Without exaggeration in anyway, my late father ,Pa Ezekiel Olatunji Fagbola( if it were possible for the dead to look back) would be too happy to hear this good news concerning the former iddo-Osun aerodrome ,now being repositioned into the world of greater heights. Right from the 50s through to the 60s, my father was the Aerodrome Overseer and later, Senior Aerodrome Overseer of the iddo-Osun aerodrome which was a department under Ministry of Works and Transport where he retired as Head of Overseer. Folk etymologists of those period called him :" Oba Chair " adulterating Overseer to mean :" King of all chairs ". Recently, I stumbled on his private jottings, diary and Requisition books kept on happenings on the aerodrome and I said :"Waoh" this is an archivist's delight anyday." This was the aerodrome where conscripted soldiers who fought on the side of Britain against Hitler during the world war were airlifted to the war zone .
Upon discovering the rare archival details on the aerodrome, I ransacked my library and combed out the unpublished exclusive interview I had ( in my Punch days ) with a world war veteran named Sogunyaga who narrated how they were flown to the battlefield in the middle east and how he had the rare honour of being posted to guard the sacred tomb of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. An award winner for combatants and military gallantry, Sogunyaga showed me the photograph of a lion which he gunned down at the tomb of Jesus Christ. He added that the lion was fond of disturbing the serenity of the sanctuary and that it was for this reason that the commander of his unit detailed him there ,armed with his " Accountant machine gun which contained 28 rounds of ammunition to hunt down the ravager while he succeeded in pumping them into the wild lion. Sogunyaga was a good storyteller in uniform as he recalled how the war theatre started with rhetoric from both sides. " Before the battle line was drawn, the German officer was asked to say his mind and after taking salute, he said:" Yes Sir, I believe in tank ,I believe in aeroplane, I believe in power." The whole place was a dead silence. When it was the turn of our own officer, he stepped forward, took his oath and retorted:" Yes Sir I believe in God,I believe in man ,I believe in wife ."
Loud ovation saluted his submission and the war started in earnest. With this mother of all archival war details and the aerodrome documentary evidences exclusively placed within my grasp, only the Interior Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Governor Ademola Adeleke could earn them from my hand as my own contribution to their unrelenting efforts to see that the aerodrome becomes a legacy which posterity will not be able to squander.
OLALERE FAGBOLA REPORTING
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