When a journalist stopped a bullet

This is simply because of the social implications of the job they do which encompasses a lot of issues, including getting privileged information from anybody who wants to be heard; interacting with the high and mighty and the fact that the larger society looks upto them to hear about happenings around the world. People generally […]

This is simply because of the social implications of the job they do which encompasses a lot of issues, including getting privileged information from anybody who wants to be heard; interacting with the high and mighty and the fact that the larger society looks upto them to hear about happenings around the world.

People generally believe that whatever a journalist says is true. Even a simple joke uttered outside the newsroom on certain issues is regarded as the truth.

And when gunmen killed Zakariyya Isa, a staff of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Maiduguri Network Centre, the sad news shook all practicing journalists in Borno state and beyond.

The incident occurred around 7.30pm on Saturday, October, 22, 2011 in front of his house at the Bulunkutu area of Maiduguri metropolis.

More confusing is the fact that late Zakariyya does not write news stories per se, rather, he was a cameraman who captured images whenever they go out for news gathering with his colleagues. He also cast the Hausa version of the news after translating the scripts from English.

As such, all of us in Maiduguri were surprised when we heard the news of his sudden and painful departure.

“What did he write?” queried one of our colleagues. “But he doesn’t write stories,” another journalist countered.

On that day journalists could not send the report of Zakariyya’s violent departure on time because we were shocked and at the same time, dumbfounded- trying to add one and one with a view to find the likely reason for the killing. Unfortunately, we could not and therefore had no option but to send scanty stories around 11pm for the Sunday’s newspapers.

That notwithstanding, the stories captured the headlines of all newspapers and broadcast media houses around the world. Of course, the popularity of the story is not surprising because journalists are hardly killed at war fronts. They are generally regarded as “neutral and essential mediators.”

Zakariyya was buried the next day amidst emotional outbursts by family and friends, even as pressmen who were also at the burial were still pondering, endlessly as they tried to find out what he (Zakariyya) might have done.

“I am sure he was a victim of mistaken identity,” a colleague suggested.

It was amidst this ensuing confusion that officials of the Jama’atu Ahlus Sunnati Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram, owned up to the killing.

Spokesman of the group, Abul-Qaqa, said, “Zakariyya was not killed in error. We killed him because he was spying on us.”

According to him, “We have ample evidence beyond reasonable doubt that he was giving vital information to security agencies on our modus-operandi…we investigated the matter thoroughly before we killed him.”

It was a devastating revelation, but Zakariyya is gone and therefore the allegation is not easily verifiable!

Those who lived and worked with the deceased described him as an “introvert and unassuming”. They also paid glowing tributes to him.

According to Governor Kashim Shettima, “I personally watched late Zakari on the TV screen. He was a hard working journalist who, through his official duty, was able to promote the gospel of peace and cohesion in our troubled state. Now he is gone and we will all miss him. We pray Allah to have mercy on his soul and give his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”

The state government also donated N1million; 20 bags of rice and maize; 10 jerry cans of vegetable oil and a cow to family members of the slain journalist.

National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Mohammed Garba, who paid a condolence visit to the Borno State government and the family of the deceased in Maiduguri said, “the death of Zakariyya was unbelievably shocking. I was completely demoralized when I heard the news.”

He called on practising journalists not to panic, but to strive and uphold the ethics of their profession, which according to him, is the only umbrella they can hold and practice without blemish. He said societies cannot survive without journalism but added that the profession is going through trying moments occasioned by insecurity in the country.

Zonal Manager of the NTA, Mohammed Daniya described late Zakariyya as very hard working staff. “His death is a loss to the   NTA family and millions of our viewers in the North-East sub-region,” he said.

One of his female colleagues, said: “We have missed a rare person. He was our senior in the office but very humble. He carried the camera and we tell him the kind of shots that we want…he hardly complains,” she said.

“May be he was a victim of casual utterances at Majalissa (common joint in Maiduguri where friends normally gather every day to chat and eat together after work),” one of his male colleagues in the office said.

“We pray Allah to grant his soul eternal rest,” Fatima, one of the deceased’s wives prayed.

Late Zakariyya died at the age of 41. He joined the services of the NTA in 1992 as a Hausa translator on Grade level 6 and rose to the position of Principal Reporter on Grade level 12.

An indigene of Potiskum, Yobe State, the deceased obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Maiduguri in 2001.