Leave Abeiku Santana alone!

I have encountered innumerable people who have expressed their disgust for what Gilbert Aggrey, a.k.a. Abeiku Santana, does on radio and I go like “Please, cut the guy some slack, will you”.

No hard feelings but I have honestly heard people confidently call him a “bush, ignorant talkative” who disturbs the city of Accra just to attract attention. Their reason; he shouts too much and there is no sense in most of the things he says on air. Others also claim that his English is full of grammatical errors to the point that they are boring to one’s ears.

Many people just detest the sound of his voice as the presenter of “Efie Kwanso”, a late afternoon show on Adom FM. He seems to have this unappealing voice that some people just can’t cope with but should that be enough reason to wish him out of this industry? Hell no. I beg to differ. Contrary to these opinions, Abeiku has his own kind of audience and he is one of the few presenters who know the areas they are talented in and they consistently specialise in those areas.

Abeiku is a great presenter who knows how to put smiles on the faces of moody listeners and can generate laughter in the meanest person on earth (figuratively). He knows the kinds of programmes he can present and he has the perfect style for those programmes and if people find this odd, then they better open their eyes.

The shouts? He shouts because his kind of program calls for it. “Efie Kwanso” on Adom FM, which he presents, is a musical and excitement-filled show. Apart from playing good music on the programme, he also livens up our spirits with motivational words and then spices it up with very clean and funny jokes. At least, he is not as profane as some well known presenters are projecting for themselves. Abeiku is one creative presenter who can spontaneously generate jokes funny enough to send a serious person reeling with laughter.

He is far more experienced in the field of broadcasting and he has been very consistent with his style of presentation and that is a remarkable feat. He has proved that his style is unique and he has a good personality that matches that style. I wouldn’t call that “making noise as a bush person”. That is his style, and he has the kind of audience it appeals to.

We could remember how he started on a low profile from some very “obscure” radio stations in both the Ashanti and Eastern Regions (or so, I think) some many years ago before climbing to his present position. I saw a picture of him in one of his old poses in a studio and I was shocked. Here goes a presenter dressed in neatly tucked-in short sleeved blue shirt with a tie which actually did not match with the rather poor studio setting which looked like a village schoolmaster’s office. The point here is, his hard work and humility has brought him this far and no one can run this long journey down.

Abeiku Santana stands for excitement but not to say he has not got his own lapses. I detest the way he turns his show into a market spot for herbal products (nkookoo aduro, as music producer Kwame Mickey would say). Or is it a strategy dictated by Strategic Communications Ltd, an advertising company he pioneered. Also, I agree that he needs to work on a few grammatical errors he makes when speaking English. Other than these, he is my man.