When Prof. Kole Omotoso was leaving Nigeria on self exile in the late 1980s, he probably had no idea what the future looked like. He certainly did not expect his fortunes to be remarkably transformed within a decade and a few years of his sojourn abroad. The celebrated writer, whose novel, Just Before Dawn, virtually stirred up the hornet's nest and threw up a controversy that eventually led to his temporary exit from the country, celebrated his 70th birthday between Friday and Saturday in Akure, capital of Ondo State. During a special interactive session with journalists in Akure, Omotoso had to shed some light on the controversy that surrounded the publication of Just Before Dawn and his foray into popular culture. Apart from his departure from the University of Ibadan, another event that would in due course mark a turning point in the writer's career was the publication of Just Before Dawn in 1988. Often described as a biography of Nigeria, certain issues raised in the novel had led to Omotoso's decision to to proceed on exile in the same year. Recounting what happened, he said, "After Newswatch magazine ran some extracts from the novel, we got a call from a former Military Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, saying that he was going to court and FRA Williams filed a notice saying that the book must be stopped. The reason they were giving was that there is a part of the book where I described Obasanjo's presence in Port Harcourt when the military coup against Shehu Shagari's government was being discussed. "Obasanjo insisted that he didn't go to that meeting, but that the people who went to the meeting stopped to see him in Abeokuta to tell him about it. What I found out was that not only that he was at the meeting; he was also the one proposed to replace Shagari. But, if ever Obasanjo has made one decision in his life that will forever favour him, it was the point he made in that meeting. "He had told the plotters that he handed over to Shagari and he didn't make sense to take over from him. He told them to look for someone else. Who did they find? It was Buhari, who had earlier fallen out with Shagari. And that was how he became head of State. Although I had lawyers, such as the late Gani Fawehinmi and Femi Falana, who were ready to defend me without collecting any fee from me, my publishers refused to contest that claim in court. He insisted that the paragraph must be removed from the book and I should pay compensation with my own money. "My immediate reaction to the controversy was to relocate and hope somehow to be part of the forces that would dislocate the powers that tie down Nigeria. Eventually I left the country after I received threats from the Nigerian military and the then, General Olusegun Obasanjo went to court to stop the publication of Just before Dawn." Ever since, Omotoso has been living and working in South Africa. Apart from teaching drama and English at the Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa, he is best known for his role in popular advertisement campaigns in that country, especially by its biggest mobile telecommunications company, Vodacom. Over the years, Omotoso's involvement with the advertising industry in South Africa made him a household name, courtesy of his role as 'Yebo Gogo', the inimitable character seen on TV ads and billboards in South Africa's major cities. Describing how it all started, he said, "In 1993, I was approached to do an advert on a truck that had just been introduced in the country. I was pictured repairing an old building on a parcel of land that my family had always owned and I was saying that I would transfer the land to my children. When I finished, I put my tools in the back of the truck and drove it to the sunset. Shot in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, the advert was broadcast on TV." Unfortunately the writer's first real taste of fame, through popular culture, outside his home country was short-lived. The advert was pulled out of the TV on the third day following complaints from a section of the white population in that country. "The advertisers called me on the phone from Capetown and said, 'Sorry, the advert has been pulled because the white Afrikaaners have complained that they are the ones who buy the trucks, not black people. Second, they don't want a black man talking about handing land to his children. Finally, they don't want the advert anyway.' But I didn't bother because I had been paid, anyway," he said. But the advert did eventually open the door to more opportunities. Early in 1994, Omotoso received a phone call from the newly established Vodacom asking if he would be interested in looking at a script. "I told them to send it to me. The story was very straight-forward. It was about an old black man sitting by the side of the road and selling wired windmills. In South Africa, this is very common. As the old man continued to do that, a well-to-do young white man came up to him in a red BMW sports car. The young man got out of the car and said, 'Yebo Gogo, how much is it?' and the old fellow replied '100 dollars'. Thinking that the latter wanted to cheat him, the man returned to his car and wanted to enter, but he realised that he had locked his car key in the vehicle. So the old fellow brought out his mobile phone and said, Hello, Vodacom," he said By the end of the week, the slogan, 'Yebo Gogo' had been echoed all over the country and Omotosho was suddenly transformed into a cult hero in South Africa. The words gradually became a part of the local vocabulary until the Vodacom advert was terminated last December.
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