Re: Journalists, journalism and self –serving – My Story

To question my integrity, that of my editor and by extension my employers, over the Sunday Sun’s cover story of December 12, 2010, titled “Kaduna Gov  ill, flown Abroad,” with this rider “No, he just went to rest- Aide.” A day after the story was published, AbbdulAzeez, had posted a comment on my Wall on […]

To question my integrity, that of my editor and by extension my employers, over the Sunday Sun’s cover story of December 12, 2010, titled “Kaduna Gov  ill, flown Abroad,” with this rider “No, he just went to rest- Aide.”

A day after the story was published, AbbdulAzeez, had posted a comment on my Wall on Face book and I promptly replied. Since then, he neither called nor made any attempt to see me, until last Tuesday when my attention was drawn to his piece under the above title. But for his close relationship with the Governor’s spokesman, Reuben Buhari, I would have ignored him and his diatribe. More so, NNN is a paper, popular among the conservatives in the north, most of whom have called me after reading the piece to express their concern over the issues raised by him. And because the paper is one paper, Governor Patrick

Ibrahim Yakowa reads regularly, my conclusion is that the piece was done deliberately to malign my person and to portray me as a mercenary writer.

And since I know that my name is the only thing I have, I am being compelled to respond to both the Press Release issued by the

Governor’s spokesman, and the piece written by his friend. But before then, how did I get the story?

Contrary to what the government and their hired writers want the public to believe, no political opponent sponsored my story.

The story emanated from within the government circle, albeit innocently.

According to the Governor’s spokesman, in his release, issued after my story had been published, he said the governor travelled abroad on

(Friday) December 3, 2010, after “a grueling three-week Local

Government tour,” adding that “simple verification would have shown the newspaper and the sponsor (s) of such story….”

Now, when the Governor jetted out, nobody knew where he went, not even the NNN Correspondent who covers the governor. At any rate, even if he knew, it was never reported in his paper, yet it was supposed to be his beat. Curiously, while the governor claimed in his interview with the Daily Sun, published on Monday, December 13, 2010, at Page 6, that he travelled to London to “attend the wedding of my friend’s daughter, General Agwai,” and that he also saw his doctor, while there, adding that “anytime I go out of the country, I try to check myself. At may age; I should be concerned about my health.” His aide gave the impression that the man only went to rest, after “a grueling three-week local government tour.”

Interestingly, the Press Release came out the same day the governor granted the interview. While the Press Release was issued from Kaduna, the governor spoke from Abuja.

Back to how I got the story, I called a government official, for a friendly chat, and in the course of the chat, I asked in Hausa why his principal is often embarking on foreign trips.

The person innocently replied that he was suffering from Cancer. Now, I got this piece of information, the night the man left (December 3, 2010). If I were a reckless reporter, as being insinuated in some quarters, I would have filed the story the next day, going by the way the information came. Instead, I made contacts with several people I knew had worked with him in the past, including those currently working with him, to confirm the story, and they all confirmed the information to be correct.

I called his Media aide, the next day, and expectedly, he laughed and dismissed the story. But from my discussion with him, I knew he was being economical with the truth. At any rate, it will be fool hardy for anyone to expect him to confirm that type of a story.

Initially, the information I heard was that the Governor would return by Tuesday, December 7, 2010. And when I did not see him, I sent an SMS to his media aide on Wednesday, December 8, 2010, at exactly 2.02pm asking when the governor would return. His reply came in at exactly 2.05pm, saying  the following day (Thursday, December 9, 2010).

But by Thursday, I had no idea that the governor was in town. And because I was done with my investigations, convinced by the facts at my disposal, before eventually sending the story on Friday, December 10, 2010, for processing, I sent another SMS to the media aide, after calls to his phone was not replied. I sent the SMS at exactly 6.42am enquiring if the governor had returned.

When I did not get a reply to this SMS, I concluded that probably he wanted to divert my attention from the story, having spoken with him on phone on the matter previously.

Pray! How else is information verified? May be, just may be, if he had responded, it would certainly have changed the focus of the story, but certainly not the facts, except of course, if the governor is saying that he spent the whole week attending to the friend’s wedding in London.

The records are there, I may not be a Saint, but I am certainly not the type you pay to malign anyone. So, please, look else where for a scapegoat, you cannot find one in me. I had to go to this length, just to show the general public  that the story I authored was done without any malice and I stand by the facts in that story. Period!

Omipidan, is the North-West Bureau Chief of The Sun Newspapers. He is based in Kaduna and can be reached on [email protected] and [email protected].