Q&A
Gisters crew were at the residence of the Momodus for a comprehensive interview. Please relax and enjoy an excerpt from the interview:
Gisters:
Let us discuss about your family. You are married to former Miss
Mobolaji Adaramaja. How many children have you got now?
Bob
Dee:
We have three boys namely Oluwapekansayemi (God has extended our roots),
Enitanyole (named after a famous Lagos merchant) and Eniafelamo Amoenitofeni
(the name is as a result of my past experience). In life you can only
know those that you love and trust. You can never know those who trust
and love you.
Gisters:
How do you cope with the pressure of Ovation, which involves having to
travel around the world and still combine it with your duties as a family
man?
Bob
Dee:
To be honest with you, recently I told my wife that after so many years
no one can ever understand me. There are times when I stay indoors for
24 hours working at my desk without having a wash throughout the day.
Every minute I am busy working with my three mobile phones and my landline
constantly ringing. For my family, it has been a tough time. But with
the help and support of God and of people, we have been able to survive.
Gisters:
With the help of people around you, would you say you have been lucky,
especially being able to survive the rough times where others have failed?
Bob
Dee:
Success is a combination of so many things. Luck is one of it, having
a good family is another and having good friends. I have been so blessed
with friends that I can approach for financial help and they respond immediately
without hesitating. Publishing is a risky business. There are times when
you invest money in the publication of an issue and the proceeds from
the sale are barely enough to cover the cost for the next issue.
Gisters:
Being globally known especially in Nigeria, one would say you might want
to go into politics. For instance, as an Information Minister in Nigeria.
Is this something that has ever crossed your mind?
Bob
Dee:
Let me take it from the middle. Maybe when people like yourself become
the president of Nigeria, then you might consider me for a ministerial
appointment. As successful as Ovation is today, how many people in government
care about how we survive? How we suffer and labour to polish the image
of Nigeria. I am not politically ambitious. Recently I started to think
about it and I thought to myself, if we say that politics in our country
is bad and we continue to leave it in the hands of useless people, then
the situation will never improve. We are all running away from it. We
don’t want to die like Abiola or be imprisoned. My opinion is that I am
not sure the generation of Obasanjo and co can change Nigeria. This is
not to say that they are not patriotic or that they don’t love Nigeria,
but their time has passed. It is like asking I.K. Dairo (a popular Nigerian
musician, now deceased) to wake up and come and play music for our generation.
It cannot work. Look at our situation in Nigeria. There are armed robbers
everywhere, electricity is not regular and there are bad roads. For me,
I have decided that if the situation is still the same by 2007, then some
of us might have to take a plunge into politics. But for now I am not
interested in being a commissioner or a minister. I just want to do my
work quietly and carry on with my life.
Gisters:
Apart from Ovation magazine, do you have other businesses or investment
that you are involved in or you are looking into?
Bob
Dee:
What I am carrying now is as heavy as an elephant and I am still praying
to God to help me carry it. I don’t believe I have successfully carried
it yet. If you are carrying an elephant on your head and you are busy
searching for other ants on the floor, you may end up losing everything.
I have always been interested in the media business like TV and Radio.
Thank God we have the Ovation magazine, we would someday start Ovation
TV. This would involve buying airtime from existing TV stations. We have
had offers from some of the stations, especially from the Director of
NTA 10, Mr Ben Bruce. As for business, I am not really inclined towards
that. My wife is more business-minded and I will leave that department
to her and provide all the necessary support.
Gisters:
Who do you see as your role model and mentor?
Bob
Dee:
Without a doubt, it is the late M.K.O. Abiola. When I was put in detention
at Alagbon prison, people who visited me there advised me to stay away
from Abiola when I got released. They were of the opinion that I was attached
to him because of his money. But the moment I was released, I went straight
to his house. What I saw in Abiola was more than money. I saw his sharp
intellect, his humility, his sense of humour, his human kindness and his
generosity, which was second to none. There was this charisma and flamboyance
about him that could change an atmosphere the minute he appeared at a
gathering.
Gisters:
We have heard people criticising the Ovation magazine, saying it is a
photo album. What is your comment on this?
Bob
Dee:
It is a photo album. Every magazine must have a concept and its target
audience. There are various magazines on different topics and issues like
cars, motorcycles, health and beauty and fashion fair. So why is Ovation
different? It is a photo album magazine that covers weddings, funeral
and chieftaincy title ceremonies, house warming and so on. If you want
to read about serious news, go and buy magazines like Tell and Time. If
you want a photo album, go and buy Ovation. Ovation is out to celebrate
people’s successes and achievements. We do not cover just the rich, but
also the poor who have risen through the ranks and become successful.
Gisters:
I noticed that you studied Yoruba for your first degree coupled with Literature
and English for your Masters. Do you combine the English language with
Yoruba when writing for Ovation?
Bob
Dee:
My style of writing is a reflection of both backgrounds. It contains the
use of adages and proverbs which people find refreshing.
Gisters:
In one of your publications that covered Terry Waya’s party in London,
rumour has it that a lot of governors from Nigeria attended it and that
it was dubbed “Owambe party”. Rumour also has it that some people bought
the whole publication to stop it from being seen by the President of Nigeria.
Bob
Dee:
That is not true. Nobody can buy off the whole of Ovation publication.
That particular issue was used to debunk some of the fabricated reports
about the party. For instance, they said there were 20 governors in attendance.
Only about 5 governors were at the party. They said Igbinedion was also
at the party. Igbinedion was in London at the time but he was never at
the party. It was a decent dinner for 200 guests, so how can you call
it an “Owambe party”. The President was misinformed and Ovation was really
out to put the record straight. Kola Animashaun of the Vanguard actually
commended Ovation for a job well done.
Gisters:
Apart from occasions when you are busy, what do you do in your leisure
time?
Bob
Dee:
In the last six years, I don’t know of a time that I had been less busy.
What people see as my leisure time is when they see me at a function.
But at such functions, more often than not I am working. Even when I take
two to four weeks off to go on holiday with my wife, you still find me
carrying books and boxes of pictures that need to be sorted out before
our next publication.
Gisters:
What is your advice to the up and coming businesses in the media industry?
Bob
Dee:
If you do not put quality in whatever you do, you can never do it well.
When we first started Ovation, we knew it would cost us an arm and a leg
to have a quality magazine. There was a time when we were out of publication
for about four months and people said the magazine was dead. But when
we came up with a big issue, people said with money we will go places.
Give us the resources OK and Hello magazines have today and we will surpass
them. Apart from putting quality in what you do, you must have faith in
God. Believe that with Him, all things are possible.
For Further Questions, please mail
Bob Dee on
