Nigeria, Oct. 23 -- Putting it nicely, Aparutu is the Yoruba word for a joker, a clown. In August 1986, when I first arrived at the wooden, fabricated office of PUNCH in Kudeti, Ikeja, Lagos, for a vacation job, that was how the editor then, Alhaji Najeem Jimoh, referred to me: Aparutu.

He wasn't being mean or harsh. That just happened to be one of his favourite words. And maybe I looked the part, too. Skinny and frail, I was only a part-time student of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos, chafing under the strictures of school life. I made a little money contributing to The Guardian's Op-ed pages and wanted a bit more.

In the beginning...

Dr Olatunji Dare, who had given me a leg up with access to The Guardian, gave me a not...