Nigeria's Journalistic Militantism: Putting the Facts in Perspective on How the Press Failed Nigeria Setting the Wrong Agenda and Excessively Attacking Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo!

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1

The Man Obasanjo: The Start of Political Relevance

Involvement of the Judiciary

The Mass Media

Chapter 2

The Post-Shagari’s Second Republic

The military Anachronism

Ibrahim Babangida finally takes his turn!

Sani Abacha emerges

Chapter 3

Filling the vacuum upon the death of Abacha: which way forward?

The Phantom Gentleman’s Agreement

State of Nigeria in 1999

Chapter 4

The Second Coming of Olusegun Obasanjo

The Mass Media in a new-found role

Highlights of Obasanjo’s First Term

Interim Period preceding the Second Term

Chapter 5

The Second Term of Obasanjo’s Presidency

Crucial Appointments

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Critics and militant-minded writers

Nuhu Ribadu

Nassir El-Rufai

The Presidency at a crossroad

Chapter 6

The Quest for a Third Term and The Fallout with the Deputy

The Fallout with the Deputy

The deadliest miscalculation of an embattled Vice President

Judicial Activism

The INEC Judgment

Chapter 7

The President’s Failures in Government and Governance!

General Performances

Poor Mastery of Social Psychology

Adedibu’s Banditry

Bola Ige

Armed Militancy and the Radical Surge in Organized Homicide

Disrespect for the Rule of Law

The EFCC and the Rule of Law

High-level Bribery the Halliburton Style!

Conclusion

Chapter 8

The President’s Achievements in Government and Governance!

Debt Repayment

Overall Economy

The Power sector

The Nigerian Airways

The Grand Fight against Corruption and the EFCC

The Secret Fight behind the Iron Curtains

Mobile Telecommunications

Bank Reform and the Federal Character

The Satellite Project

Chapter 9

Unfortunate Journalistic Militantism!

Composition of the Media Landscape in Nigeria

Media Operatives in a Battle of Quality

Simon Kolawole

Reuben Abati

Okey Ndibe

Seeming Intellectual collaboration in a Grand design

The Internet and the total Derailment of Journalism

The Presidential Election

The Consequence: A Nation teetering on the Brink

Chapter 10

Enter Umaru Musa Yar’Adua

Policy Reversals

The sudden Hunt for Iyabo Obasanjo

Judicial Activism in a Mopping-up Operation

The Peter Obi Judgment

The Amaechi Judgment

The Oshiomole judgment

The Igbinedion Factor and Parliamentary Coup

Vituperations by Interest Groups on a Forward March

Chapter 11

Conclusion: Which way forward for the Nigerian Press?

Syndicate Journalism

Transformation of Media ownership

The Media Campaign Mode

Footnotes

Annexes

Annex 1 – Published in several online forums

Annex 2 – Published in several online forums

Annex 3 – Published in several online forums

Annex 4 – Published online

Annex 5 – Published in several Nigerian Dailies and online forums

Annex 6 – Published in several online forums

Annex 7 – Published in several online forums

Annex 8 – Published in several online forums

Annex 9 – Published in several online forums

Annex 10:

Annex 11

Bibliography

About the Author:

Many thanks to veteran Journalist and ever-loyal friend Tony Abolo

Preface

The run-up to political events in Nigeria of 2006 can be well described as the beginning of a political Armageddon of sort. It was a time in which some hardly believable rumors began to take control of airwaves and newspaper pages. The President of the country was rumored to have set underground processes in motion to amend the constitution of the land to allow him the right to run for a third term as President. The rumor was trailed by official denials and silly innuendoes. Insiders insisted that something was truly brewing. The President’s men were reportedly lobbying Legislators hard with a huge amount of money changing hands each step of the way.

The President’s Office bluntly refused to identify with any such move. Occasional denials were mixed with such neutral insinuations of neither denying nor confirming the veracity of the persistent rumor. The President’s Office thus sent mixed signals.

Within the first half of the year 2006 however, a bill truly surfaced before the National Assembly seeking precisely what the President’s Office consistently sent mixed signals about. It triggered off the political battle of lobbying gladiators never before experienced in the History of Nigeria. The President’s Camp and the Opposition camp, ironically led by the Vice President, got embroiled in a fierce lobbying battle with the media strongly on the side of the Vice President and Constitutionality.

On May 16, 2006, the President lost the battle and the bill was defeated.

Maintaining the momentum of the poisoned method of political interaction, the media simply derailed into poisonous antagonism in a bid to turn the heat on the President for his generally perceived excesses. A mix of professional and hobby writers found a convenient home in the news media encouraging a popular trend of raining pastime abuses on the President of the Land. The President simply became a verbal punching bag. Facts and truth became the very first victims that were sacrificed on the altar of willful manipulations.

The country was suddenly in a state of denial. The President simply became everything that had gone wrong and thus far, defined the failure of the Nigeria-Project. His two-term tenure of eight years became popularly characterized as wasted and his person depicted as the devil-incarnate. The Press simply went too far and wreaked further havoc on an already faulty and fragile political system.

Voices like mine which often tried so hard to remind the media of its systemic duty of objectivity and unbiased gatekeeper function, were often shouted down and denounced as sellouts. It did not matter if one acknowledged the failures of the President but also sought to remind others of some milestone achievements. The political blunder of seeking tenure elongation did unspeakable damage to the President’s credibility and was used as a ready excuse to further reduce the news media into a playground for unprofessional journalistic agitations.

This book Nigeria’s Journalistic Militantism is just hell-bent on setting the records straight in defiance of more widely-held opinions, which willfully negate a whole lot of valid facts.

Putting the Facts in Perspective on how the Press failed Nigeria setting the wrong agenda and excessively attacking ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in breach of professional ethics on absolute neutrality! A brief historical guide to the build-up of facts and culmination in the present political dilemma of political uncertainty with a conclusive personal view on the possible way forward for the Nigerian Press.

Chapter 1

The Man Obasanjo: The Start of Political Relevance

The scene was Benin City. It was a day like no other. The date was February 13 and the year was 1976. I was a youngster in my mid-teens and loved reading newspapers to keep abreast of daily events. This aroused my interest in political matters as they always occupied the front pages. On this precise day, I heard elders murmuring and calling out to each other in subdued tones. A hush-hush call signaling something weird! The message was clear though. Have you heard the news? They all seem to say each time. I was too young to know what the strangeness was all about. The radio reported something unusual and there was no mistaking it.

Something weird has come to pass. Far away in Lagos – the then capital city of Nigeria! My neighborhood witnessed scattered groups of two or three men and women. They were debating. Some were loud and some in silent exchanges. It felt like a collective chill up the spine of the entire neighborhood. I could feel the awesomeness. The fear of uncertainty – Not knowing what may come next.

I probed tenaciously to be told what has happened and someone rewarded me with an answer. The Head of State has been assassinated (meaning killed since I did not know what Assassination meant at my tender age). It was a foiled bloody coup.

By now however, I have come to know what a Coup d’etat means since the head of state himself General Murtala Mohammed came to power barely six months back on the heels of a bloodless coup.

I remember this handsome-looking fat-cheeked Northerner Murtala Mohammed when he first appeared on television on his maiden speech to the nation. To us all, he was just one Hausa like his predecessor Yakubu Gowon. Those days, we hardly knew who was Tiv, Fulani or Hausa. Everyone from the north was simply Hausa unlike today in the era of distinguishing between the Top Belt, Middle Belt and Bottom Belt. Nigeria of those days simply knew no belts. I remember this Head of State in his standard trademark slogan "My government (which he habitually pronounced in the typical northern accent – "My Guo-vana-mont") will not tolerate any act of indiscipline." His sight was refreshing and his pronouncements authoritative. Many identified with him within the short period of his exposure.

Shock and consternation pervaded the air when news of his demise suddenly hit the airwaves. It was the death of hope and high expectations.

A ray of light through the dark tunnel that the six-month reign of Murtala Mohammed had introduced into Nigeria threatened to crumble in one fell swoop! He had launched an ambitious move to rid the nation of a growing wave of corruption and nepotism. It was a move, which in the least, aimed to trim the wings of the invading malaise. He withdrew official recognition of the 1973 population census conducted by the man he had toppled. It was a head count that was widely regarded as flawed. Its result was thought to have unduly inflated the population of the States of northern Nigeria to attract higher revenue allocation from the central government. It was a population census that was ridiculed with a nation-wide joke – as far as I recorded in my teenage days – that cows were counted in addition to the people. An obvious reference to the predominant trade of cattle rearing in Northern Nigeria! He wielded the ax on over 10,000 serving public employees and ushered in the dawn of a new consciousness in public service. He trimmed the wings of state governors and downsized the strength of peripheral governments. He overhauled the Third National Development Plan with a stern monetary policy in place to keep inflation in check.

A huge feat for six months in terms of volume and result!

In addition to several other measures that gave the nation a different sense of direction and clearly elevated Mohammed from the man that he toppled, it became obvious that there was a clear intellectual agenda behind the government’s work. An agenda that aroused widespread curiosity trying to figure out the ultimate endgame! Many observers agreed by and large that the steps taken were all in the right direction and in the interest of the nation itself.

His premature death in the hands of coup leaders disgruntled about the removal of General Yakubu Gowon in the coup that brought Murtala Mohammed to power left a moral and mental scar. It bore a bitter aftertaste. The nation was stunned. It truly sent a chill up the spine of a struggling people. The question What next had to be answered quickly and decisively. However, such answer had to pass through a maze of logical complexities that was never bargained for. No one saw it coming.

In a nation created by the British colonial adventurers in utter disregard for a common national identity of the local folks, the problem of ethnic diversity has been demanding a huge toll from the social psyche of rulers and subjects alike. Fresh from a civil war that was fought for no reason other than the quest for an equitable way to accommodate the huge number of diverse ethnic groups, southern Nigeria has been locked in a long-drawn cry of marginalization by some northern oligarchs. Indeed the botched population census of 1973 was one of such helpless cries of the south over unsolicited northern domination.

Brigadier (later General) Murtala Mohammed’s actions and pronouncements painted the picture of a man leading a government that had taken precisely this problem into very serious consideration. His number two man was Brigadier (later Lt. General) Olusegun Obasanjo who hails from western Nigeria. Whatever reason informed this decision, it became obvious that the south (represented by all other parts of the country except the north) was pacified by the high-profile status of one of their own. If peace was to be maintained in the military hierarchy and the country at large following a recently concluded civil war, the late Mohammed simply had to be succeeded by his second-in-command. The dilemma - even though unspoken – was easy to see through. The northern-dominated ranks of coup planners did not stage the coup that ousted Yakubu Gowon only to handover power to a minority southerner, in a situation where the southerners had no significant numerical strength in the military anyway.

Since the search for peace and forward movement was given priority, Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo was installed as Head of State. The erstwhile number three man General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua moved one step forward followed by Maj. General Theophilus Danjuma both of northern extraction.

I remember the face of Olusegun Obasanjo without the glasses during his first Television address. We teased him in the group of friends and nicknamed him the Mosquito-eyed General because his eyes looked smallish.

Indeed while Olusegun Obasanjo outwardly headed the government, it was widely believed that the duo of Theophilus Danjuma and Shehu Musa Yar’Adua were truly calling the shots behind the scene.

One late General Olufemi Olutoye was once reported as narrating a story in his own autobiography detailing how he personally chatted with then Head of State General Olusegun Obasanjo in private, shortly after General Obasanjo was sworn-in as successor to Murtala Muhammed. He had sought to draw General Obasanjo’s attention to the problem of ethnic imbalance in Federal appointments at the higher level. He urged the Head of State to seek ways of addressing and remedying the disturbing malaise. The discussion was held at the then Dodan Barracks in Lagos. Obasanjo reportedly sent for General Olutoye a few hours after this brief discussion. This time however, General Obasanjo was waiting for him in the company of the then Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters (then technical speak for second in command) General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. General Olutoye was asked to repeat the same advice in the presence of Yar’Adua. General Olutoye obliged. One day after, Olutoye was unceremoniously retired and he got news of it in a radio announcement courtesy of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. It was a test of where the balance of power lay.

The picture of Olusegun Obasanjo that met the eye in this constellation was reminiscent of a stray young man in the midst of predators at whose mercy he stands. He would retain the outward leadership image for as long as he plays along. I had the feeling that he was the head of government that could have been easily overruled by his committee of pals depending on the weighting of the prevailing interest, if and when they so desired.

Be that as it may, this government set itself the agenda of giving up power and handing over to an elected civilian government within a defined time frame – a task for which the preceding regime of Yakubu Gowon was ridiculed in the face of constant postponements. No doubt, there were many as well who could not fully trust the seriousness of this project launched by Olusegun Obasanjo and chose to adopt a wait-and-see attitude until it really came to fruition.

At the end of the day, the government led by Lt. General (later General) Olusegun Obasanjo obviously took the steam out of Mohammed’s radical and aggressive drive to clean up the nation. The focus of this government became Operation Feed the Nation. It was a program aimed at achieving agricultural self-sufficiency and steering Nigeria away from a foreign trade regime of food importation.

This program was vigorously pursued while other gains achieved in Mohammed’s Blitzkrieg of revamping the overall system were craftily sustained in a moderate quality of governmental management. Indeed the online encyclopedia Wikipedia in its profile on Obasanjo reports that the period in the run-up to the year 1980 in which General Olusegun Obasanjo’s government handed over power to the elected civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari was characterized by economic growth. Growth was particularly pronounced in the production and assembly of consumer goods, including vehicle assembly and the manufacture of soap and detergents, soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, beer, paint, and building materials. Furthermore, there was extensive investment in infrastructure from 1975 to 1980, and the number of parastatals — jointly owned government- and private companies — proliferated. The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion decrees of 1972 and 1977 further encouraged the growth of an indigenous middle class.(1) It was the period that heralded the industry of vehicle assembly into this populous nation of the black race. The first of its kind was Volkswagen. Steel production plants were put in place and oil production ensured Nigeria had the necessary cash in the face of favorable prices and incomes that were managed – again – in a moderate quality of governmental know-how.

Public education on traffic rules and general civility were often channeled to the masses through mass media campaign. Educated individuals took the lead in every aspects of society and were generously remunerated in the public and private sector. Younger ones aspired to get educated and join the elites as quickly as possible. Students of higher institutions thrilled their surroundings of aspiring youngsters to intellectual and practical academic fascination. The Students’ Union was dreaded by governments at all levels because they took their time to take positions on political issues and when they did, they were often wise and prudent.

In a nutshell, the economy was buoyant and society in good shape and it all seemed headed in the right direction.

The Second Republic and the Shagari Days

Then came the magical date! It was October 1, 1979. This date, on which Nigeria’s 19th independence anniversary was celebrated also marked the dawn of Nigeria’s so-called Second Republic. General Olusegun Obasanjo had handed over power to an elected civilian government headed by President Shehu Shagari amid fanfare and outward pageantry before the gaze of military parades. This followed a heated electoral controversy that culminated in an even more controversial resolution by judicial pronouncement.

An election that featured five political parties approved by the military-backed Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) wound up to the emergence of two strong contenders! They were the presidential candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) Alhaji Shehu Shagari. While the former presented a carefully mapped out political program and strategy of governance in a party machinery that was centered on his person and ideological conviction, the latter headed a gathering of non-coherent ideological think-tanks. In fact, the robust intellectual and preparatory background reflected in the four cardinal program offered by Obafemi Awolowo led many observers to believe that he was the better prepared of the two candidates to ascend the coveted throne.

Just emerging from a government headed by a western Nigerian however, the northern oligarchs that were indirectly enthroned by the retreating British colonial administrators of the 1960’s could simply not bring themselves to support the enthronement of yet another southern President - a tendency that has proven along time, as one major undoing factor for the national union of Nigeria.

The Nigerian military establishment, which did not only fight heroically or unnecessarily (depending on one’s position in the Nigerian ideological divide) to redeem the nation from a divisive and segregationist civil war in the early 1970s came out of a bloody legacy to be the custodian of political power in a multifaceted geographical equation.

Indeed, revelations in the year 2007 have uncovered a deliberate design by the British colonialist to leave a northern dominated political leadership in Nigeria while granting it political independence, to forestall a potential socialist embrace by the largely better educated south. After all, socialism as a system of choice was largely en vogue and gaining relevance through several emerging third-world countries. The higher the level of education, the more fascination people felt for the socialist ideals of equality and classlessness. It was simply the trend of the time. This is the gist of the revelations made by Harold Smith in the year 2007 (47 years after Nigeria’s independence from Great Britain). Harold Smith was a former British colonial officer who served in Nigeria in the 1950s. A Harvard educated political operative of his time, he was quoted in a BBC Radio Documentary as a witness to history in a ploy to hand over Nigeria in its very first elections conducted by the British colonialists, to the more conservative, less educated, Muslim northerners to guaranty a non-socialist embrace and some form of political stability.

The balance of the military with northern Nigerians dominating the highest echelon in the post-independence status is till today, still highly suspected to be the brainchild of a deliberate British manipulation.

Against this backdrop, a flashback analysis of the events that played out in 1979 leaves much room to speculate that a wrongly pampered northern elite spoiled with an addiction to political power, was unable to swallow what it considered the bitter pill of permitting a handover of political power in 1979, to another southerner by an outgoing southerner. This scenario is to play out even more conspicuously, over 20 years later.

In the end, the principle of meritocracy – highly adored by political scientists and experts of Public Administration – was consistently proving to be a non-starter in a fragile national conglomerate of regional interests in Nigeria.

It thus came to pass that the 1979 presidential election that was to mark the birth of the Second Republic produced a clear but constitutionally controversial victor.

Figures released by the Federal Electoral Commission saw the northern candidate of the National Party of Nigeria Alhaji Shehu Shagari scoring 33.77% of popular vote (5,668,857) as opposed to the runner-up Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria who scored 29.18% (4,916,651). All other candidates (Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Aminu Kano and Waziri Ibrahim) had no reasonable prospect of an eventual run-off.

Involvement of the Judiciary

Trouble started however, when the victory of Shehu Shagari was put to legal test. Section 34(A)(1)(c)(ii) of the amended electoral decree of 1977 had mandated a minimum of 25% of popular votes in at least ⅔ of a total of 19 states. Shagari met this requirement in a total of 12 states. Since two-third of 19 is 12.67, and a 13th state cannot be fractionalized mathematically, the defeated candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria argued that the hurdle to be scaled should automatically stand at 13 states. In other words, he sought a locus standi proclaiming that the candidate with the most votes had just fallen short of the legally required majority. If this were accepted as a legal reality, it would have paved the way for a run-off election staking Shehu Shagari against Obafemi Awolowo. A legal battle was launched that saw the adversaries through to the highest court of the land.

The judiciary was then faced with the task of interpreting what should be understood by two-third of nineteen states.

Hearings were accelerated and rulings passed in good time for eventual power transfer.

Twelve two-third! That was the final verdict. It was passed by the Supreme Court. The phrase Twelve two-third thus became the sloganeering catchword on which the judicial foundation of the Second Republic was laid. The Supreme Court held the view that Shehu Shagari could be seen to have secured the required 12⅔ majority of the 19 states of the Federation by virtue of his comparatively evenly distributed share of popular votes across the geographical landscape.

At the time, this was seen by some observers and many commentators as a major misstep in the quest for a more prosperous and better shaped path for the future growth of Nigeria.

A better prepared Obafemi Awolowo, who obviously presented an intellectually viable political and economic program that convinced a large section of the intelligentsia and market women alike, was widely regarded as a better presidential material. There was no guaranty though that he would have won or would have been allowed to win a run-off election against Shehu Shagari if indeed a run-off election was permitted. As much as he had ardent supporters and admirers of his party program and personal charisma, the man Obafemi Awolowo also had a lot of enemies cutting across ethnic and professional lines. The eastern region of the country would for instance, not forgive him for the anti-secessionist role he was perceived to have played during the civil war. Many elements within the military leadership that was arranging the transition to civilian rule also had their own fears. The fear of uncontrolled prosecution on corruption charges and other possible political crimes!

On the other hand, the facts as they stood and the reasons advanced by the Supreme Court at the time were not perfect. However, they could not be dismissed with a simple wave of the hand. Many held the view that the Supreme Court could have decided either way and had enough reasons to defend its position. A run-off election would have been tenable much like cognizance had to be taken of the fact that the geographical distribution of Shehu Shagari’s votes reflected a better nationwide appeal than did that of his closest rival. He scored 25% of popular votes in 12 states and won more popular votes.

Indeed the argument advanced by the Supreme Court even though not in line with the strictest spirit of legal interpretation, was deemed an acceptable compromise for a country reeling from and licking its wounds in the aftermath of a recent civil bloodshed. Political considerations bordering on the political state of the union ended up playing a significant role in the pacification of minds to succumb to the ultimate reality. This, at least, was the fundamental reasoning that pacified agitated minds canvassing a strict adherence to the letters of the law with less exposure of the underlying tribal consideration of the ruling elite absolutely committed to blocking the emergence of another southern President to succeed an outgoing military Head of State of southern extraction.

Voices, claiming at the time that the bidding of northern oligarchs was done by the Supreme Court amid the convenience of the acceptability of facts and reasons, were in the extreme minority and drowned in the pervading enthusiasm.

It was indeed, a judicial pronouncement with a strong political undertone, which on the surface, seemed to have had social and political peace at the core of its formula. It bore all traces of a convenient recipe for any northern conspiracy (as conspiracy theorists would have it), of avoiding the cession of power to any Southerner by a Southern Olusegun Obasanjo under any guise. Shortly put, it looked very much like an unnoticed and faltering step into the world of judicial activism. There is however, hardly any proof till the present day, of the manipulative involvement of the Generals in the final judgment of the Supreme Court.

The Mass Media

The Nigerian Press in the run-up to the transfer of power to an elected civilian administration of the Second Republic stood out for two major characteristics. It was booming in the valley of Plurality and laying the groundwork for the future growth of Partisanship!

In a period of the continental political game of military coup and counter-coups, dictatorship had been the typical hallmark of military Rulership. There was hardly any country in black Africa at the time that was structuring politics in the semblance of democratic frameworks. A tradition of military leaders transitioning to democracy and swapping military uniforms for civilian dresses was steadily gaining grounds across the African continent. Most often, it was a single party system that sought to advance the smokescreen of general plebiscite. Seemingly democratic Zambia and Kenya were running unitary systems. Zimbabwe had newly emerged from the fangs of Ian Smith’s apartheid regime and Mugabe found preoccupation in crushing his former comrade-in-arms Joshua Nkomo. The most conspicuous and prominent victim in all these trends was notably the mass media. It always served as the mouthpiece of political change. The toppling of governments was usually announced in seized radio stations and the stranglehold was traditionally extended deep into Rulership to ensure that praises of unitary leaders were continued.

Through all these jungles of power games and suppression, international observers were dismayed at the relative plurality and freedom of expression maintained in the Nigerian media landscape in spite of Nigeria’s notorious record of military dictatorships. Private ownership of the print media was allowed and precisely this element it was that accelerated the multiplicity of newspaper brands in the market for readership.

In addition to several state-owned newspapers circulating nationwide, there was the prominent Federal government-owned Daily Times, which was home to the breeding of a vast crop of brilliant journalists. Popular newspapers of those days include Nigerian Tribune, Guardian, Punch, Daily Sketch and many more. The military government of Olusegun Obasanjo did not indulge in the habit of closing media houses as was done by several other military governments in the continent when publications fell out of favor. Echoes in the rumor mill however resounded umpteen times that it was not unusual to witness the sudden and overnight disappearance of popular columns from Nigerian newspapers under Obasanjo’s watch. Machinations were said to have obviously been set in motion behind the scene to ensure the removal of disliked columnists and columns by media proprietors in quiet dictatorial activism. Since no example readily comes to mind in this respect it will suffice to assume that this method – if true – ultimately played out without the commotion of imprisonments and brutal intimidation and the world therefore, took no notice.

Views were diverse and there was no shortage of divergence. Virtually every school of thought was represented in newspaper species. Then something happened that was to shape the turn of events in the shape of journalism in Nigeria over 20 years later.

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of Igbo descent (East Nigeria) was a veteran Nigerian elite who shot to fame at the early days of the inception of Nigeria’s geographical entity. One of his pioneering actions was the founding of one of Nigeria’s earliest newspapers West African Pilot - depending on the source of information – either in the year 1927 (BBC African Service Story of Africa Chapter 7) or on November 22, 1937 (www.Nigerianwiki.com and perhaps, several other sources). It was one of the first newspapers owned by a political activist in Nigeria to lend voice to the views propagated in his own actions and those actions at the time were the fight against imperial colonialism. Unfortunately though, this newspaper died a comparatively early death in terms of the customary lifespan of viable newspapers.

One of Azikiwe’s closest historical rivals through the period of the struggle for political independence up until the battle for presidency in the Second Republic was Chief Obafemi Awolowo of Yoruba descent (West Nigeria). This eminent Nigerian doyen of activism who left indelible imprints on very many facets of Nigeria’s intellectual history obviously borrowed a leaf from Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s preceding action and also established a newspaper of his own. According to its own archives, the Nigerian Tribune was founded on November 16, 1949 by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. This newspaper, which exists till the present day, ultimately became the flag-bearer of everything that an objective news media should never represent in any sane democratic set-up. The era was 1979.

With the ban on political activities lifted in the wake of preparations for the Second Republic, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was one of the first veterans to emerge in a coming out process that saw the scene flooded by several dozens of political wannabes. The programmatic firework unleashed by Chief Awolowo was conveyed to the masses principally and unceremoniously through the newspaper that he had founded way back in 1949

Suddenly, the Nigerian Tribune became a propaganda machine devoted almost exclusively to the advancement of Awolowo’s political ambition. Indeed, since his ideas and the programs that were exposed through this medium found large acceptance with a vast section of the society, there was hardly any meaningful voice condemning the corruption and misuse of a news organ that was supposed to be reporting objectively and fairly for mass consumption. It was indeed, the foundation stone of the evil that was to plague Nigeria’s media landscape several years to come. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, an active politician seeking political office was openly using a news organ as an instrument of choice.

Since this was not going to take root unanswered, opposition voices began to cry foul and no one listened because the cries were perceived to be the burning tears of convenience.

A hitherto politically unknown if not outright irrelevant figure sprang out of the blues and established a newspaper for the main rival political party – the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). It was the emergence of Moshood Abiola who single-handedly sponsored the establishment of the newspaper The Concord.

As a successful businessman Moshood Abiola was not a household name to politically committed observers and activists alike. He was a fortunate Nigerian of Yoruba descent rumored to have duped his way out of the erstwhile globally dominant American Telecommunications company ITT, which he was reported to have served as Vice President for Africa and the Middle East. Since no proof ever surfaced of this speculative assertion, it finally ended up in the historical compartments of absurdity, obnoxiousness and factual irrelevance. Voices however contending that there would never be smoke without fire would always prefer to drop a footnote on this assertion whenever Moshood Abiola was the subject of profiling.

Incidentally, Moshood Abiola made his way into millions in cash that were obviously well managed to transform him further into the status of a multi-millionaire. He became an attractive target for political groupings seeking financial sponsorship as a lifeline for survival in a cold call to rivalry on all fronts. In the end, he enlisted into the National Party of Nigeria. A party that outwardly symbolized the convergence of like-minded ideologues with a programmatic construct! Unlike Obafemi Awolowo’s carefully thought-through political manifesto that addressed academic details with simplicity in the conveyance of messages, the political program of the NPN was more of a hastily designed set of campaign promises drawn up by a group of intelligent minds. While the UPN packaged its manifesto under the easily comprehensible catchword of the Four Cardinal Program (obviously playing on the geographical four cardinal points of East, West, North and South) of Free and Compulsory Education at all levels, Free Medical Care, Gainful Employment and Integrated Rural Development focusing on housing, the NPN carved out a program with no sloganeering catchword advocating Qualitative Education to counter UPN’s propagation of the feasibility of Free Education at all levels under prudent financial management. NPN advocated a program of Green Revolution to signal continuity in Obasanjo’s program of Operation Feed the Nation that targeted a moderately successful program of agricultural self-sufficiency that was conveyed to every household through the mass media. Obasanjo’s Operation Feed the Nation encouraged every household to grow food on every empty spaces of land around the houses and the message was left for the media to spread around. All in all, the NPN was caught in a precarious position of