Two of my favourite courses at the Masters level as a development communication student were THAP 811 – Communication, Media and Society and THAP 812 – Radio, Video, Television and New Media for Development. Both courses had Professor Sam Kafewo as the coordinator; while his colleague, Professor Jenkeri Okwori was co-coordinator for the latter. Both Professors will no longer teach those courses to their students again. Not because they will not love to, but because they are no longer with us on the terrestrial. They have moved on after a massive contribution to the realm of academics from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where they were lecturers.
Yours sincerely is bereaved and distraught. On Friday, 7th February, 2014 they were involved in an accident on the Abuja-Kaduna express way. Prof. Sam Kafewo, Dr. Ayegba Martins and one of their Graduate students, Aisha Nana Ali reportedly died on the spot. Prof. Okwori who survived later breath his last on the evening of Wednesday, 12th Friday, 2014. May their soul rest in peace.
It was in Professor’s Kafewo’s class that my interest for the intricacies for the world of the new media found root and has since continued to grow. Social media itself coincidentally has played a role as a reliable media following Prof’s death. It would be saying the obvious that many of his students and colleagues (past and present) learnt about his death following tags on his timeline. Expectedly, his wall has become a memorial site allowing those who have had contacts with him to share thoughts about him and his work. His students called him Kafewo behind his back, while reading from his wall; I have since learnt that in deference to his abilities on and off the stage, his colleagues and friends called him Kekere Ekun (small but mighty)! Until his death, he was Head of Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, ABU, Zaria.
It is depressing to have to write this to keep his memory alive and remind me of how our paths crossed and the several unfinished academic businesses we still had together. I recall your several witty comments in and out of class. I recall one of those seminar presentations a colleague of ours had that afternoon, where for lack of space, we had to use your office and he had presented on the World Wide Web, WWW. I brightly reminisce how as you sat down behind your gray Apple MacBook, had emphasised a take away from that presentation ? the World Wide Web that most people commonly refer to as the internet is a large network of networks which communicate with each other by means of data packets is regarded as the largest information base.
Like others, I also remember how you would rather tell a student to “agitate the fan.” It was your own way of telling us to switch on the fan. You carried a sense of humour and humility around and it did not take anything away from you. If anything, it added to your grandeur. I recall how you would take time out to send text messages to your students. I have gone through some of the e-mails you sent to the class listserve as well. I also remember your democratic dispositions to issues, one that prevailed when the class opted not to write the THAP 818 – Statistics for Development Communication examination. My reverence for you reached its apex that day. Knowing the institution I was coming from and the experience from my undergraduate days; it was as though I had seen the moon at mid-day. But that was vintage Kafewo, always ready to listen and reason.
I still clearly recall where you sat in the Faculty Board room, which then served as our Seminar Room following my seminar presentation titled – “The Online Media and the 2011 Presidential Elections.” While I offered mostly compliments for the role of the new media, you had sought to differ with flawless reasons. I recall how you informed the class of the intrusion of the online media in possibly escalating the post-election violence of that year. You also were interested in clear figures to match my claims and also to see if there was a node between social media use and participation in election. I have since had to re-work that paper on your instruction. Prof., it’s to your credit that you always said things the way they are, not minding whose ox is gored. I learnt that at one of the seminar presentation late last year you had scolded a student for not effecting corrections following his first seminar presentation. Reportedly, you had told him – “… I know in your mind, you are saying we should go to hell; but the truth is, we will not go to hell!” We have had a good laugh over this when those of us who were absent were given a review of that day’s presentation. That was vintage Kafewo we knew. You were also always critical of the media, hopeful that one day, it would only serve the interest of the people. You saw the emergence of new media as a worthy match to the misuse of existing media platforms. For you, new media in a democracy is to function as a free market place of ideas with an ideal vision of a free press, which performs as civic educator and guardian of democratic society.
An email was all you needed from your students when it was time to submit assignments and portions of our thesis work. You belonged to the crop of few lecturers always willing to adopt new technological innovations. You were never one to be locked in the past.
It is sad we will no longer read updates from you. You were a plucky digital native, always speaking of society ills on your platform. Your last update, which generated 19 likes and 29 comments, was on the lobby for the Central Bank of Nigeria numero uno seat. You had written – “Nigeria and Nigerians never cease to amaze me. Imagine the underperforming Governor of Kaduna State Alhaji Ramalan Yero whose most notable achievement is the construction of meaningless billboard messages talking about peace and development all over the place saying he is not interested in becoming the Governor of Central Bank. Well, this is Nigeria, he may yet be appointed Governor of CBN if he has the right contacts. After all we are good at celebrating mediocrity. Today nobody talks of a performing Governor like BRF of Lagos as a potential president, just people who think it’s their turn to rule or am already here, nobody can move me. Nigeria we hail thee”
Your memories stay here with us. If you had instructed we do a paper presentation on death and social media in your THAP 812 class, the student saddled with that responsibility would have brought www.deadsoci.al and www.liveson.org to the table and we would have continued to read updates from you even after your demise. Prof., I am sorry as to the absence of references to this piece, I won’t dare that in your class! Rest well, Professor Samuel Ayedime Kafewo.
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‘Sola, available on twitter @SolaFagro sent this piece through here Professor Kafewo was his lecturer and associate supervisor for his on-going M.A thesis research.
