What did he tell me? Let me share it with you: A little over a decade or so ago, I had travelled to Kwara State to pursue a story for The Punch Newspapers. We wanted an interview with Comrade Olola Kasumu, a vocal champion of the cause of people of Afonja descent in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. As I arrived Ilorin, I visited my dad, who was then a Permanent Secretary in the Kwara State Civil Service. He wanted to know what I was doing in town and I saw no reason why I should not tell him. After all it was “Daddy”. “I was sent here to get an interview with Olola Kasumu. It’s been a while since we heard anything from him and we would like an interview.” My father looked at me and shook his head. Then he spoke: “You journalists sha, you like to look for trouble. Someone says he doesn’t want to speak, you say he must speak. What is your own? Sometimes I wonder why they call you gentlemen of the press because I honestly don’t think you are gentle.” I just laughed and left his office to “look for the trouble” I came for. Today, I also find myself asking why the media, especially the Nigerian media, loves to court trouble. We just are in such a hurry to get people to vilify us. What exactly is our challenge? First it was the poor Lagos State Commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. Now it is Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State. God knows who it will be next. May be yours truly although I am honest enough to know that I am too small a fry for the Nigerian media to feast on. But honestly we like trouble too much. Haba! Editor of the Daily Independent on Saturday, Olumide Iyanda, drew my attention to Channels Sunrise last Saturday and I remain grateful for his tweet. In the studios of Channels TV that morning was Aniekan Umanah, Commissioner for Information in Akwa Ibom State, labouring to defend the recent donations of his principal.
Maybe I need to remind you: the big man was said to have “dashed” out one SUV and some cash to talented musician, Tu Face Idibia, and his bride, Annie (who is a native of his state), at their traditional wedding. He was also said to have sponsored about 20 people to be part of the wedding in the United Arab Emirates where the couple chose to celebrate their wedding. No one blamed the artiste; the young man is successful and went for what he wanted. What we fail to understand is why a governor would dip his hands into “our” treasury”(the discussion on that day revealed that the governor took those monies from his treasury, since his commissioner insisted that provisions were made in the budget for donations). Akpabio did not stop at that. He was also said to have doled out cash to six state chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South South Zone. Reports claim that the governor said that the N1 million gift to each of the chairmen was meant for lunch! That would have been the lunch of their lives. Then another N10 million came from his pocket to support the Anglican Church in the President’s Village, Otuoke, Bayelsa State. Some N50 million endowment of the Goodluck Jonathan Award in the movie industry and another N10 million to the Nigerian Golden Eaglets. Trust the Nigerian journalist, none of the governor’s songs in millions escaped his eye and he reported each act of money doling by the governor. Much anger is generated among Nigerians, or at least among puritans who feel that there must be a process to government.
Now we may have incurred the wrath of the governor as I read somewhere that he spoke the following words in anger: “Nigeria is a place where bad news is good news. Nigerian press has not yet learnt. From the West African Pilot, the press was set up in Nigeria to fight the colonial masters and to fight for independence. Many years after the colonial masters left, the Nigerian press is still fighting government and up till now they still don’t know that the colonial masters have gone.” How could we get him so angry? Aren’t we just trouble makers? As I ruminated over this matter, I wonder what those who benefited from Akpabio’s “donatus” disposition would think. They must (possibly with the exception of the Idibias who are obviously able to afford the vehicle) so hate the Nigerian media now. I can imagine them cursing and wondering why the media brought so much focus on the benevolence of a governor who has just given them an opportunity to bite a piece, just a little piece of the national cake. I imagine them saying stuff like: “Which kind bad belle be this, e go better for these people so? If anyone of them waka come this side, we go wound am o.” Now, that added to the governor’s wrath is proper trouble for journalists!
The sad thing about our country is that the mass of the people do not understand what the media is talking about. Not to talk of believing in it. For the average Nigerian politician, he is in politics for this type of patronage. He does not understand the need for accountability in government. He cannot and refuses to link the lack of performance that we see at every level of government to this kind of financial recklessness and so this national angst championed by the media is totally unnecessary. So what my take? Let us leave Akpabio alone so we don’t incur the wrath of the beneficiaries. And if we get so angry, let every editor look for an Akwa Ibom sisi to marry, shout about his wedding until it catches the attention of the governor and then wait for HIS own largesse; otherwise, forever keep your peace! God help Nigeria.
Adedokun is a reputation management expert and Chief Operating Officer of David & Destiny Consulting.
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