As Efere Ozako begins final journey tomorrow



Justin Akpovi Esade on May 5, 2013 in Entertainment

ON Monday, May 6, the once full of life entertainment lawyer, Efere Ozako, will begin his journey to the great beyond with a candle light procession ceremony being organised by his group of friends at the Muson Centre by 5pm.

The Delta-born lawyer was snatched by the cold hands of death on April 18, an incident that sent shock waves through the nation’s entertainment circles as Zakilo (as he was fondly called by close friends) was not ill before his untimely demise that morning.

I knew Zakilo in early 2000 when I was still a practicing journalist and after our first meeting, our paths always crossed as I covered the Arts and Entertainment beat while he was heavy in Entertainment and Copyright Law. His Wetin Lawyers Dey Do Sef; for Entertainment Industry? periodic seminar and workshop and his quarterly Takai journal were enough for any journalist or entertainment practitioner worth his onions to know and work with Efere.

Zakilo was a man who would hold a gathering of friends down for hours with different stories from across the world. His energy was unequalled. A real professional, when I was head of Public Relations and Communications of a Pay TV Company, Zakilo was legal consultant to a rival Pay TV outfit and when we met at a popular hangout for entertainment practitioners, he would be the first to joke about our rivalry and we laughed and drank over it even with law suits hanging on each other’s necks as a corporate entities.

When I started my own media-lobbying outfit, Zakilo was one of the few people I reached out to and, as usual, he did not disappoint. He directed a client of his who needed some media services and that was how I got my first set of clients. He was the unpaid legal adviser to my company and God help you if Efere was on the opposing side against you in a legal battle. Ask comedy merchant Opa Williams when Zakilo went after him. It was the zeal and professional competence he displayed in the matter against Williams that made him to retain him as both his personal and company lawyer for many years till his demise. He was both lawyer and family friend of Opa Williams.

Last year May, I and Efere were on a Kenyan Airways plane to Nairobi for Opa Williams’ Nite of A Thousand Laughs Xtra comedy show. Williams and others were already in Nairobi some two days ahead of us, so as representative of Williams Media Company, I had to have first-hand knowledge of the show while Efere was attending to signing some new deals that will open up East Africa to Opa Williams whose plan was to take over Africa with his premier comedy show.

I am a terrible traveller, I always must pack the wrong things in the bag. Even if my wife assists in the packing, I must always have one reason to check the bag for something last minute and in the process drop either the tooth brush or paste or on one occasion, my laptop! On that fateful day, I realised when we were in Cotonou for a brief stop for the plane to refuel, that I had left my wallet containing American dollars in the car! So how would I pay for the visa on arrival? I had never asked for financial favour from Efere before, so all through the six-hour flight, I was racking my brain how I would get around this issue.

Efere took my mind off my problems momentarily when he offered me a supposed real life account of one of the main actors in the 1966 coup in Nigeria (there are so many accounts so one does not know which to believe anymore). I, however, read the book voraciously as I had not read a book in a long while before then. We spoke at regular intervals on other issues and Efere even did some commentary on the book as I read (that was Efere for you).

Now, my nightmare was about to start when I heard the pilot announce we were commencing our descent into Kenyatta International Airport. I held my breath. Anyway, we were now at the immigration and realised my problem was not just the visa fee only but I also forgot my ‘Yellow Card’. That was intentional as most countries have abolished that dumb card that Nigerians buy for N300 naira at the MMI A. I never knew Kenyans still attach importance to that worthless piece of paper.

So we were in front of the smiling but firm heavyset lady who was insisting I must be given vaccination injection at a cost of 100 dollars. It was then I saw Efere’s lawyer’s skill at work. In three minutes, he had everybody gathered around us reeling with laughter and I was slapped on the wrist and let off the hook. How do I now tell someone who just rescued me out of paying 100 dollars that I had no money on me to pay my visa fee?

But I finally did and Efere just looked at me and smiled and paid the money. Later in the evening after I had got some money, I called on him, “bros, see dat money.” He replied, “which money be dat?” I answered. “Dat money for airport now.” Hear him: “Ehen?” and smiled that his famous smile which always started from his nose region before it spreads through the whole face area. A minute after, with the money still held loosely in my hand, I knew Efere was not interested in a refund. That was Zakilo for you, he gave without expecting anything in return. Even when I thanked him in our Urhobo language, he mumbled a response which told me he wanted the money issue forgotten in a hurry.

If I decide to narrate all the favours Zakilo had done for me for over a decade, it would make a very long and emotional read. He begins his final journey on Monday, and what can I say? Just last year May, we were all over Nairobi rocking the hell out of that beautiful and cold city. Now, this May, I will be attending your candle light procession. Life is truly an irony.



—Akpovi-Esade is a media lobbyist

Fashola, entertainers, colleagues eulogise late lawyer

By Victor Akande, Entertainment Editor

Encomiums, yesterday, appeared inexhaustible at the Service of Songs for late entertainment industry lawyer, Efere Ozako, who died on April 18, 2013, of a stress related ailment.

The Shell Hall, MUSON Center, venue of the tributary event, was full to capacity, as friends, family members, entertainers and Barrister colleagues of the deceased, including Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola and his wife, Dame Abimbola, gathered at the ceremony that got the crowd laughing amidst tears.

Given the various tributes that came in for the deceased, it appeared difficult to summaries what Ozako stood for while on earth. His life, as it were was filled with the valuable impacts he had on everyone who crossed his path. Like a mother hen, Ozako was said to have lived his life, fighting for everyone’s right as a lawyer, friend and acquaintant.

Governor Fashola, who revealed how close he was to the deceased, said they not only attended the University of Benin (UNIBEN) together, but that they were also neighbours in Surulere, before he became governor. Fashola said that while dealing with the physical separation, the memories of his times with the deceased will put a smile on his face always.

“This morning when the storm for the rains began to gather, I said to myself, this man is not going to go away quietly... And I am sure that in his own unique way, he has connected with every one of us. You know what; if there is life after death, Efere will live it - that I am sure. And he probably has started to live it. All the lawyers he would meet there, he would probably have started to publish a magazine for them to read. This was a prince of the Niger Delta who made Lagos his home. He was my friend and my brother. Efere was my next door neighbor in Surulere and we were at UNIBEN together. And I remember that I was always running off somewhere and wouldn’t come back until 1am or 2am; from one club to another. And the day I became governor, Efere said: “You see, I told you to let me go out at night; this man has become governor.” The crowd roared with laughed. “I am sure my wife has a lot of stories to tell; the long hours she spent with Efere; it was about people who are faithful to their wives. This was the community in which we lived in Surulere.” The governor said, paused and changed his mood slightly.

“I know this is a very difficult situation to deal with. I think that we are dealing with the physical separation… Efere is not dead. He has just moved on to fulfill a covenant that all of us will fulfill. Yes, we would struggle with this physical separation, but I will remember the very funny times and memories I shared with him, and he will keep a smile on my face. And I know he will on the face of Ann too, who was really his soul mate. She would understand it better and so are his children. Well done my brother. Warri no dey carry last. Move on. God bless you.”

Other speakers after the governor though he had captured everything that the late speaker was. His sister in-law, Bose Gloria Ozako said he protective of her to a fault. She said her husband will never think of cheating or misbehaving to her. “Efere would take the next flight to Warri.”

For Federal Government College Warri Old Students association, he was a rallying point for members. Few weeks before his demise, Efere was said to have donated generously to the widow of a late member and urged others to do the same. To the Bikers Association, he brought innovation to the club
by forming the cruisers club, saying that riding was a bit too fast and risky. To the entertainers, Efere was at the center of some of the successes they enjoyed today as a fighter for performance rights.

Ozako was well known for his workshop series; Wetin Lawyers Dey Do … Sef?; which he began in 2006, through Dtalkshop, an agency he co-run with Kaine Agari, his cousin. The forum was meant to awaken filmmakers and musicians to the possibilities of earning well from their artistic endeavours. Ozako in his life time frowned at the activities of pirates and similar right infringers.
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