I was surfing through the internet on the night of Wednesday, February 11, this year, and decided to check the Facebook. As I scrolled up and down my phone, my eyes fell on the photograph of a friend. I had never bothered to look him up on Facebook. And I don’t know why. I have linked up with a handful of friends I had lost contact with when I was eventually sucked into the social media not too long ago. It took a long time for me to become a convert. One of them is a professor of French at the University of Jos, Samuel Aje. I lost contact with him when he left for Badagry in 2003 to head the French Village. Both of us had worked on the autobiography of retired Justice Abiodun Soluade shortly before he became the Chief Villager in Bagadry.
The photograph that caught my eyes was that of Chief Anthony Goyol or Chief Tony as he was fondly called by friends. So, my friend is also into facebooking, eh? I wondered aloud. But as I ran my eyes over the passport-size picture, I saw with the extreme corners of my eyes, another picture of a good friend and professional colleague, Mr. Jonathan Ishaku whom I fondly call Joe. Beneath Joe’s picture was a short tribute to Chief Tony.
And as I have always said when in shock, my lower jaw fell. Thank God that flies are not nocturnal insects. If they were, a battalion of them would have taken refuge in my mouth! I immediately put a call to Mr. Ishaku, the harbinger of the shocking news. It was past 10 p.m. His phone rang and rang. He did not pick the call. For the better part of the night, my mind was filled with the pleasant memories of Chief Tony until sleep interrupted.
The next morning, I put another call to Joe. He answered the call and apologised for not returning the call on time, explaining that by the time he saw my missed call the previous night, it was too late to phone back. I asked to know when Chief Tony received his final summons and the nature of his death. He said my friend passed on six days earlier after a brief illness at his Rayfield residence in Jos.
I was devastated. So was my wife. Now, where do I start from?
I came to know the late Chief Tony in the early 80s when I was the editor of Sunday Standard Newspaper of Jos.
He was a lecturer at the Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi, and he needed a platform to discuss issues of both local and national interests. He was very articulate and I loved his choice of words and the skills he used to convey them to the reading public.
I was not surprised that both of us got along very well. This was because majority of my close friends in the state were from the Ngas ethnic stock as Chief Tony. Perhaps it was because an Ngas man, the late J.D. Gomwalk, the military governor of the defunct Benue-Plateau state, was instrumental to me becoming a Jos man.
He established The Nigeria Standard Newspaper and its long arm snatched me away from Zaria where I was a reporter with the New Nigerian Newspapers in the early 70s.
Chief Tony had made a foray into politics during the Second Republic. He was elected into the Federal House of Representatives but his adventure lasted for only three months because the Buhari military regime sacked the Shagari administration that was reeking with corruption. Chief Tony returned to his polytechnic job.
But he again abandoned the classroom for politics in 1999 and ran for the office of chairman, Pankshin Local Government Council in 2004 or thereabouts. Before then, he had served as the special adviser (politics) to the former deputy senate president, Senator Ibrahim Mantu.
As a prelude to joining the chairmanship race, a fundraiser was organised for him. He made me the chief launcher at the occasion.
Don’t ask me how much I put down. It was at the launch that he presented his manifesto which later morphed into a booklet he entitled “My Agenda” which my publishing outfit printed for him.
Eventually, he won the race. And in recognition of his intellect and leadership qualities, he was appointed as the chairman of the state ALGON. He was a workaholic… thanks to his military background. Chief Tony fought during the Nigerian Civil War.
Upon retiring from service, he left for the United States, came back with a Master’s degree and veered into the academia. At the end of his tenure at the council, he left a legacy that his successors must be finding impossible to match let alone surpass.
In spite of his tight schedule at the council, Chief Tony still found time to write. One of his books which I also published was entitled “100 True Life Stories”. It was a bestseller. Up till early this year, some folks still called my line to place orders for copies of the book almost a decade after publication.
Chief Tony was an erudite scholar, an astute politician, a shrewd businessman, a fine soldier and a dependable goalkeeper with Enugu Rangers International FC.
He was a man with a good heart. Perhaps it was that attribute that saved him from being executed after the abortive 1976 Dimka coup. He was among the coupists arrested and detained in Lagos on account of his closeness to the leader of the putsch.
He later documented his harrowing experience in his autobiography which I edited and published in December, 2008.
A Catholic knight and devout Christian, Chief Goyol will be missed by the Catholic community in Plateau state and beyond. My relocation to Abuja towards the end of 2007 reduced the frequency of our interaction. The last time we spoke was when I called to find out about the surgery his loving wife, Helen, underwent in India. I was over the moon when he said the operation was a huge success.
When he arrives at the Pearly Gates fiddling with his rosary and chanting “Hail Mary”, the angels should let him pass. May God grant his family and friends the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss, amen. Rest in peace, Chief Anthony “Boka” Goyol.