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Pope John Paul II Arrives in Kumasi, Ghana-Part 1-Short

(Defining Moment)

Please excuse me but this backstory is more about me than this fabulous photograph of Pope John Paul II. Raised as a Catholic, I’ve always liked Pope John Paul II; to me, he was cool. I recently arrived in Lagos and found an opportunity of freelancing for M.K.O. Abiola and his Concord Group of Newspapers. I had two awesome editors, Dr. Doyin Ababa (later Dr. Doyin Abiola) at the Daily Concord and the late Dele Giwa, editor of the Sunday Concord.

In 1980, news had just hit Nigeria that Pope John Paul II was coming to West Africa and visiting Ghana. Dele was aggressively competitive and wanted photographs of his visit. He turned to me and with a letter of intent in hand on Concord stationery. In Dele’s office, as he spoke of what he was looking for, I was saying, yes, yes, yes but in the back of my mind I was shouting Oh S#*t!

You see, my visitor’s visa had expired months ago, devoid of entry stamps for Benin and Togo and Ghana, the three countries I needed to pass through to get to Kumasi, where the Pope was scheduled to land for his first mass with the Opoku Ware II, the Asantehene (King) of the Ashant Kingdom. The Nigerian people were so wonderful. No one had ever asked for my particulars (passport) but now I was faced with crossing country, appearing at borders and I needed luck and God on my side.

After I met with Dele, I went over to the lagoon at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and meditated on this challenge. This was the first big assignment of my career. I knew success would put me on the map in Nigeria, especially in Lagos. This was what I wanted, what I needed to call attention to my talent and skills but this decision wasn’t about talent, it was about courage, persistence, faith and tenacity.

I looked deep into the sky and a feeling of ‘Hell Yes’ came over me. I was a photographer who loved being in Nigeria, on my way to Ghana, my first African country to photograph The Pope. This is the region where our Operation Crossroads Africa plane first touched down in ’78, making this an offer I couldn’t refuse. This was a ‘defining moment in my life!’

It was an 8-hour ride to Ghana by bus; however, at the time we left Lagos, our departure caused us to have to sleep at Togo’s border because of its closure after a certain time. Apparently, everyone knew about the Pope coming to Ghana. That letter from Dele was like having a visa. My entry stamp from the Benin border officials came without hesitation and on we went to Togo. The road trip across Benin and Togo is breathtaking, from tall bushy plants and trees through warm and friendly towns where local vendors rushed our bus with popular snacks and drinks.

Slightly before we arrived, the border had just closed between Togo and Ghana and wasn’t opening slightly after daylight, so everyone had to find a comfortable place on the bus, to stretch out and wait for the morning light. I just happened to look up the hill and spotted the American flag flying high over the embassy. With my cameras safe on the bus (no one was going anywhere), I walked up the hill, and the embassy was still open. I showed them my passport, they showed me to a room where I could crash for the night and with an enthusiastic thank you, I was fast asleep.

I always wore a watch, so before dawn I was back at the bus, my cameras were where I left them, Dele’s letter got me a visa stamp and we were off into Ghana. I arrived in Accra with no problem. It was the morning of the Pope’s arrival, so I caught a taxi to Kotoka International Airport, expecting to buy a ticket and board a flight to Kumasi.

Well, as luck would have it, government officials scurried us (the press) onto a huge cargo plane directly to Kumasi Airport (now Nana Agyeman Prempeh I International Airport), where on the tarmac, our arrival slightly preceded the Pope. In classic style and traditional fashion, he emerged from the plane with outstretched arms as a loving, heavenly gesture to the people of Ghana.

A rock star, cheered on by miles of Catholic and curious worshipers, he proceeded to conduct an outdoor mass to a standing room only crowd in the presence of the Asantehene, King of the Ashanti Kingdom. Few of us came up on the plane but there were dozens of photographers present, pushing and shoving to get a clear shot. My lesson came, as I observed the Vatican photographers in the back, chilling with 500, possibly 1000mm lenses resting on metal tripods, picking their shots with no interference at all.