BY GABRIEL OMONHINMIN.
Often times, incidences that have profound impact on other people, hardly ever affect me as a person. Over the years, my ability to withstand what most people regard as extreme shock could safely be attributed to various experiences in life.
I was however surprised that my shock absorber failed me, when I got a text at about 5 a.m. on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009, informing me about the passage of Ladi Lawal that morning. So many things in quick succession went through my mind.
While, journalists from both the print and electronic media gathered at the Ikeja Airport awaiting his corpse from Abuja, it was still very difficult to believe that Ladi had finally taken a bow. I finally got the message when Funmi Komolafe and others on citing the casket containing Ladi’s remains, started to shout Lado! Lado!! Lado!!! as if we were on a campaign trail. After Ladi´s burial later that Saturday evening, I immediately resolved to do a befitting tribute in his honour. I was again shocked that I could hardly gather my thought as I kept steering at my laptop. After several attempts, I finally decided to perish the thought. But, thirteen days after, that initial shock had reduced, hence, this piece.
The Fidau prayer for Alhaji Ismael Ladi Lawal, the late Group Managing Director of Raypower, Africa Independent Television (AIT) and DAARSAT at the Alagbado Headquarters of DAAR Communication Plc, on Saturday, June 6, 2009, was quite an impressive outing. It is once again an attestation to the grandiosity with which High Chief Aleogho Dokpesi does anything he chooses to do.
As we arrived the expansive Daar Communication premises in Alagbado, Lagos, just at the main entrance to the compound, another visitor upon sighting the canopy where the fidau prayers was taking place, said “this is typical of High Chief Dokpesi. He does not know how to do small things”.
As I sat through that programme, one thing was evidently clear; Chief Dokpesi truly wanted to honour a very dear friend, which Ladi was to him. His action was a demonstration of the simple fact, that as iron sharpens iron; so one man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
High Chief Alegho, as his name implies, “no one knows tomorrow” made a clear statement to every discerning mind at the fidau prayers, that the attributes of friends are love, courage, trustworthiness, understanding, generosity, and mutual encouragement even at death.
I left Alagbado on that day believing every word of Aristotle, who defined friendship “as a single soul dwelling in two bodies”. The late Ladi and Alegho were truly one soul. This much was said on that day.
As I watch Tony Akiotu, the man who replaces Ladi as Group Managing Director, help settle down guest at the event, one thing became evident, if we are to be guided then there must be a shifting from self-will to God’s will, which now becomes supreme. Tony has all it takes to propel DAAR Communication Plc to greater height. He could provide the required leadership, but for him to succeed in his new position he needs the support of his colleagues. Above all other things, he needs to be led by the Spirit of God. I was therefore, left with no other option than to pray quietly within myself for Tony’s successes in his new assignment.
Much earlier that day, the Lagos Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, dedicated its present Secretariat in honour of Ladi. As the event took place two things came out clear, sincerity of purpose and outright hypocrisy.
As I observed that event quietly, I was alarmed at the extent people could go, all to be noticed in the public glear. Those who knew very little or hardly met Ladi Lawal as a union activist, alongside people whom he Ladi brought into the union through the backdoor, an act which tore the union apart at that time, were sadly the chief mourners at that event while those who knew Ladi and worked very closely with him as Lagos NUJ Chairman and President helplessly watched, while these group of people were doing their own show. What an irony.
After the famous Lagos NUJ crisis I stopped talking to Ladi. Ladi knew that I was not happy with him. One late evening after an NUJ event in Lagos, Ladi invited me to a corner, and enquired of me, “Esama what is the problem between you and I? I have noticed that of recent you have been very cold towards me?” I told him, point blank that I was angry with him because he sadly manifested the trace of a tribalist which was not good for him as a leader or for the future of our union. For almost two minutes he kept saying “me a trabalist, how? I took time to levy all my accusations against him, as he listened very attentively.
Some of the things I accused him of were the betrayal of Owei Lakenfa after Ladi’s victory as NUJ President in Sokoto, which eventually snowballed into the Lagos NUJ crisis. Some years after, Ladi in his usual large heartedness never danced round issues. To my surprise he accepted that he acted wrongly at that time, and told me that he was disappointed at the conduct of those persons he eventually helped to enthrone, but said that life goes on, and as such we as human beings must learn to put ugly experiences of the past behind us. That was how I once again resumed my friendship with Ladi.
Lest I forget, the Light House on Victoria Island Lagos, which is presently the main source of revenue for the Lagos Council of the NUJ, was the brain child of a group of persons which included the late Chief Patrick Obazele. Obazele who retired as the Director of News at the Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN), during his active days as a unionist held various positions in the Lagos Council. He died before Ladi. Why has the Lagos council up till now not found it appropriate to honour him? Is it that he did not contribute enough to the growth of the council? You see, as journalists, we must be seen to be fair in all that we do.
Some months after Ladi was ousted as N.U.J. President via court actions, I accompanied Mr. Bonnie Iwuoha to Ladi’s house at Onipanu Lagos. Ladi who was obviously hurt and aggrieved, never drove us out of his residence nor used any harsh words throughout his quiet discussions with Bonnie, the peaceful manner that discussions went gave me lot of hope about the future of the NUJ then.
At the Lagos Council of the NUJ gathering on June 6, there was an old female journalist known as Labake. She was an ex- staff of the Daily Times. That lady during “Africa” Dapo Adeniola’s tenure as Chairman of Lagos NUJ Council was just like an elder sister to the late Ladi Lawal. Ladi does nothing without consulting with Labake that much I know. I am sure if Lado had been alive, in an occasion like that where he was to be honoured, he would surely have dragged that old lady out of the crowd to say a word or two about him.
Richard Akinola and Ladi were not just friends they were brothers. Owie Lakenfa, Kayode Komolafe (Komo) like Funke Fadugba were Ladi’s disciples of a sort. Although, Owie was not present at that event, those close associates of Ladi who were present at the event were deliberately shut out, due to one perceived malice or another. What a shame! This is not how to honour a departed colleague. Except for Komo’s wife Funmi and some other persons such as Babafemi Ojodu, Emeka Izeze who knew Ladi well enough, the rest of the other persons in exclusion of Abike Dabiri, Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Aliyu Oshomole and the High Chief himself, the rest were actors. They were just play acting.
Nevertheless, incidences like these do happen. What is however, instructive is what lesson do we learn from events like this? How many Lagos NUJ chairmen have been able to exhibit the kind of integrity Baba N’la was known for? If any of those who have had the opportunity to hold the office of the Chairman of the Lagos Council of the NUJ, after Ladi, dies today, God forbid, and not for now, what would people say about them?.
Me I know the man Ladi, but I am sure he was my friend until he passed on. May Ladi’s wonderful soul rest in peace?
What Lado had going for him, while he was alive, was his realization of the fact, that if you have integrity, others will trust you. He knew without trust, it is difficult to manage people and even harder to lead them. No journalist will ever give their trust until you have earned it. Others will give it more willingly, but if they ever have reason to take it back, may never give it to such leaders again. Anyone who would want to be a successful union leader must realize that the only way to go is influence with integrity so that such a leader would be viewed as a person of both influence and integrity.
Mr. Omonhinmin works with Voice of Nigeria
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
JIJIWA AND VOICE OF NIGERIA
By Gabriel Omonhinmin
As the saying goes, man proposes God disposes.
I had thought of doing a piece like this, after I would have left the services of Voice of Nigeria, or after the incumbent Director General Mallam Abubakar Jijiwa, would have moved on, assuming higher positions or simply resolving to go home to Fufure in Adamawa State to have a well deserved rest for some time, after an excellent outing in Voice of Nigeria.
But that is not the case now, as I have not yet retired and Mallam Jijiwa is still the Director General of VON.
The desire to do this piece came, during my recent visit to Voice of Nigeria, Lugbe-Abuja Transmitting Station Complex now under construction. I was returning to my base in Lagos from Kaduna where I had gone for the 5th All Nigeiran Editors Conference (ANCE). I decided to spend the few hours I had free in Abuja to visit the place, the amazing work already done at the site, made me change my mind to do this piece.
I was further encouraged by an observation at the Guild of Editors conference, that the media is a critical stakeholder in the realization of Vision 2020, the Seven-point Agenda of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Administration and the Millennium Development Goals.
One really need to reassure skeptics that Nigeria, in spite of all its short comings, has all it takes to realise the vision 2020 dream.
And to simply say, that Nigeria and the International community would be suprised at the capability of Voice of Nigeria to carry out its mandate when work at the transmiting station complex is completed.
Jijiwa’s deliberate re-branding, re-equipment of studios and general re-orientation of VON staff for the past four years, is a strategy of making voice of Nigeria, more competitive, technologically-challenging and providing an environment where the station would truly become the international radio station of first choice for anyone genuinely interested in Nigeria and Africa.
Exactly six months after Jijiwa was appointed Director General of Voice of Nigeria, he gathered management staff of the organisation, at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), in Topo Badagry, Lagos, for a three-day no-hold back brainstorming in a retreat tagged; “VISION 2005 – 2010”.
The retreat was to set an agenda for VON corporate renewal during his first tenure as Director General.
Four years after, and at the close of each year, Jijiwa like all top news executives around the world await a new professional verdict: How good a job did they do, and how much are they rated in the media industry.
The verdict, however, is no longer simply based on the quality of their journalism, that often makes up half or less of the decision criteria. The bonuses of newsroom executives today are largely based on how much money their organisations make in profit.
Voice of Nigeria, as an external broadcast station, profit is not the station’s prime motivation or taget. The station’s mission therefore, is how best to reflect Nigeria and African perspectives in its broadcasts...winning and sustaining the attention, respect and goodwill of listerners worldwide, particularly Nigerians and Africans in the Diaspora...making Nigeria’s voice to be heard more positively in the shaping of our world.
To realise this dream in a modern day Nigeria is tall order. But with a focused leader like Jijiwa this dream is achievable.
But, the dwindling quality of Nigerian journalism in recent times is stark proof of how difficult it is to meet the true standard of journalism. Nigerian journalism these days thrives sadly on news commentary and opinon. We now have a large army of analysts and social commentators informed or not informed.
For Abubakar Bobboyi Jijiwa, Director General of Voice of Nigeria, the only way to gain acceptability, in the very critical international broadcasting arena, is for VON to be professional. He is a student of good journalism. He tells whosoever cares to listen that, good journalism empowers. Good journalism builds. Good journlalism is the only foundation on which the democratic state can flourish, and as such, VON has no other option than to be professionalised.
He has therefore matched his words with action, by creating an atmosphere of freedom of expression and team spirit, which is what is required to harness the creative potentials of all members of staff.
Regular and sustained training and capacity-building both at home and abroad, has resulted in a large number of staff from all departments and catigories being trained. All this may seem unremarkable. Journalism is a business, and the managers have responsibilities in keeping budgets and attracting more listners. Voice of Nigeria does not make any money outside government subvention. For VON to realise its dream and assist more effectively in the re-branding of Nigeria, government subvention need to be much more higher than what it is now.
As the saying goes, man proposes God disposes.
I had thought of doing a piece like this, after I would have left the services of Voice of Nigeria, or after the incumbent Director General Mallam Abubakar Jijiwa, would have moved on, assuming higher positions or simply resolving to go home to Fufure in Adamawa State to have a well deserved rest for some time, after an excellent outing in Voice of Nigeria.
But that is not the case now, as I have not yet retired and Mallam Jijiwa is still the Director General of VON.
The desire to do this piece came, during my recent visit to Voice of Nigeria, Lugbe-Abuja Transmitting Station Complex now under construction. I was returning to my base in Lagos from Kaduna where I had gone for the 5th All Nigeiran Editors Conference (ANCE). I decided to spend the few hours I had free in Abuja to visit the place, the amazing work already done at the site, made me change my mind to do this piece.
I was further encouraged by an observation at the Guild of Editors conference, that the media is a critical stakeholder in the realization of Vision 2020, the Seven-point Agenda of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Administration and the Millennium Development Goals.
One really need to reassure skeptics that Nigeria, in spite of all its short comings, has all it takes to realise the vision 2020 dream.
And to simply say, that Nigeria and the International community would be suprised at the capability of Voice of Nigeria to carry out its mandate when work at the transmiting station complex is completed.
Jijiwa’s deliberate re-branding, re-equipment of studios and general re-orientation of VON staff for the past four years, is a strategy of making voice of Nigeria, more competitive, technologically-challenging and providing an environment where the station would truly become the international radio station of first choice for anyone genuinely interested in Nigeria and Africa.
Exactly six months after Jijiwa was appointed Director General of Voice of Nigeria, he gathered management staff of the organisation, at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), in Topo Badagry, Lagos, for a three-day no-hold back brainstorming in a retreat tagged; “VISION 2005 – 2010”.
The retreat was to set an agenda for VON corporate renewal during his first tenure as Director General.
Four years after, and at the close of each year, Jijiwa like all top news executives around the world await a new professional verdict: How good a job did they do, and how much are they rated in the media industry.
The verdict, however, is no longer simply based on the quality of their journalism, that often makes up half or less of the decision criteria. The bonuses of newsroom executives today are largely based on how much money their organisations make in profit.
Voice of Nigeria, as an external broadcast station, profit is not the station’s prime motivation or taget. The station’s mission therefore, is how best to reflect Nigeria and African perspectives in its broadcasts...winning and sustaining the attention, respect and goodwill of listerners worldwide, particularly Nigerians and Africans in the Diaspora...making Nigeria’s voice to be heard more positively in the shaping of our world.
To realise this dream in a modern day Nigeria is tall order. But with a focused leader like Jijiwa this dream is achievable.
But, the dwindling quality of Nigerian journalism in recent times is stark proof of how difficult it is to meet the true standard of journalism. Nigerian journalism these days thrives sadly on news commentary and opinon. We now have a large army of analysts and social commentators informed or not informed.
For Abubakar Bobboyi Jijiwa, Director General of Voice of Nigeria, the only way to gain acceptability, in the very critical international broadcasting arena, is for VON to be professional. He is a student of good journalism. He tells whosoever cares to listen that, good journalism empowers. Good journalism builds. Good journlalism is the only foundation on which the democratic state can flourish, and as such, VON has no other option than to be professionalised.
He has therefore matched his words with action, by creating an atmosphere of freedom of expression and team spirit, which is what is required to harness the creative potentials of all members of staff.
Regular and sustained training and capacity-building both at home and abroad, has resulted in a large number of staff from all departments and catigories being trained. All this may seem unremarkable. Journalism is a business, and the managers have responsibilities in keeping budgets and attracting more listners. Voice of Nigeria does not make any money outside government subvention. For VON to realise its dream and assist more effectively in the re-branding of Nigeria, government subvention need to be much more higher than what it is now.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The titanic battle to save NUJ
BY GABRIEL OMONHINMIN
From Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th March 2009, journalists from across Nigeria, would once again gather in the nation’s capital Abuja, for the 3rd triennial delegates conference of our great union. At this gathering which comes up every three years, the union is expected to elect new set officers to run its affairs.
If things had been going well with the union at the national level, one would not have been too worried about the calibre of person or persons that might emerge as our national officials come March.
But saddly for sometimes now, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, seems to be bedeviled with bad leadership. We therefore owe it a duty to help re-focus and re-position the NUJ. This is a duty every journalist in Nigeria retired or serving owe the union, at this particular point in time.
I am worried, because people who had no set of ideas on how to run a union like the NUJ are attempting to take over the union once again. In the past they had used whatever was left of the NUJ’s image to feather their own nest. One is therefore not surprised, that they are at it again. They are despirate to hijack our union. Are we all going to fold our arms and watch them do what they like with the NUJ? I think we should collectively say not to this despiration.
In an open society such as ours, credibility is an essential attribute of a journalistic organization. The credibility of the organization and that of its journalists are inter-linked. Credibility is dependent not only on factors such as accuracy and truthfulness in reporting and presentation but upon avoidance by the journalits of associations or contacts which could reasonably give rise to perceptions of partiality. We are today at cross roads, because the tenet of our profession is easily defiled by our supposed leaders. Any suprise that the society we are expected to serve, no longer takes us seriously in matters affecting our nation. NUJ problem had always been orchestrated by poor leadership. Our union is about to be run aground. We must all do something about it. That is the way forward.
Let me state very clear, that in the one hundred and forty-six years of journalism practice in Nigeria, and the fifty years since the existence of our great union the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the depressing state of affairs in the NUJ is far from what was conceived at inception. And while similar journalists bodies in other countries especially Africa, are still unsatisfied with where they are and are continually pressing forward under immense pressures from members, our union at the national level is moving back or at best at a stand still. This situation must not be allowed to continue.
The Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) just to mention a few, are as relevant in the scheme of things nationally, due to quality leadership. The body of benchers and consultants would not fold their arms and allow their juniors in practice to do what they like with their union. We must take a cue from these bodies.
Walter Lippmann, the American political columnist, once said, “the fate of men will be decided in the long run by restless thinkers who are not afraid to stand up and ask some partinent questions if and when they arise”.
My question therefore is what does distingushed Senator Smart Adeyemi want from the NUJ. Why does he think willy nilly, he must foist a leader on the union, members like it or not? Are Nigerian journalists too docile, no longer intelligent enough to chose whosoever they want as a leader? These and many more questions are begging for answers. I think it is wrong and most unkind to the profession that threw Senator Adeyemi up and gave him the platform to be what he is today, for him to be quoted as saying that he is “the Adedibu of the Nigerian Union of Journalists”. He must now be told that the NUJ is not Ibadan, and that journalists in the country are not ready for any kind of Adedibu. Journalists should simply be allowed this time around to make their choice.
Another question I would want Senator Adeyemi to respond to, is why he is not keeping faith, and tends to pay past favours with unkindness?
I could re-call that in his quest to become the National President of the NUJ, Senator Adeyemi made several trips to the Lagos Council begging the likes of Ladi Lawal and Funke Fadugba to support him. At the Minna delegate conferecne in 1999 when things became really hot up, the then outgoing President of the union Mr. Lanre Ogundipe, forsaw defeat and summoned a meeting where he addressed the “New Trend” a group made up of member of the Lagos Council of the NUJ who had the ace to Adeyemi’s emergence as the NUJ President. At that meeting a very sad Ogundipe said, “I might today not be the candidate you would want to elect as President, but in all honesty, Smart Adeyemi as he was then called, is not a better option for the union, Please if you would not return me as President my deputy Vincent Ake is a better option”.
Before Ogundipe could finish with his statment Mrs. Funke Fadugba, who was then the Chairperson of the Lagos Council of the NUJ got up and told Ogundipe that, “Members of the Lagos Council have made up their mind on who to elect as President of our union. It is Smart Adeyemi” she said. We all assumed then, that Adeyemi was the best among all the other contestants”. Exprience six years after shows to us that Ogundipe was right and we were all wrong. Lanre please forgive us.
To further shed light on the type of character our distingushed Senator is made of, I am forced to reproduce a recent text message Mrs. Fadugba sent to Senator Adeyemi. This text was forwarded to my phone by a very senor journalist who got it. Mrs. Fadugba, I was told on enquiry resolved as a mark of respect, to send the text to our distingushed Senator after due consultation with very senior members and stakeholders of our profession. And the text reads as follows: “My dear distingushed Senator. I wish to make this passionate and final plea to you to please remember the very small good things I have done to you. Close your eyes to the countable bad ones. I swear to God that if I emerge as NUJ President, I will do nothing to rubbish my predecessors including you. It is a pledge. Please don’ t stand on my way God will not stand on your way and your children will find favour. Look at me with passion. Thank you. Fadugba”.
Typical of our former President, and in a deliberate effort to score cheap point as usual, our distingushed Senator decided to forward the above text sent to him in strict confidence to some other journalists who are not too familiar with his antics, saying that he was been begged by Mrs. Fadugba as an Adedibu who can make and un-make any candidate who aspires to the presidency of the NUJ. He has easily forgotten that he went round the country begging journalists to vote him as NUJ president before the 1999 Minna convention. I wonder why some men in high offices can betray confidentality.
At the 2nd Triennial National Delegates’ Conference in Port Harcourt, in a speech entitled “Stewardship Report of the out-going National President of NUJ Prince Smart Adeyemi, our distingushed Senator told Nigerian journalists then, that in six years as President of the NUJ, his executive, managed to achieve what he called a) Image Laundering, b) Empowerment, c) Audited Account, and d) Constitutional Amendements, what however, drew my attention in that speech, is the area in which he said, “A major problem we encountered was the take-over of our Secretariat by the Federal Capital Ministry as part of the on-going Reforms”. The National Secretiat which was taken over almost at the end of the Senator’s tenure, was the only source of revenue, for the union at the national level, the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) was also housed within that premises. Mr. Adeyemi left no single vehicle for the Ndagene Aku’s administration which took over from him. He failed to tell journalists the true position of the union’s account when he was leaving office. It was later found that he left behind a whopping debt of about eighty million naira for the union, and a pittance sum of one hundred and twenty thounsand Naira in the National NUJ’s account.
He also told journalists at that delegates’ conference, that “hope is not lost as the proceeds of the N.U.J. Golden Jubilee anniversary organised during his tenure, was to be commited towards a new National Seretariat. Saying, that was why his administration organize the 50th Anniversary Dinner despite all odds”. Hum!, Distingushed Senator where is the proceeds from this Anniversary Dinner and where is the NUJ land your administration left behind in Abuja. Is anybody surprise, as to the reason(s) why the incumbent President of the NUJ Ndegene Akwu who was installed by Senator Adeyemi, no longer see face to face with our most cherished senator? In spite of these mess, our senator made sure he got ten million naira, as part payment of what he said the union was owning him, even though he left office without a hand over note, seven months salary arrears of staff of the National Secretariat which has now been cleared.
Garba Mohammed is a fine gentleman, if he genuinely wishes to lead our union, he should be seen to be a man of his own. I asked him during his recent campaign visit to Lagos Council whether he was a stooge to Senator Adeyemi as now being alleged. He however agreed, that Senator Adeyemi alongside other President of the union were all supporting him.The other ex-leader of the NUJ who is supporting Garba at the moment, is simply an undertaker who is doing any thining and every thing possible to bury the NUJ and Guild of Editors. He holds everybody responsible for his defeat at the Ibadan delegate conference. Well! An Esan axiom say “when two persons are deceiving themselves, there is hadly any query in such relationship”. I wish him luck.
Wahab Oba is my friend. He has a lot of future as far as NUJ politics is concerned, but his sudden interest in the national office of our union, makes lot of members to be surpecious of his exact intentions.
As far as I am concerned this race is between Mrs. Olufuke Fadugba and Ndagene the son of Akwu, the incumbent President of our union, the tenures of either of these candidates would not favour our distingushed Senator hence the bitter fight. My last question, is why does Smart want to be at the National Assembly and at the same time wield considerable influence in NUJ’s matters? The truth we must all tell Senator Adeyemi now, is simple “ It is true that a person who has people is better off than a person who has money. His wish and desire must not succeed.
Gabriel Omonhinmin works with Voice of Nigeria, 08057908494
From Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th March 2009, journalists from across Nigeria, would once again gather in the nation’s capital Abuja, for the 3rd triennial delegates conference of our great union. At this gathering which comes up every three years, the union is expected to elect new set officers to run its affairs.
If things had been going well with the union at the national level, one would not have been too worried about the calibre of person or persons that might emerge as our national officials come March.
But saddly for sometimes now, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, seems to be bedeviled with bad leadership. We therefore owe it a duty to help re-focus and re-position the NUJ. This is a duty every journalist in Nigeria retired or serving owe the union, at this particular point in time.
I am worried, because people who had no set of ideas on how to run a union like the NUJ are attempting to take over the union once again. In the past they had used whatever was left of the NUJ’s image to feather their own nest. One is therefore not surprised, that they are at it again. They are despirate to hijack our union. Are we all going to fold our arms and watch them do what they like with the NUJ? I think we should collectively say not to this despiration.
In an open society such as ours, credibility is an essential attribute of a journalistic organization. The credibility of the organization and that of its journalists are inter-linked. Credibility is dependent not only on factors such as accuracy and truthfulness in reporting and presentation but upon avoidance by the journalits of associations or contacts which could reasonably give rise to perceptions of partiality. We are today at cross roads, because the tenet of our profession is easily defiled by our supposed leaders. Any suprise that the society we are expected to serve, no longer takes us seriously in matters affecting our nation. NUJ problem had always been orchestrated by poor leadership. Our union is about to be run aground. We must all do something about it. That is the way forward.
Let me state very clear, that in the one hundred and forty-six years of journalism practice in Nigeria, and the fifty years since the existence of our great union the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the depressing state of affairs in the NUJ is far from what was conceived at inception. And while similar journalists bodies in other countries especially Africa, are still unsatisfied with where they are and are continually pressing forward under immense pressures from members, our union at the national level is moving back or at best at a stand still. This situation must not be allowed to continue.
The Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) just to mention a few, are as relevant in the scheme of things nationally, due to quality leadership. The body of benchers and consultants would not fold their arms and allow their juniors in practice to do what they like with their union. We must take a cue from these bodies.
Walter Lippmann, the American political columnist, once said, “the fate of men will be decided in the long run by restless thinkers who are not afraid to stand up and ask some partinent questions if and when they arise”.
My question therefore is what does distingushed Senator Smart Adeyemi want from the NUJ. Why does he think willy nilly, he must foist a leader on the union, members like it or not? Are Nigerian journalists too docile, no longer intelligent enough to chose whosoever they want as a leader? These and many more questions are begging for answers. I think it is wrong and most unkind to the profession that threw Senator Adeyemi up and gave him the platform to be what he is today, for him to be quoted as saying that he is “the Adedibu of the Nigerian Union of Journalists”. He must now be told that the NUJ is not Ibadan, and that journalists in the country are not ready for any kind of Adedibu. Journalists should simply be allowed this time around to make their choice.
Another question I would want Senator Adeyemi to respond to, is why he is not keeping faith, and tends to pay past favours with unkindness?
I could re-call that in his quest to become the National President of the NUJ, Senator Adeyemi made several trips to the Lagos Council begging the likes of Ladi Lawal and Funke Fadugba to support him. At the Minna delegate conferecne in 1999 when things became really hot up, the then outgoing President of the union Mr. Lanre Ogundipe, forsaw defeat and summoned a meeting where he addressed the “New Trend” a group made up of member of the Lagos Council of the NUJ who had the ace to Adeyemi’s emergence as the NUJ President. At that meeting a very sad Ogundipe said, “I might today not be the candidate you would want to elect as President, but in all honesty, Smart Adeyemi as he was then called, is not a better option for the union, Please if you would not return me as President my deputy Vincent Ake is a better option”.
Before Ogundipe could finish with his statment Mrs. Funke Fadugba, who was then the Chairperson of the Lagos Council of the NUJ got up and told Ogundipe that, “Members of the Lagos Council have made up their mind on who to elect as President of our union. It is Smart Adeyemi” she said. We all assumed then, that Adeyemi was the best among all the other contestants”. Exprience six years after shows to us that Ogundipe was right and we were all wrong. Lanre please forgive us.
To further shed light on the type of character our distingushed Senator is made of, I am forced to reproduce a recent text message Mrs. Fadugba sent to Senator Adeyemi. This text was forwarded to my phone by a very senor journalist who got it. Mrs. Fadugba, I was told on enquiry resolved as a mark of respect, to send the text to our distingushed Senator after due consultation with very senior members and stakeholders of our profession. And the text reads as follows: “My dear distingushed Senator. I wish to make this passionate and final plea to you to please remember the very small good things I have done to you. Close your eyes to the countable bad ones. I swear to God that if I emerge as NUJ President, I will do nothing to rubbish my predecessors including you. It is a pledge. Please don’ t stand on my way God will not stand on your way and your children will find favour. Look at me with passion. Thank you. Fadugba”.
Typical of our former President, and in a deliberate effort to score cheap point as usual, our distingushed Senator decided to forward the above text sent to him in strict confidence to some other journalists who are not too familiar with his antics, saying that he was been begged by Mrs. Fadugba as an Adedibu who can make and un-make any candidate who aspires to the presidency of the NUJ. He has easily forgotten that he went round the country begging journalists to vote him as NUJ president before the 1999 Minna convention. I wonder why some men in high offices can betray confidentality.
At the 2nd Triennial National Delegates’ Conference in Port Harcourt, in a speech entitled “Stewardship Report of the out-going National President of NUJ Prince Smart Adeyemi, our distingushed Senator told Nigerian journalists then, that in six years as President of the NUJ, his executive, managed to achieve what he called a) Image Laundering, b) Empowerment, c) Audited Account, and d) Constitutional Amendements, what however, drew my attention in that speech, is the area in which he said, “A major problem we encountered was the take-over of our Secretariat by the Federal Capital Ministry as part of the on-going Reforms”. The National Secretiat which was taken over almost at the end of the Senator’s tenure, was the only source of revenue, for the union at the national level, the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) was also housed within that premises. Mr. Adeyemi left no single vehicle for the Ndagene Aku’s administration which took over from him. He failed to tell journalists the true position of the union’s account when he was leaving office. It was later found that he left behind a whopping debt of about eighty million naira for the union, and a pittance sum of one hundred and twenty thounsand Naira in the National NUJ’s account.
He also told journalists at that delegates’ conference, that “hope is not lost as the proceeds of the N.U.J. Golden Jubilee anniversary organised during his tenure, was to be commited towards a new National Seretariat. Saying, that was why his administration organize the 50th Anniversary Dinner despite all odds”. Hum!, Distingushed Senator where is the proceeds from this Anniversary Dinner and where is the NUJ land your administration left behind in Abuja. Is anybody surprise, as to the reason(s) why the incumbent President of the NUJ Ndegene Akwu who was installed by Senator Adeyemi, no longer see face to face with our most cherished senator? In spite of these mess, our senator made sure he got ten million naira, as part payment of what he said the union was owning him, even though he left office without a hand over note, seven months salary arrears of staff of the National Secretariat which has now been cleared.
Garba Mohammed is a fine gentleman, if he genuinely wishes to lead our union, he should be seen to be a man of his own. I asked him during his recent campaign visit to Lagos Council whether he was a stooge to Senator Adeyemi as now being alleged. He however agreed, that Senator Adeyemi alongside other President of the union were all supporting him.The other ex-leader of the NUJ who is supporting Garba at the moment, is simply an undertaker who is doing any thining and every thing possible to bury the NUJ and Guild of Editors. He holds everybody responsible for his defeat at the Ibadan delegate conference. Well! An Esan axiom say “when two persons are deceiving themselves, there is hadly any query in such relationship”. I wish him luck.
Wahab Oba is my friend. He has a lot of future as far as NUJ politics is concerned, but his sudden interest in the national office of our union, makes lot of members to be surpecious of his exact intentions.
As far as I am concerned this race is between Mrs. Olufuke Fadugba and Ndagene the son of Akwu, the incumbent President of our union, the tenures of either of these candidates would not favour our distingushed Senator hence the bitter fight. My last question, is why does Smart want to be at the National Assembly and at the same time wield considerable influence in NUJ’s matters? The truth we must all tell Senator Adeyemi now, is simple “ It is true that a person who has people is better off than a person who has money. His wish and desire must not succeed.
Gabriel Omonhinmin works with Voice of Nigeria, 08057908494
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