Friday, May 4, 2012
AN EMPHATIC NO, TO GOVERNMENT PLANNED RE-MERGE OF VON WITH FRCN
BY GABRIEL OMONHINMIN
I’m a huge champion of penny-pinching, but there are times when being miserly can be penny wise and pound foolish – as in stupid and destructive.
I can’t help but point out that because it concerns me; I have no option but to join in the on-going debate, whether or not, it is proper for VON to be re-merged with FRCN, twenty-two years after it was excised from the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC.
By virtue of the fact, that I worked as a senior member of the News Directorate of VON for fourteen years and interacted extensively with very many staff of the FRCN, both senior and junior, I am in a position to know so much about the workings in both organisations. Much as I welcomed the venerable Stephen Oronsanye panel’s recommendations, it is just and proper to point out areas of mistakes, so that these areas could be ratified before grave harm is done. That is the essence of this essay. For the benefit of the general public, it is appropriate to clarify the mandate of both stations. The FRCN main focus is to feed its Nigerian audience with local news development whereas Voice of Nigeria’s mandate is to broadcast the country’s view points to the rest of the world.
The role of VON in the country’s foreign policy direction cannot be over emphasised. I am therefore compelled to give few instances when VON broadcast was helpful to the country’s foreign policy initiative.
I was one of the correspondents that covered the Liberian civil war, at the heat of that country’s devastating crises, where Nigeria expended huge resources and men, the only source to accurately gauge Nigeria’s foreign policy drive outside the country then, was through Voice of Nigeria News broadcast.
Nigerian Generals commanding troops in that country made it a point of duty daily to monitor Voice of Nigeria’s news broadcast. This to a large extent gave them a clear picture of the country’s foreign policy direction.
As a matter of fact, I knew some soldiers, who made it a point of duty to monitor VON, especially Hausa, Fulfulde and Arabic news translation daily, as this was a kind of tonic required to boost their moral.
Voice of Nigeria news was also the only source the Liberian elites at that time relied on, as they never completely trusted what were being dished out from other international news media, who obviously took sides in the crises.
All the neighbouring countries to Liberia, made up of the MANU River region which Charles Taylor was working hard to destabilise, were daily looking forward to Voice of Nigeria news, to get information on where their helper would come from.
I am, however, not saying that this function could no longer be carried out by VON if the organisation is eventually re-merged with FRCN. But one thing is certain; the station will never again be as effective in its primary assignment as it is now. Knowing the make-up of FRCN and VON, high level of intrigues, manipulation and fight for supremacy will be the other of the day. This will never in any way help neither stations nor the country.
As a matter of fact, marked differences do exist between the diplomacy of old and the diplomacy of today. The only one way of settling international differences and the most persuasive method at government disposal is the word of honest men and women in any society. These men and women abound in Nigeria; they are people like Professors Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Emeka Anyaokwu just to mention a few. Presently, these national icons are not willing to speak to Voice of Nigeria, because of the way and manner the station is presently managed. For this situation to be reversed, and for the station to gain the respect of noble men and women in our society, the station needs to be properly structured. Nigeria, as a major player in present day international politics requires a reliable medium to air its views. This is where VON is needed most. Much as I have absolute respect for the person of Mr. Steve Oronsaye and I believe in some of his panel’s recommendations, His panel’s position that VON be re-merged with FRCN no doubt miss the point, the re-merger of both stations will not help the country as presently being envisage. Another point worth mentioning, is the fact that Nigeria, has not being lucky enough to appoint a man or woman, who actually knows what it takes to manage, the external image of a country like Nigeria. Without any iota of disrespect, people who have been at the helm of affairs in the country’s External Affairs Ministry had shown some degree of incompetence. Or better put, the country’s policy executors especially staffs of the External Affairs Ministry. They have been naive to recognize and take adequate advantage of the service of Voice of Nigeria in the country’s foreign police drive.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for instance is attached to that country’s Home Office. In this regard, the British government hardly initiates any foreign policy without first, fully briefing the BBC or requesting for the station’s contribution. This is not the case with the Nigerian government. Instead of Voice of Nigeria being supervised by the External Affairs Ministry, the organisation is presently placed under the Ministry of Information. One is therefore not surprised, that the Information Ministry treats VON matters as they do to any other local station under their supervision. This attitude no doubt, hinders the performance of VON as an international broadcasting station. The way things are now, it is absolutely impossible for VON to compete effectively with other international radio stations, such as BBC, RFI and Dutchweller radio, Germany. To push further the importance other governments attach to their external broadcasting stations, the French government had ensured, for some years now, that Radio France International (RFI) set up a full fledge Hausa Service Station in Nigeria; because of the station’s large listening Hausa audience in Nigeria, this sub-station is presently operating from the premises of VON in Lagos.
At the height of the crises resulting from the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his Ogoni compatriots’
Nigeria’s External Affairs Minister then was Chief Tom Ikimi. When it became obvious that Nigeria was going to be sanctioned by the international community, the Voice of Nigeria, sought and got in touch with Chief Ikimi, who was already outside the country to attend the meeting where Nigeria was to be penalised. The Voice of Nigeria wanted to know from the Minister how he intends to manage the ugly development. Surprisingly, the Nigerian Minister of External Affairs, refused to speak with Voice of Nigeria. A few minutes after this encounter, the BBC correspondent then in Nigeria, rushed into VON office requesting for Chief Ikimi’s contact, and I obliged the correspondent. We could not believe our ears, when in the next hour, the Nigerian Minister for External Affairs was on BBC ranting, stating the position he had earlier refused to give to VON. Voice of Nigeria’s former Director of News then, Mohammed Okorejior, was so depressed that he could not hold back his emotions and the man wept.
From the above picture, it is obvious that the Nigerian Foreign Affairs managers are largely to be blamed for the present lacklustre performance of Voice of Nigeria and the station inability to discharge its primary functions effectively. To be simply put, the re-merger of VON with FRCN will further compound these problems.
Finally, I submit, that the purpose of diplomacy is neither the invention nor the pastime of some particular political system; it is an essential element in any reasonable relation between man on one hand and between nation and nation. An example is the recent modifications in diplomatic methods, with special reference to the problem of “open” and “secret” diplomacy and the difficulty of combining efficient diplomacy with democratic control. The role of a medium like the Voice of Nigeria is very vital if the country wants to be taken seriously in this new order. An effective VON will enable the whips to gauge the opinion of the country’s foreign policy direction in out and outside Nigeria.
What is presently required is for VON to be immediately moved into the Ministry of External Affairs, and for the organisation to be further strengthened to carry out its function, as the country’s authentic voice. The station’s re-merger with FRCN will never help Nigeria. It will no doubt do more harm than good.
Mr. Omonhinmin writes from Lagos.
Monday, July 11, 2011
THE BREVITY OF LIFE AND EMPTY NATURE OF MAN
BY GABRIEL OMONHINMIN
The book of Ecclesiastics 3 v 19 and 20 gives us a true picture of man, and it says “Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both. As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. Both man and animal go to the same place, all come from dust, and to dust all return”.
As I was mourning the sudden passage of Zakary Mohammed which happened on Monday 27th June, 2011 in Abuja, rumors became rift, that Chief (Mrs.) Christian Uduak Essien-Igbokwe has again join her ancestors. Not ready to be fooled, I began working my phone, her passages was later confirmed that evening. Her death no doubt made me to be very depressed.
As I ponder on the true meaning and value of life, one question kept coming to my mind. “Does life have any meaning?”
Countless people have asked that question in the past, and as the question remains unanswered, many people are unable to escape what Viktor E. Frankl an Austrian neurologist once described as a “sense of meaninglessness and emptiness”. Why do we feel this way, when certain thing happens in our lives, especially those of us in this part of the world Africa? Our intense felling could easily be attributed to the fact that each day, we wake up to extreme poverty, disease, senseless violence like the “Boko Haram” and above all oppression. In Nigeria and most other African countries lives are truly “glutted with agitation”. Our prime goal is simply to survive from one day to the next.
For Zack Moor his prime goal in life was how to better the lot of the ordinary man, he honestly wanted to bring succor to the lives of the downtrodden, but he never had the means to realize his dream. He was passionate about helping the poor in our society, whether it was Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba. He gave his best in his own very little way.
He deliberately ensure the voices of the masses were heard in the life programmes he had the opportunity to present, thrice I accompanied him to record the fable voices of some beggars on the street of Abuja. He did not just use those voices he made sure they were adequately heard. He will always say to me, “Mualim why is it that, it is only the rich and powerful we are in the habit of listening to day in day out. Who says the masses does not have what to say about the way and manner things are done in our society?”
A classic example of Zack Moor humane nature and benevolence, which I will never forget took place one sunny Saturday afternoon in Abuja. That day, he had just finished presenting a programme on “Capital F.M” the station the irrepressible former Director-General of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Mr. Eddie Iroh, brought to the City Centre - Radio House, in a deliberate effort to give Abuja Residence of old a taste of good programming. Jones Usen and Zack Moor were the two main presenters in the station; they no doubt set Abuja agog with their type of music and presentation, since then, Abuja airwaves has never been the same again.
On that day, Zakary strolled into Voice of Nigeria Newsroom on the 6th Floor in the Radio House, about that same time I was rounding up my production for that day. He requested that I go with him to Gwagwalada where he stays so that we could have some outing. On our way just at the Abuja gate along International Airport Road, we saw a colony of beggars. He asked the driver attached to his official Peugeot Station Wagon vehicle to wait. Zack Moor, kindly request that I join him in the front seat of the vehicle and decided to give some of the beggars a ride to Gwagwalada.
From the point of departure to the place the beggars alerted from the vehicle in a journey of about sixty minutes there was never a dull moment as we share jokes and exchanged banters with the beggars as if we have known them for years. In Gwagwalada, Zakary gave the beggars the only seven thousand naira he had left on him. He had to go home, to beg his wife who borrowed him some money for us to do the outing. That was Zack Moor for you.
For Christy Essien-Igbokwe, I first met her in 1980 when she was spearheading the formation of the now badly run Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN).I was then an entertainment reporter with the Guardian Express. What became clear to me as I daily interact with her was her resolve and determination to help ameliorate the suffering of Nigeria musicians.
I was not at all surprise at her efforts to help the upcoming artist, because she had travelled that rough and turning road of life, before success finally smiled at her. She was therefore in a position to know that suffering especially hunger does not discriminate. Natural disasters, illness and disability, violent crimes and other tragedies can afflict anyone, anywhere and anytime. She was therefore concern about the future of the upcoming artist and wanted to do all within her powers to help. This showed in her zeal and that of Mr. Emma Ogosi as they worked tirelessly day and night and in the process pestering Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former Governor of Anambra State who was then the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Labour and Productivity to register PMAN.
After the registration certificate of PMAN was handed over to Christy, the old gladiators in the country’s musical industry, King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey, the late African Soldier Sunny Okosun and Maliky Oshoma just to mention a few, were determine to create an enviable future for the Nigerian artist. As they all put aside their selfish interest and worked for the success of the body. An example of such is Mrs Igbokwe’s acceptance to become the pioneer National Treasurer of PMAN in-spite of the fact, that she was the driving force behind the formation of the association.
They were all in one accord about the aims and aspirations of PMAN; they wanted urgently to put in place, structures that will enable them build a befitting secretariat, that contain well equipped recording studios and other facilities for the benefits of the Nigerian artist. They wanted a situation where any artist could walk in and had his work recorded.
Painfully, before we could say Jack Robison, the leadership of the organization, was hijacked by very ambitious young men and women, who never cared much about the organization. PMAN leadership became an all comers thing; these noble dreams were never realized. What we saw afterwards was the emergence of hair dressers and okada riders taking over the affairs of PMAN. Efforts by people like Laolu Akins, Oyenka Owenu, Funmi Adams and Terry Jackson-Alumona were rebuffed. As Christy and other founding fathers of PMAN could hardly do anything to change the situation. It was then I knew that the association had no future.
Well, as we mourn the passage of Zack Moor and Christy, we ought to cry. A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the readiness of the Lord to hear, and His ability to aid, we shall see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our salvation. Rest in peace sister, rest in peace brother until we meet to part no more.
Mr. Omonhinmin writes from Lagos - 08057908494
The book of Ecclesiastics 3 v 19 and 20 gives us a true picture of man, and it says “Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both. As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. Both man and animal go to the same place, all come from dust, and to dust all return”.
As I was mourning the sudden passage of Zakary Mohammed which happened on Monday 27th June, 2011 in Abuja, rumors became rift, that Chief (Mrs.) Christian Uduak Essien-Igbokwe has again join her ancestors. Not ready to be fooled, I began working my phone, her passages was later confirmed that evening. Her death no doubt made me to be very depressed.
As I ponder on the true meaning and value of life, one question kept coming to my mind. “Does life have any meaning?”
Countless people have asked that question in the past, and as the question remains unanswered, many people are unable to escape what Viktor E. Frankl an Austrian neurologist once described as a “sense of meaninglessness and emptiness”. Why do we feel this way, when certain thing happens in our lives, especially those of us in this part of the world Africa? Our intense felling could easily be attributed to the fact that each day, we wake up to extreme poverty, disease, senseless violence like the “Boko Haram” and above all oppression. In Nigeria and most other African countries lives are truly “glutted with agitation”. Our prime goal is simply to survive from one day to the next.
For Zack Moor his prime goal in life was how to better the lot of the ordinary man, he honestly wanted to bring succor to the lives of the downtrodden, but he never had the means to realize his dream. He was passionate about helping the poor in our society, whether it was Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba. He gave his best in his own very little way.
He deliberately ensure the voices of the masses were heard in the life programmes he had the opportunity to present, thrice I accompanied him to record the fable voices of some beggars on the street of Abuja. He did not just use those voices he made sure they were adequately heard. He will always say to me, “Mualim why is it that, it is only the rich and powerful we are in the habit of listening to day in day out. Who says the masses does not have what to say about the way and manner things are done in our society?”
A classic example of Zack Moor humane nature and benevolence, which I will never forget took place one sunny Saturday afternoon in Abuja. That day, he had just finished presenting a programme on “Capital F.M” the station the irrepressible former Director-General of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Mr. Eddie Iroh, brought to the City Centre - Radio House, in a deliberate effort to give Abuja Residence of old a taste of good programming. Jones Usen and Zack Moor were the two main presenters in the station; they no doubt set Abuja agog with their type of music and presentation, since then, Abuja airwaves has never been the same again.
On that day, Zakary strolled into Voice of Nigeria Newsroom on the 6th Floor in the Radio House, about that same time I was rounding up my production for that day. He requested that I go with him to Gwagwalada where he stays so that we could have some outing. On our way just at the Abuja gate along International Airport Road, we saw a colony of beggars. He asked the driver attached to his official Peugeot Station Wagon vehicle to wait. Zack Moor, kindly request that I join him in the front seat of the vehicle and decided to give some of the beggars a ride to Gwagwalada.
From the point of departure to the place the beggars alerted from the vehicle in a journey of about sixty minutes there was never a dull moment as we share jokes and exchanged banters with the beggars as if we have known them for years. In Gwagwalada, Zakary gave the beggars the only seven thousand naira he had left on him. He had to go home, to beg his wife who borrowed him some money for us to do the outing. That was Zack Moor for you.
For Christy Essien-Igbokwe, I first met her in 1980 when she was spearheading the formation of the now badly run Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN).I was then an entertainment reporter with the Guardian Express. What became clear to me as I daily interact with her was her resolve and determination to help ameliorate the suffering of Nigeria musicians.
I was not at all surprise at her efforts to help the upcoming artist, because she had travelled that rough and turning road of life, before success finally smiled at her. She was therefore in a position to know that suffering especially hunger does not discriminate. Natural disasters, illness and disability, violent crimes and other tragedies can afflict anyone, anywhere and anytime. She was therefore concern about the future of the upcoming artist and wanted to do all within her powers to help. This showed in her zeal and that of Mr. Emma Ogosi as they worked tirelessly day and night and in the process pestering Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former Governor of Anambra State who was then the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Labour and Productivity to register PMAN.
After the registration certificate of PMAN was handed over to Christy, the old gladiators in the country’s musical industry, King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey, the late African Soldier Sunny Okosun and Maliky Oshoma just to mention a few, were determine to create an enviable future for the Nigerian artist. As they all put aside their selfish interest and worked for the success of the body. An example of such is Mrs Igbokwe’s acceptance to become the pioneer National Treasurer of PMAN in-spite of the fact, that she was the driving force behind the formation of the association.
They were all in one accord about the aims and aspirations of PMAN; they wanted urgently to put in place, structures that will enable them build a befitting secretariat, that contain well equipped recording studios and other facilities for the benefits of the Nigerian artist. They wanted a situation where any artist could walk in and had his work recorded.
Painfully, before we could say Jack Robison, the leadership of the organization, was hijacked by very ambitious young men and women, who never cared much about the organization. PMAN leadership became an all comers thing; these noble dreams were never realized. What we saw afterwards was the emergence of hair dressers and okada riders taking over the affairs of PMAN. Efforts by people like Laolu Akins, Oyenka Owenu, Funmi Adams and Terry Jackson-Alumona were rebuffed. As Christy and other founding fathers of PMAN could hardly do anything to change the situation. It was then I knew that the association had no future.
Well, as we mourn the passage of Zack Moor and Christy, we ought to cry. A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the readiness of the Lord to hear, and His ability to aid, we shall see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our salvation. Rest in peace sister, rest in peace brother until we meet to part no more.
Mr. Omonhinmin writes from Lagos - 08057908494
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
JOURNALIST S AND DAAR CELEBRATION OF LADI LAWAL.
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
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
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
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Governor Amaechi And The Justification Not To Negotiate With Militant
By Gabriel Omonhinmin
For a short while now I have been battling with myself whether to, or not to do this article. The reasons for the hesitation, is simply because I do not want to be accused of patronising anybody. I had to keep this article in view, awaiting more developments in the Niger Delta Region.
But now that officer and men of the Nigerian Army are bagging jail terms over illegal arms sales in the Niger Delta region, I thought it safe to go back to my computer for this piece.
The very harsh judgement delivered by the Kaduna based General Court Marshal (GCM) over a three-count charge of illegal possession of prohibited firearm, the unlawful possession of ammunition and the fraudulent misapplication of service property, which resulted in a middle level army officers and some soldiers getting as much as life sentences, has justified my long time opinion that under no circumstances should Governor Rotimi Amaechi or any government official, state or federal negotiate with the militants.
It has always been my conviction, that what is required to bring about a lasting peace in that region is massive infrastructural and human development. Negotiation in any form with militant is a waste of time and energy.
October 26, 2008 it was exactly a year that God in his infinite wisdom, decided to show to all Nigerians, that it is he, who is in charge of world affairs.
The unprecedented judgement delivered by the justices of Nigeria Supreme Court which brought about the Governorship of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was to say the least unexpected at that time, considering the way and manner the immediate past President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Peoples Democratic Party P.D.P. leadership at that time carried on. Amaechi’s eventual return from Ghana where he went on self-exile to Port Harcourt to assume office is another attestation to the fact, that, the universe cannot exist without God. And that if there is no God in what we do as humans, we are sure to go through days that have no meaning and have no end.
Common sense therefore suggests that Amaechi on assumption of office as Governor would do anything and everything, to defend his mandate, his government and himself from the threats that was so much palpable in Rivers State and in the Niger Delta region as a whole when he was declared the Governor. Amaechi without any apology needed to take this very hard stance, if he has to function in office.
When negotiation with the militant became an issue, some few months after he took his oath of office as Governor, I knew right from inception, that the type of Rotimi Amaechi sitting as a Governor of a State will never ever court a deal with any group that go by the name militant. I told my colleague so, during a heated debate in one of our editorial conferences in Voice of Nigeria. Some of them wondered what would have informed my confidence and prediction of Amaechi.
My prediction of Governor Rotimi Amaechi is based on my knowledge of him some eight years back, when we met and interacted in Abuja, the only such opportunity ever since.
My chance of meeting with Amaechi came during a two week seminar organised by the United States Government in collaboration with the Nigerian Ministry of Defence, in Abuja. That was during the experimental stages of the present democratic practice in the country. The United States Government as expected then was no doubt very apprehensive about Nigeria. The U.S. government therefore, thought it appropriate to educate a selected group of Nigerians made up of very high ranking military and police personnel alongside civilians on what to do to sustain the country’s democratic process. The Niger Delta issue was exhaustively debated at that forum.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi and I were among other few Nigerians who were privileged to participate at these seminars. That was in September of year 2000, barely fifteen months after he had just been elected Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Amaechi and the first speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly actively participated at these seminars cum workshops at the NICON Hilton Hotels Abuja. One seminar that was particularly very interactive and interesting was the “Executive Seminar on Quality Force Management and Civil-Military Relations”.
These seminars were put together for Nigerians by the United States Defence Institute of International Legal Studies and the Centre for Civil-Military Rations Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. As was expected from a seminar like this, many briefs were given on how to handle the situation that eventually manifested itself in today’s “Niger Delta region”. The seminar also afforded participants the rear opportunity to size up one another and to network. As we sat through the very intensive lectures of Commander Burton J. Waltman, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Navy and his other colleague, my restless eyes occasionally wondered towards Amaechi’s direction. The reasons for this, I still cannot say up till now. But one thing was certain; and most probably it was this quality that made me took special notice of him, he was extraordinarily guarded when he spoke.
Other things I observed is that Amaechi although retiring by nature, dresses immaculately and looks like he could be on the cover of a fashion magazine, “so it’s easy to stereotype him”. But behind this gorgeous and very glamorous person, I later found out, is a very good person. He has a good heart and means well all the time. Amaechi took every topic and lecture very seriously as if we’re going for another degree exam.
Physically, Amaechi is much changed from year 2000. Although never heavy, he has grown much older in looks.
As Governor Amaechi takes on his challenges, the will, courage and ability to deliver service is not lacking in him. At least, this much I know of him, during our short interaction. The question therefore is, to what extent are the people of Rivers State ready to assist Governor Amaechi and the Nigerian government to bring about quality service for people of River State? In the area of security in the region, it is about time, we tell our people in the Niger Delta Region, that what they do not value will not be valued by someone else outside the region, and what they do not make concerted effort to change will never be changed. Governor Amaechi in the past one year has being made to go through a gruelling and intellectually challenging process of convincing the electorate of his preparedness for the office he now occupy, and within this period he has been able to prove that he has what it takes to govern a state like Rivers. But contrary to most people’s expectations, his problem is not just the provision of needed infrastructures, and the social and economic revival of Rivers State, the Governor’s major obstacle now is how to root out what has now become “the peg of materialistic philosophy”. Sadly this is the peg upon which almost everything is hanging in this generation. This problem is particularly very pronounced among the uneducated youths in Rivers and Bayelsa States. This generation is unfortunately hanging its hopes on the wrong peg - materialism. This should be a source of concern not only to the Government of Rivers and Bayelsa States but to the Federal Government.
The crux of the matter is “how prepared are the people in the creeks and the city of Port Harcourt and Yenogua in assisting the government of Rivers and Bayelsa States, in rooting out hoodlums and kidnappers who masquerade as militant crusaders, of a better deal for the people of the Niger Delta?
Once there is a collective resolve by all and sundry, to checkmate criminals in Rivers and Bayelsa states in particular, and the Niger Delta Region in general, Governor Amaechi, evidence has shown, that the tendency to fulfil his electoral promises, such as excellent health care for the poor, protection of civil rights, enforcement of law and order, transmission of values, and the defence of freedom, could be achieved.
A lesson Governor Amaechi must learn now, is that, sometimes we don’t take responsibility because we believe others are more qualified. No, those who make a difference in life don’t do so because they are the best qualified, but simply because they decided to make a try. Please try, and do your very best for the Rivers people. With time, they would come to appreciate you, as they now do with the first Military Governor of that State, Alfred Diete-Spif.
Mr. Omonhinmin is a staff of Voice of Nigeria –Lagos.
For a short while now I have been battling with myself whether to, or not to do this article. The reasons for the hesitation, is simply because I do not want to be accused of patronising anybody. I had to keep this article in view, awaiting more developments in the Niger Delta Region.
But now that officer and men of the Nigerian Army are bagging jail terms over illegal arms sales in the Niger Delta region, I thought it safe to go back to my computer for this piece.
The very harsh judgement delivered by the Kaduna based General Court Marshal (GCM) over a three-count charge of illegal possession of prohibited firearm, the unlawful possession of ammunition and the fraudulent misapplication of service property, which resulted in a middle level army officers and some soldiers getting as much as life sentences, has justified my long time opinion that under no circumstances should Governor Rotimi Amaechi or any government official, state or federal negotiate with the militants.
It has always been my conviction, that what is required to bring about a lasting peace in that region is massive infrastructural and human development. Negotiation in any form with militant is a waste of time and energy.
October 26, 2008 it was exactly a year that God in his infinite wisdom, decided to show to all Nigerians, that it is he, who is in charge of world affairs.
The unprecedented judgement delivered by the justices of Nigeria Supreme Court which brought about the Governorship of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was to say the least unexpected at that time, considering the way and manner the immediate past President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Peoples Democratic Party P.D.P. leadership at that time carried on. Amaechi’s eventual return from Ghana where he went on self-exile to Port Harcourt to assume office is another attestation to the fact, that, the universe cannot exist without God. And that if there is no God in what we do as humans, we are sure to go through days that have no meaning and have no end.
Common sense therefore suggests that Amaechi on assumption of office as Governor would do anything and everything, to defend his mandate, his government and himself from the threats that was so much palpable in Rivers State and in the Niger Delta region as a whole when he was declared the Governor. Amaechi without any apology needed to take this very hard stance, if he has to function in office.
When negotiation with the militant became an issue, some few months after he took his oath of office as Governor, I knew right from inception, that the type of Rotimi Amaechi sitting as a Governor of a State will never ever court a deal with any group that go by the name militant. I told my colleague so, during a heated debate in one of our editorial conferences in Voice of Nigeria. Some of them wondered what would have informed my confidence and prediction of Amaechi.
My prediction of Governor Rotimi Amaechi is based on my knowledge of him some eight years back, when we met and interacted in Abuja, the only such opportunity ever since.
My chance of meeting with Amaechi came during a two week seminar organised by the United States Government in collaboration with the Nigerian Ministry of Defence, in Abuja. That was during the experimental stages of the present democratic practice in the country. The United States Government as expected then was no doubt very apprehensive about Nigeria. The U.S. government therefore, thought it appropriate to educate a selected group of Nigerians made up of very high ranking military and police personnel alongside civilians on what to do to sustain the country’s democratic process. The Niger Delta issue was exhaustively debated at that forum.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi and I were among other few Nigerians who were privileged to participate at these seminars. That was in September of year 2000, barely fifteen months after he had just been elected Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Amaechi and the first speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly actively participated at these seminars cum workshops at the NICON Hilton Hotels Abuja. One seminar that was particularly very interactive and interesting was the “Executive Seminar on Quality Force Management and Civil-Military Relations”.
These seminars were put together for Nigerians by the United States Defence Institute of International Legal Studies and the Centre for Civil-Military Rations Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. As was expected from a seminar like this, many briefs were given on how to handle the situation that eventually manifested itself in today’s “Niger Delta region”. The seminar also afforded participants the rear opportunity to size up one another and to network. As we sat through the very intensive lectures of Commander Burton J. Waltman, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Navy and his other colleague, my restless eyes occasionally wondered towards Amaechi’s direction. The reasons for this, I still cannot say up till now. But one thing was certain; and most probably it was this quality that made me took special notice of him, he was extraordinarily guarded when he spoke.
Other things I observed is that Amaechi although retiring by nature, dresses immaculately and looks like he could be on the cover of a fashion magazine, “so it’s easy to stereotype him”. But behind this gorgeous and very glamorous person, I later found out, is a very good person. He has a good heart and means well all the time. Amaechi took every topic and lecture very seriously as if we’re going for another degree exam.
Physically, Amaechi is much changed from year 2000. Although never heavy, he has grown much older in looks.
As Governor Amaechi takes on his challenges, the will, courage and ability to deliver service is not lacking in him. At least, this much I know of him, during our short interaction. The question therefore is, to what extent are the people of Rivers State ready to assist Governor Amaechi and the Nigerian government to bring about quality service for people of River State? In the area of security in the region, it is about time, we tell our people in the Niger Delta Region, that what they do not value will not be valued by someone else outside the region, and what they do not make concerted effort to change will never be changed. Governor Amaechi in the past one year has being made to go through a gruelling and intellectually challenging process of convincing the electorate of his preparedness for the office he now occupy, and within this period he has been able to prove that he has what it takes to govern a state like Rivers. But contrary to most people’s expectations, his problem is not just the provision of needed infrastructures, and the social and economic revival of Rivers State, the Governor’s major obstacle now is how to root out what has now become “the peg of materialistic philosophy”. Sadly this is the peg upon which almost everything is hanging in this generation. This problem is particularly very pronounced among the uneducated youths in Rivers and Bayelsa States. This generation is unfortunately hanging its hopes on the wrong peg - materialism. This should be a source of concern not only to the Government of Rivers and Bayelsa States but to the Federal Government.
The crux of the matter is “how prepared are the people in the creeks and the city of Port Harcourt and Yenogua in assisting the government of Rivers and Bayelsa States, in rooting out hoodlums and kidnappers who masquerade as militant crusaders, of a better deal for the people of the Niger Delta?
Once there is a collective resolve by all and sundry, to checkmate criminals in Rivers and Bayelsa states in particular, and the Niger Delta Region in general, Governor Amaechi, evidence has shown, that the tendency to fulfil his electoral promises, such as excellent health care for the poor, protection of civil rights, enforcement of law and order, transmission of values, and the defence of freedom, could be achieved.
A lesson Governor Amaechi must learn now, is that, sometimes we don’t take responsibility because we believe others are more qualified. No, those who make a difference in life don’t do so because they are the best qualified, but simply because they decided to make a try. Please try, and do your very best for the Rivers people. With time, they would come to appreciate you, as they now do with the first Military Governor of that State, Alfred Diete-Spif.
Mr. Omonhinmin is a staff of Voice of Nigeria –Lagos.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
On Emma And David Omonhinmin
BY GABRIEL OMONHINMIN
November 2007, is one of the saddest moments in the Omonhinmin’s family. In quick succession and in an unbelievable manner, two of my immediate elder brothers, Emmanuel and David took their exit from mother earth. Emmanuel, my brother, had before November 6th when he died at the Auchi General Hospital, had been broken-hearted and bedridden, with stroke for eight excruciating years as he was abandoned and forsaken by his wife.
As if it was planned, as the curtain drew on Emmanuel’s life, David Emmanuel’s half brother, who is also his closest friend and confidant in the family, on his way from Benin to Jos in Plateau State had a motor accident which resulted in a spinal cord injury.
Knowing that the two men were much closer, we resolved never to allow David know that Emmanuel had passed on.
On Saturday, November 10, 2007, as I arrived at the Auchi General Hospital Mortuary to prepare Emma’s body for his final passage, one of the most haunting words on death, I have ever read was the description by the one and only Professor Wole Soyinka in his memoirs, “You Must Set Forth at Dawn” on one of the last moments of his friend Femi Johnson.
As the mortuary attendant, threw open the door and pointed to the corpse of Emma, the inimitable words of Soyinka came to my mind. His words: “As I looked down on the stretcher, I received a jolt, rather like an electric shock, a crude intimation of finality. Nothing had prepared me for the plea for help that I encountered when my eyes looked into my brother’s. His, glassy and mud brown eyes rolled upwards to encounter mine, eloquent in their depth or bewilderment. Like Prof Wole Syoyinka, I asked what is happening to me. I pleaded. Help me up out of this pit; just help me emerge from this darkness. Emma’s eyes appeared to dissolve into a deep, endless tunnel; fathomless...I withdrew slowly, chilled to the bone, acknowledging that he had withdrawn himself from the world, even as my hands left his. For I knew, in that moment, that I had left Emma at the very end of the tunnel, within that fathomless space, that my elder brother who laid on that stretcher would not return home to Ehallen-Ewu in the form we knew, and cherished.
After the burial of Emma, frantic efforts were made by the family members to save the life of David. “Another death in the Omonhinmin’s family must not and should not happen; we decided in finality as if we were God who has the ultimate say about life”.
On Monday, November 12th, I left the village for Benin, and went straight to the Emergency Wards of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital to see how David was doing, what I saw at the hospital brought hopelessness to my mind. My brother requires a miracle to stay alive. I went away sucking and praying that David gives us the opportunity to save him.
On Tuesday, November 13 at exactly 5.30 a.m. I left Benin for Lagos a very depressed person to plan the next line of action. It was not a surprise, when I receive the text message from Conrad the youngest child in the family, “Don’t bury him, he is sleeping”.
Emma and David’s passage made me to begin to make critical inquire on the purpose of life and the meaning of death. The questions that came to my mind, was, is there such a thing as eternity or is this life that we know the only reality? The atheists are of the belief, that there is no God and no life beyond this sphere. They believe only in that which they can see, touch, hear, feel and smell. But if there is no life beyond the grave, is the essence of life not meaningless and purposeless? Why strive for goodness of justice or kindness or any other positive virtues if it all ends in the grave? What does it matter then if you kill or maim your neighbour or help yourself to his wife or rape his sister? Experience has shown, that “when there is no God, everything is permitted”. And if we believe that only what we can see and touch or feel physically exists, how come we believe that love exists when we cannot see love? We cannot see hatred. You cannot feel it, nor hear it. Yet it is one of the most powerful forces in the world. You cannot see, nor hear, nor feel thought, but you know it is a reality. You cannot see the imagination, yet it can take pictures of sense, knowledge and throw them upon a canvass, or can translate them into the most beautiful harmony. You cannot see the wind but you can feet its effect. You cannot see gravitation, yet you can feel it effect. You cannot see conscience, the voice of your spirit, but you can feel the effect.”
It is about a year now, since Emma and David decided to take their exit from mother earth. It has been a year of immense pain which has continued to endure unabated. The deaths of my two brothers’ are not in vain. Their death no doubt has helped those of us alive to draw closer to our creator God.
Their death has made me discover God’s purpose for my life. Life without a purpose is meaningless and mere existence.
I now meditate daily on God’s greatness, His grace and His love. From experience, I can say that major problems have become far less significant when measured against the greatness of an omnipotent God. Adieu! Emma. Adieu!! David. Rest in peace, until we meet to part no more.
November 2007, is one of the saddest moments in the Omonhinmin’s family. In quick succession and in an unbelievable manner, two of my immediate elder brothers, Emmanuel and David took their exit from mother earth. Emmanuel, my brother, had before November 6th when he died at the Auchi General Hospital, had been broken-hearted and bedridden, with stroke for eight excruciating years as he was abandoned and forsaken by his wife.
As if it was planned, as the curtain drew on Emmanuel’s life, David Emmanuel’s half brother, who is also his closest friend and confidant in the family, on his way from Benin to Jos in Plateau State had a motor accident which resulted in a spinal cord injury.
Knowing that the two men were much closer, we resolved never to allow David know that Emmanuel had passed on.
On Saturday, November 10, 2007, as I arrived at the Auchi General Hospital Mortuary to prepare Emma’s body for his final passage, one of the most haunting words on death, I have ever read was the description by the one and only Professor Wole Soyinka in his memoirs, “You Must Set Forth at Dawn” on one of the last moments of his friend Femi Johnson.
As the mortuary attendant, threw open the door and pointed to the corpse of Emma, the inimitable words of Soyinka came to my mind. His words: “As I looked down on the stretcher, I received a jolt, rather like an electric shock, a crude intimation of finality. Nothing had prepared me for the plea for help that I encountered when my eyes looked into my brother’s. His, glassy and mud brown eyes rolled upwards to encounter mine, eloquent in their depth or bewilderment. Like Prof Wole Syoyinka, I asked what is happening to me. I pleaded. Help me up out of this pit; just help me emerge from this darkness. Emma’s eyes appeared to dissolve into a deep, endless tunnel; fathomless...I withdrew slowly, chilled to the bone, acknowledging that he had withdrawn himself from the world, even as my hands left his. For I knew, in that moment, that I had left Emma at the very end of the tunnel, within that fathomless space, that my elder brother who laid on that stretcher would not return home to Ehallen-Ewu in the form we knew, and cherished.
After the burial of Emma, frantic efforts were made by the family members to save the life of David. “Another death in the Omonhinmin’s family must not and should not happen; we decided in finality as if we were God who has the ultimate say about life”.
On Monday, November 12th, I left the village for Benin, and went straight to the Emergency Wards of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital to see how David was doing, what I saw at the hospital brought hopelessness to my mind. My brother requires a miracle to stay alive. I went away sucking and praying that David gives us the opportunity to save him.
On Tuesday, November 13 at exactly 5.30 a.m. I left Benin for Lagos a very depressed person to plan the next line of action. It was not a surprise, when I receive the text message from Conrad the youngest child in the family, “Don’t bury him, he is sleeping”.
Emma and David’s passage made me to begin to make critical inquire on the purpose of life and the meaning of death. The questions that came to my mind, was, is there such a thing as eternity or is this life that we know the only reality? The atheists are of the belief, that there is no God and no life beyond this sphere. They believe only in that which they can see, touch, hear, feel and smell. But if there is no life beyond the grave, is the essence of life not meaningless and purposeless? Why strive for goodness of justice or kindness or any other positive virtues if it all ends in the grave? What does it matter then if you kill or maim your neighbour or help yourself to his wife or rape his sister? Experience has shown, that “when there is no God, everything is permitted”. And if we believe that only what we can see and touch or feel physically exists, how come we believe that love exists when we cannot see love? We cannot see hatred. You cannot feel it, nor hear it. Yet it is one of the most powerful forces in the world. You cannot see, nor hear, nor feel thought, but you know it is a reality. You cannot see the imagination, yet it can take pictures of sense, knowledge and throw them upon a canvass, or can translate them into the most beautiful harmony. You cannot see the wind but you can feet its effect. You cannot see gravitation, yet you can feel it effect. You cannot see conscience, the voice of your spirit, but you can feel the effect.”
It is about a year now, since Emma and David decided to take their exit from mother earth. It has been a year of immense pain which has continued to endure unabated. The deaths of my two brothers’ are not in vain. Their death no doubt has helped those of us alive to draw closer to our creator God.
Their death has made me discover God’s purpose for my life. Life without a purpose is meaningless and mere existence.
I now meditate daily on God’s greatness, His grace and His love. From experience, I can say that major problems have become far less significant when measured against the greatness of an omnipotent God. Adieu! Emma. Adieu!! David. Rest in peace, until we meet to part no more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
