The name Josy Ajiboye has become synonymous with cartoons and cartooning in 
Nigeria. He has been in the field of cartooning in the country longer than any 
single individual—longer than Akinola Lasekan, pioneer of the medium, whose 
cartoons graced the Pilot newspapers between the forties and the sixties. This 
interview offers us an insight into the mind of one of the country's most popular 
in a Sunday 
Cartoonist 
Josy 
Ajiboye 
wspaper icons. 
mmmim^r, think it is important for you to 
give us a picture of your beginnings in Art. Please 
give us a feel of those times when you were young 
and growing up. 
JA: In those days when we were kids, my father, 
Chief Obanla, was a very good singer and 
represented the country at various places and 
cultural undertakings, bo in pur house any ob|ect 
was a piece of art work. Be it a wooden post, 
Opon Ffa, Ere Ibeji and many other carved images. 
I mean, in those days these things were not 
looked at as we take them now. Then we took it as 
normal that every place was supposed to look like 
that until I came out to see things the way they 
were. Going to school, seeing people and 
meeting Europeans made me see Art in a D'gger 
framework: that it is much more than I thought. As 
for drawing, I have been drawing right trom me 
day I started writing ABC. However, my 
professional work started at African Challenge in 
1962. 
GR: You mean the African Challenge at Mushin here in Lagos? 
JA: Yes. I went there not too long after I finished my GCE. At that time all I 
read had to do with Art and while in school I was always drawmg charts tor 
teachers... the wall charts of mosquitoes, animals etc. So while struggling for my 
GCE I went to Challenge because before then I had always received cop.es at 
their magazine and loved it. On my way to Oshodi, I saw the bu.ldmg and 
asked myself if this was the same Challenge I had been read.ng. For I had been Looks Back 
.<African Quarterly on rte/lrf5><V0I3@No2; 
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reading it right from about 1955. 
GR: You are referring to the famous Christian Challenge. 
Was it in pamphlet form or like a full magazine? 
(He begins to look for old copies and shows us how they 
used to look with the old prices on). 
JA: Yes, I started reading the magazine from the 7th Day 
Adventist Mission School at Ekiti. The idea of the 
publication was to convert youths and educated young 
people into Christianity. I mean the magazine also had 
all the other subject matters such as news and all the 
other things normal magazines carry. But the only 
difference was that they used to spread the Gospel. 
GR: Who are "they"? 
JA: That is the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM). The 
umbrella body under which all the ECWA churches were, 
including the Niger Challenge Publication which was then 
called Niger Challenge Press. Under this umbrella 
organization, the Americans came about a hundred years 
back. So when I got to Challenge I showed them my 
drawings and a lady, Miss Thompson, who came from 
Kent, was one of the missionaries that took interest in me. 
Actually, what happened then was that whenever 
somebody wished to serve as a missionary in Africa, a 
particular church in London would undertake the 
responsibility and the person would come first for two 
years. And if he or she performed very well and wanted to 
come back again they would again sponsor the person. 
Which was how we had all these missionaries. So they 
saw my drawings and said yes, this boy needed to be 
with them. That was how I became their trainee for about 
5 to 6 years. 
GR: You were mostly drawing illustrations? 
JA: Yes, all the illustrations and covers for their 
publications and pamphlets. 
GR: What was it like making covers in those days? Did 
you think out concepts? 
JA: Ah! Very interesting. First, we were taught how to be 
economical: that is how from taking block red you can 
make it as if you had many more colors, etc. 
(He begins to demonstrate by taking the different covers he 
designed in those days...) We were then doing a lot of 
color overlays, which we now call color separation. You 
do a rough which shows roughly what it would look like 
and then on the finish you put a tracing paper on top of 
the text masthead and mark it out, and then place on the 
color.... With another sheet put on top of it again you 
then register marking. You see ... (He demonstrates) 
GR: So, it was all manually done. 
JA: Yes. 
GR: Were you taught all this or you achieved these 
results from experimenting? 
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JA: We were actually taught the basics and from then I 
took off by experimenting with different percentages and 
grades of colors and textures. Apart from my doing the 
color separation, there was no other cost involved. I 
handled all the tones on just one plate. So, we were truly 
taught how to economize on our material. 
GR: Did you pick your own photographs for these covers 
or were you given them? Who was behind the 
conceptualization? 
JA: Once given a cover to do, the whole idea behind each 
cover at the time was mine. This was unlike the advertising 
agencies where you have a visualizer. No, not at all. I 
worked on Yoruba Challenge, African Challenge and did 
all the covers there. Then, you had to specialize in 
everything and there was no division of labor. You did 
everything, no other person. There was no luxury. 
GR: So from Challenge, you moved on to where? 
JA: Yes, I was with them from 1961 to 1968 when I 
resigned. By then I had a lot of experience with them at 
Challenge and had also taken a lot of courses in painting. 
I was experimenting with watercolors and the different 
pigments and with oil painting also. 
GR: Did you have any formal training in painting? 
JA: Yes, during my time at Challenge they would train me 
in-house, and they paid for me to attend the Yaba College 
of Technology, where I was taught by Paul Mount, Yusuf 
Grillo, Solomon Wangboje, M.A. Adebayo and Jake 
Oyewole, all of the Fine Arts Department. These courses at 
the time were for professionals—people already working 
outside. I did this for about 2 to 3 years before returning to 
my base. Also at that time, people would come from 
companies like Afromedia, Lintas and so on. Jubilee Owei 
was also there, a very good teacher and of course Simon 
Okeke whom I liked the best. Simon would handle a form 
and without pretense of strokes create great art. 
GR: What was the art scene like in Lagos at this period? 
Who were you painting for? Or was it solely for galleries? 
Were you painting portraits for high society? 
JA: Around that time there was a place, a gallery in front 
of Christ Cathedral Church in Lagos. Then the gap 
between the church and the lagoon was just about enough 
for two or three motors to be side by side before you get to 
the ships in the lagoon. Just a bit further down the lagoon 
was the place called "Exhibition centre." This was the only 
place for art in those days. I discovered the place around 
1965. The only real place you would go for art and the 
place was really functional. Everybody knew the place. At 
that time, in fact, there was one professor Maurice Fauvet, 
a French man and professor of Fine Arts. He would have 
his exhibitions at King George V very close to the National 
Museum. A wonderful artist, he would be on a large boat 
with his wife, packed full of oil colors and there he would 
paint. He did not exhibit at the center, instead he would be 
on his boat ... So, basically, those were the two places I 
Quarter/yon theArts><VQ\3@Ho2>
can remember that exhibited art. The 
patronage at the time was 70-80% 
European, though I disliked this very much. 
I 
lii GR: Was it around this time that you had 
an exhibition opened for you by the 
renowned Ben Enwonwu ? 
JA: Ah! What happened was, yes it was 
around this time. You see, then, one Mr 
Harold Fuller, the Deputy Director of SIM 
literature in West Africa, was about to go 
back home after his four-year stay. It was 
decided we honor him and I did with 
another colleague watercolour drawings in 
which the biggest size was 1 5" by 20". My 
missionary mother suggested the idea of her 
calling Professor Ben Enwonwu to come 
open the show for us. She picked up the 
phone and asked him and he replied 
immediately to say he was coming. Just like 
that. And that was how we got Enwonwu to 
come that day. It was great. He came with 
Dotun Okunbanjo. 
GR: The Otunba, the photographer? 
JA: Yes, so this is what was happening 
then. I was practicing my art and I used to 
comb all the stores for books at the former 
Kingsway or UTC Stores and all around the 
Tinubu axis. The Daily Times was then under 
the IPC International Corporation, which was 
under Mirror Group. We had access to all 
the magazines you can think of. In fact, Newsweek, 
Readers Digest and any magazine that mattered then was 
imported by Daily Times and we all read them all. It was 
around this time that I started doing cartoons. Just about 
the time the civil war broke out. 
GR: Why did you start cartooning? 
JA: At that time Increase Coker of the Morning Post saw 
my drawings and asked me to come. I showed the editors 
my drawings. Abiodun Shogunle who died about a year 
ago was the Sunday Post editor. Remi llori was also there 
and Magnus Barahatz, the Morning Post editor. So they 
saw the drawings and said, "We need you." I gave them 
some cartoons, which they used during the Civil War. After 
the war, the Daily Times then, on seeing my drawing 
somewhere, asked for me to come. Dosu Oyelude was the 
news editor, and was planning the pages. He worked 
directly with Sam Amuka. Sam Amuka asked Dosu to give 
me some illustrations to do and insisted he wanted to see 
me on discovering some cartoons I had done in the past. 
He then persuaded me to work with them at the Da//y 
Times. 
GR: Is this the same Sam Amuka, publisher of Vanguard 
Newspaper? 
JA: Yes. Also at that time Alhaji Babatunde Jose and 
<GIENDORA REVIEW> <Afncan Quarterly on the ArrsxVOHO. No2> 
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JOSY AJIBOYE ON SUNDAY 
*LOOK AT WHAT SOME 
WAU6HTY FELLOW 
PASTED ON MV 
Henry Odukomaiya, recently manager of Champion 
newspaper, all convinced me to work for them at Daily 
Times. But after working for so long with the Christian 
missionaries, I was somewhat reluctant and it took them a 
lot of time trying to convince me. 
GR: What kind of cartooning were you drawing then? 
What was your approach to the work you were doing for 
them? 
JA: Ah! Baba [Akinola] Lasekan [known more popularly 
as Lash] then, the old man who used to do cartoons for 
Pilot right from the time I was a young adult, had a great 
influence on the cartoons of that time. That is, in his 
support for Nnamdi Azikiwe's political party. I probed the 
idea and always wondered if there was an another way of 
drawing my own cartoons. I wanted to be as unbiased 
and unjaundiced as possible. I did not want to be seen in 
the light of being for Zik or against Awo. Even though it is 
interesting that at the end of the day Baba Lash was 
employed by this same Awolowo after the Civil War. The 
Ife University gave him a Senior Art Fellowship or 
something to that effect. My missionary mother gave me 
tremendous confidence and I was so good at anatomy. 
She, at the time, used to bring in from London magazines 
like Punch which had a great impact on me with all its 
satire and funny cartoons. It used to make me laugh so 
much.
GR: Who were the cartoonists of the time? 
JA: He was the only one we could refer to then, Baba 
Lasekan. Even though Papa Aina Onabolu was another 
great artist. He stayed more in education and used to 
travel all around, and could not combine all the aspects 
of the arts. There was also another man called Chuks 
Anyanwu who is dead now. 
GR: So you were not into political cartooning? What did 
you then adopt or create? 
JA: Well, actually at the time I was trying to create an 
identity for myself. A style which people could easily 
identify as a Josy Ajiboye cartoon without having to put 
my name on it. I used to work with Sam Amuka who used 
to collect all my cartoons and there was this trivial conflict 
where I would try to make the point that I was only hired 
to illustrate. Sam was always his jovial self, he would look 
at me and shout comically: just do it for me. So I 
continued to do the cartooning and he encouraged me 
even with money. I evolved with them and he later created 
a space for me as Sunday Times Editor. A regular space 
that entailed me doing cartoons of a mixture of politics 
and social commentary. Also, politics then was only about 
the military and their beneficiaries. In fact, I once had a 
problem when Obasanjo was in power and was about to 
hand over to Shagari: my passport was seized for about 
four months. It was later returned to me. 
GR: Was this due to a cartoon you did? 
•JA: I should think so. The one I did of a mouse. In fact I 
never thought it would be understood. I drew a mouse 
and the map of Africa. At the center where Nigeria is 
<GLENDORA REVIEWxAfrican Quarterly on the AnsxV0l3@No2> 
THEV SHOULD ' 
OUT M 
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located I drew a cat with the mouse dying in its mouth 
with blood dripping and wrote a note on the mouse 
saying "Democracy: that helpless...." You know a very 
simple cartoon. But [with loaded] meaning perhaps 
because that was when they were still arguing about the 
two-thirds political issue. 
GR: Where does the inspiration come from for such 
powerful cartoons? 
JA: I watch people a lot and just love where and the way 
I live. I have to be with the people all the time. When you 
live within these places then you see a lot that people go 
through. Life can be very hectic and difficult. But despite 
these problems they still manage to laugh and smile. As 
for politics, I must confess I learnt a lot when I was staying 
with my dad who was a chief and had to solve a lot of 
problems. It gave me a strong moral sense and he 
affected the way I make my cartoons. 
GR: This is all so interesting. I get the impression from 
you that there is no formal training for cartoonists in 
general. Is it therefore difficult to begin to discuss about 
particular styles, etc? Is everything therefore done on 
impulse? 
JA: I mentioned Pa Lasekan because he actually initiated 
it all. My cartooning on the other hand has no relation to 
what Baba lasekan did. I developed my own style after 
studying the different jokes in magazines like Punch, etc. 
All we got from school was how to draw. If you know your 
anatomy very well, to be a good cartoonist, you must have 
a sense of humor which you either pick up from your 
peers or are born with. The cartoons of today are really 
m>
poor. Most of the kids of today do not know a thing about 
cartooning. They do not know how to draw nor know how 
to match words at the same time. Some just pick a biro 
and do all sorts they like. Cartooning is like filming; each 
piece of cartoon is like a play with its own setting and 
drama. It is the artist that does everything in the play: the 
writing, the costuming and all that. Some of the young 
artists just do what they like as long as it is accepted by 
the editors. 
GR: So, everything is done at random! 
JA: Exactly. But there are still some good cartoonists out 
there—those that we have trained. A large majority, 
however, I think, need special training on how to draw. As 
it is, it is only if you know how to draw that you can begin 
to play around and stylize figures. 
GR: What do you mean to stylize? 
JA: For instance if I want to draw a caricature I should be 
able to draw the normal figure first before I begin to 
exaggerate the different expressions. 
GR:ln the last 20 years what were the most exciting times 
you had to cartoon? The Abacha years or when 
Babangida was in power? 
JA: Ah! It depends. Those people who were locked up 
under Abacha or who were shot would not find that 
period funny at all and so it is relative, really. 
GR: So, as an artist, you have a moral concern? 
JA: Oh yes! I always do whenever I have to do anything 
that has to do with politics. I always weigh the two sides 
morally. Like the issue of our politicians today who are 
stealing billions of naira for instance. All my life I have 
never seen a million in cash on a top of table, not to talk 
about the millions they steal everyday. And yet we all own 
houses of our own. 
GR: Another thing we would like to ask is that in all the 
years you have worked as a cartoonist would you say that 
there are some newspapers that have developed a 
cartooning style that differs from the others? 
JA: It mostly depends on the editors of the art sections in 
these newspapers since we do not have separate 
cartooning departments. However, I would say The 
Guardian is the only newspaper house that has started a 
cartooning section with the sole aim of developing 
relevant cartoons. 
GR: Do your cartoons have a life span? 
JA: Ah! Interesting. Some last a minute, a day and some 
forever. But I believe those with the shortest life are 
political cartoons. I mean, it all depends on the 
circumstance. If there is a case that lasts for a few months, 
the longer the possibility of the cartoon and so on. 
GR: Recently we published an article in which various 
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styles of several cartoonists were discussed. Could you add 
any comments to what was said? 
JA: You see, all those guys like Cliff Ogiugo, dele jegede 
and co. all had their own individual styles and were not 
dictated to them by any of the companies they 
represented. As I said before, dele jegede and I were 
together for a number of years and we both had our styles 
even though what we were doing were pure realistic 
drawings. A mixture of a little bit of exaggeration here and 
there. In my case I have never really liked to distort 
pictures to the point that an onlooker would complain. I 
make sure I balance between reality and the comical side 
or caricature side of things. Not pure ugly distortion. I do 
all my elongations or exaggerations all within acceptable 
practice and, therefore, people understand my cartooning 
even if I do not write a word on them. And the same thing 
I would say of several of my colleagues mentioned. But 
there are some who, I do not know why, have a totally 
different style. What is important is for the person to know 
how to draw. A baby has to know how to crawl before 
running. 
GR: How come newspaper cartoons never developed into 
comic books and magazines, not to talk about the 
business of animation? 
JA: Don't say never, please. There have been attempts. 
It's just the economics of everything. I mean if you ask me 
to pool all the cartoons I have in this room they are 
enough to put several books together. The problem is in 
the poverty of our thinking. The interest is just not there. 
Ignorance should I say! Misplaced priorities....! don't 
know. As I told you, my purpose of being in art has 
nothing to do with money; it's life for me. But things have 
got so bad, we do not even have any cultural magazines 
any more. 
GR: What is wrong? People like you should be in 
university sharing your experience and knowledge. 
Lecturing all over the place. 
JA: I do not know. I mean look at America and the whole 
Disney thing. We have our people leave here with all the 
expense, to go to Disney world, whatever the cost. They 
forget that this whole concept was developed by a 
cartoonist. 
GR: Ah! It is interesting you bring this up. Because I think 
I should rephrase my earlier question. What I really 
wanted to ask was why we have not been able to develop 
our own popular characters. Did you have a character in 
your career? 
JA: Because of the time devoted to politics I did not have 
the time to create one. I plan to do so as my main target 
of bringing up my children has been fulfilled...they are all 
adults now, and in fact, they all studied art. One is even a 
lecturer. GR