An evening with the Nigeria Union of Journalists

ON October 28, 2021, yours sincerely had gone to the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Center, Jos. Apart from the fact that it has become a rendezvous for meeting; I have found the center a place that always enabled me get fresh story ideas.

Visiting the Press Center that day was to eat, read a few newspapers and return home. But as I made to leave that evening, the Council Chairman, Paul Jatau and Secretary, Peter Amine Terseer informed me of a meeting to be held Sunday, October 31, 2021.

We are used to meeting often with them informally; therefore, this information did not portend anything, to the effect that they were planning something. If anything, I had thought, we were going to catch some fun watching some premiership matches. We always do.

On getting to the center, the faces I saw, even though journalists, very few hardly visited the center on Sunday, except if they had an assignment to cover. Irmiya Jonathan and Manji Lar, both staff of the NUJ without knowing had welcomed me instantaneously revealed the nature of the meeting.

When everyone had settled down after the exchange of pleasantries, it was time for council chairman, Paul Jatau to reveal why they were seated round tables: They were invited to celebrate yours sincerely. That was when it dawned on me that the ‘coup’ had been well planned and executed.

But it was not in the execution that matters, the message it sent to the media industry is the fact that we have always celebrated by chasing after others, but in journalism, practitioners hardly celebrate any of their own.

That Sunday, and as it was planned by the organizers, it was an outing that could best be described as an avenue for appreciating one who; in the words of Paul Jatau, ‘has added value and brought friendship in the course of what he has done over the years’. And truly, almost everyone who was present had a word for me and indeed those in the journalism profession.

I shouldn’t be the reporter of this event; after all, it was all about yours sincerely. However, what has got to be done has got to be done; I needed no news editor to tell me it was a piece of story that has got to be sent out.

The guests the organizers had invited were mostly journalists; and the event by all intent and purposes became a revelation spot for me in particular. The revelations, mostly coming from Aminu Idegu Kogi, Pam Musa, Andrew Ajijah (Dan Kunaman NUJ), Gyang Bere only refreshed my memory of a number of things I had done in the course of my leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Plateau State Council. So also were the thoughts of ‘Asis’ Ladi Dinci Emmanuel, who served as my Treasurer and now serving the union as its National Auditor.

The choice was for a few, not a select group of the council. The Paul Jatau-led team was used to going round houses of its exco members to celebrate; therefore, in this context, it was nothing new. However, the novel idea was to for this reporter to be celebrated; having disengaged from the services of the Plateau Publishing Corporation. But more importantly, having served the Council for two terms; they thought it was worth calling me to celebrate.

The thoughts of Ayuku ‘Kamala’ Pwaspo, Peter Amine, or Gwamkat Gwamzhi complementary as they were, didn’t forget the fact that even though thankless as the journey could be, a good name always has its adherents. They are indeed some of the members who feel, ‘if you do well, you will reap it in return’.

Whether any mark had been made or not by me and my colleagues in the profession in serving the union, they thought of always celebrating any member who was disengaging should be encouraged through a valedictory session. Echoing this was a former chairman and current Director, News and Current Affairs of the PRTVC, Yakubu S. Taddy, who is worried that journalists hardly celebrate their own. It was therefore auspicious that the time has come for it to be started. If this was the beginning, those we often celebrate by chasing around for news would appreciate the premium we place on ourselves. Raphael Pwol, an ICT expert who came in his company did not leave without a word: The ICT offers more for the journalist, in and out of practice. I took the advice.

Former Council chairman, John Tsok, the man who handed the reins of leadership to me spoke as one who is disengaged from service, yet still relevant in other areas. He spoke as if he had just returned from delivering a talk on how to survive retirement. Disengaging from what one was used to doing over time should not mean all is over, after all; there are many things which can be done. He assured that given what has become a forte, my energy should be directed towards utilizing such capacity for the good of self.

Listening to Isaac Shobayo of The Tribune, who served along with me as Secretary during our years, it was apparent that the years were not wasted. While working together, we always referred to him as the in-house Pastor; and truly he is, and therefore, it was not out of place he was revered for his activities. He spoke like another brother that I met and would ever live to be close to.

Those who know while we served NUJ, it was common place to relate well with the government of Governor Jonah David Jang. Even though the government understood that the media could always serve as a tool for the citizens to buy in to what it did; the link to that was James R. Mannok, Director of Press and Public Affairs to Governor Jang.

As a gentleman that he has remained, if there was anyone who understood how journalists conduct themselves for maximum result, James had a special place for all; no matter the station of the reporter. He knew that the difficulties government, organizations and individuals go through can only be understood if the role of the journalist was appreciated. Never through the eight years of his stint as DOPA did we question his sense of judgment.

But it was not the journalists alone I worked with. It will be difficult to work alone; as there were others: Joseph Maina (rising from grass to grace, he is today a chief in his community. He’s the NUJ’s Chief of Staff, if there’s an office as such), Zaki Irmiya Jonathan (he knows where all the files are in the secretariat) who today has grey hairs all over working for the NUJ. Manji Lar, like a son to me, his father had asked that he be treated as one when I employed him. He made us look ‘stupid’ before our children as not good drivers; as each time he drove them to school, they hailed him for engaging his gears as if he was in a grand prix. Teiye, my ‘Taye’ Danjuma and Mama Tani both have excellent culinary skills for local delicacies that bring many to eat at the Press Center.

Today, I can beat my chest about what they revealed concerning our assignment at the Council. Had we cheated the members or even organizations, one wonders what shame we would have been moving about with. That is the prize you get when a union is populated by those who believe in your causes.

What bad memory that could be; to have forgotten some of the high points of our leadership at the Nigeria Union of Journalists in the state. Reminded about them, I am tempted to think that we were out not for ourselves; the members mattered as they needed a clear headed leadership to enable them carry out their duties on a daily basis. The clarity in thinking enabled us execute more programmes than we thought.

For about seven years (2007-2014) running, it was one success after another. The road to the chairmanship of NUJ was ‘problematic’ for some who didn’t want it. And that is to be expected, having always said that I have never considered myself as a saint. The opposition was from a familiar group; always hiding under a facade of friendship, yet deadly routed in raw animosity against my candidacy.

We have explained elsewhere that: But before the chairmanship form was picked, a few who didn’t know I had been SWAN Auditor in 1997 had swung into action to see how I was going to contest; since in their words, ‘he has never held any chapel position’. I kept that to my chest, since they wanted me disqualified. They failed and pretended they didn’t know who was flying the kite; however, I now know better why such members were fighting: They wanted nothing good for anyone except if it was in their favour. That taught me a lesson not to trust everyone. That set the ball rolling for what turned out to be a life time experience, one that took my time and energy working for the union.

At each point, the members meant a lot to us; however, it was in ensuring that the Council made an impact that enmity set in as some members; who over the years had become averse to success started to raise unfounded allegations of certain items being taken from the council’s secretariat. For weeks I lost strength to continue with the struggle, however, it took the intervention of Paul Jatau, a friend and others to get to the bottom of who was spreading the rumour of short changing the council. At this point, I regretted serving the council; but I was glad I knew who my friends were.

I didn’t want to be popular for the sake of myself. If you become popular, it makes you become a slave of those who brought you to the council (2Chronicles 26:16-21), and frankly, I recognized that I had not come to contest for that. Striving to make myself relevant mattered most to me; even as I chair the union, I couldn’t forget that my primary place of assignment need not suffer. Week after another, I couldn’t afford seeing my colleagues go through the rigours of production in my absence. I made sure I contributed my quota. They say, running away would have sent a dangerous signal to any one taking a lesson from my contributions.

We only know today, only God knows what tomorrow will be like. God had prepared my landing at the Nigeria Union of Journalists in the state. What more, Standard became interesting as more challenges came up in the course of work at the Corporation. Nothing can be as interesting as when while rising up the ladder, the demands of the tasks one got saddled with do not overwhelm yours sincerely; rather, with each passing day, more grace was added to succeed.

Frankly speaking, I have come to realize that: ‘The support of tested and dependable friends gives one the strength to hold on to hope and to endure successfully even the most challenging knocks in life’.