In my more than fifty odd years of life I have come to acquire many nicknames, most of which were given to me by friends, acquaintances and some of which just happened depending on the circumstances.
Perhaps the funniest of them all was the one I acquired at the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Abuja. It happened during one of our numerous workshops on digitization. The person delivering the lecture that day was the former Director General, DG, NBC, Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa. He was saying that digital signals differed from analogue signals in that you get only crystal clear signals or none at all. There's no half measure with digital signals. And that you can only get clear signals when your Yagi Antenna is erect and pointing directly towards the service provider. It sounded funny to me the way he stressed that phrase that had double meaning, "...your Yagi Antenna is erect and pointing directly towards the service provider...". I mentioned this to a colleague who was sitting near me, and we laughed so hard at the phrase. During a break, my friend mentioned this to other colleagues who also found it funny. Then, like wildlife, the joke had spread before the workshop ended. Even some of the management staff found it so funny that they called me and told me to repeat what I said about the phrase, which made them laugh even more when I did.
Since that day, my colleagues and superior officers began to call me by that nickname, "Yagi"...🤣🤣🤣
But it wasn't my first nickname at NBC. My first nickname at NBC was, "Chief", which I got from the rank I was appointed at the organization, Chief Public Affairs Officer. My subordinates shortened it to Chief, which became so popularized that even my superior officers were addressing me as such.
One funny thing that happened about that nickname was when I called one of our Internal Auditors, Vincent Abara, on the intercom, one day. He, probably, wasn't aware of the nickname at the time or he forgot and I assumed he knew. On picking the receiver, he enquired who it was and I responded, "Chief speaking". For a moment, he kept quiet, clearly thinking it was one traditional ruler calling him. Then, summoning some courage and with reverence oozing out of his voice, he asked, "Chief who"? I found it so funny that I burst out laughing. My colleague, Gloria Makinde, who was listening, asked what was funny and I told her. She also laughed at the joke. And from that day she started addressing me as, "Chief Who"...🤣🤣🤣
Another nickname I acquired at the NBC was ZD Sambisa Forest. ZD stands for Zonal Director. The nickname happened when I was posted to Maiduguri Zone of the NBC as Zonal Director at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency. My colleagues started teasing me by giving me that nickname which stuck till I retired from service. The two nicknames, Yagi and ZD Sambisa Forest, were used interchangeably by my colleagues and superior officers to address me. They effectively replaced the much earlier nickname, Chief, which I acquired when I was new in the NBC.
I'll dwell more about my other nicknames and how they came about in my memoir.