifted entertainment writers in Nigerian
journalism world, Peter Thomas saw in me and invited me to the rested Today's Choice Magazine to write entertainment. While there, the then Editor, Nosa
Irabor noticed the strength in my news gathering and ability to write, he then
threw a challenge that I should be writing short stories (romance) for the
magazine. As soon as I started, he added the diary of a promiscuous lady that
we refereed to then as Aunty Gina's Diary. These columns I did delightfully to
the gladness of my Editor. However, the
Odua People's Congress (OPC)’s crisis with the law turned me into a reporter.
Many times, I would walk into the office with different tales of happenstances
around me and my immediate environment. This particular day, my tale centered on a family member that was
almost killed by the group(OPC) because he was unlucky to be a policeman. The
editor heard the gist and quickly challenged me again to put it into writing.
At the end of the day, I was able to do two pages of the story and that became
the genesis of the brand, Kunle Rasheed in journalism. A journey that has taken
me around both world of the hard and the soft-sell journalism. Till date, I
still have the record of being the pioneer of what has become a norm in the
Newspapers today whereby society reporting is introduced to mainstream media.
Everyone who has record will know that Bolaji Tunji, the then Editor of
Saturday Nation created the idea and
my humble self actualized it for him. Today, many are doing the same thing
without a care of giving credit to the man who conceived it.
There is no
how I'll talk about my career without giving credit to my ‘boss of life’ that
we all refer to as Lord Mayor; he saw something in me when I walked into his
office in the year 2000 and he made sure I rose to the pinnacle of my career
because according to him, he saw himself in me as a growing man in the
journalism career. He said he saw how I relate with people and the kind of
stories I was writing. Today, I thank God that he remains the ‘Baba Adinni’ of
Soft-Sell magazine in Nigeria which translates to the fact that I trained under
the best.
Now, back to
the issue, when is the right time? The right time is simply now; now that I
have just delivered a brand new baby, City
Rovers. The journey has continued. I'll use this platform to celebrate
people who are worth celebrating and to properly investigate stories before we
publish. That is why our slogan remains "News As It Is'. If you are ready,
come on board and take this wonderful flight of unequalled information with
us. Just be prepared to fly with us
because this is indeed is my right time.
