Two newspapers just marked their birthdays. Nigerian Tribune, one of the oldest surviving newspaper organisations in Nigeria, turned 75. Vanguard Newspaper, another iconic medium, became 40.
It is a glory to Nigerian journalism that both newspapers represent two ideas, two tendencies, two histories and more in the evolving drama not only of the profession but also of our country. Their stories are epics in survivalism, in twitting power, in showcasing the Nigerian periscope, in tracking the rise and fall of the state, our peace and turmoil, our genius and follies, and the unfolding vitality of our civil society sometimes at war with itself.
They are also marking their anniversaries at a fraught time for the media when many journalists face existential definitions of their trade and careers, and whether, in just a few years from now, they may not be called journalists and are not sure what will become of their lives and vocations.
Nigerian Tribune is associated with the first premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and he founded it as a Trojan for truth and justice. It was in the throes of Nigeria’s struggle for independence and the formation of the Yoruba quasi-cultural organisation, Egbe Omo Oduduwa. The body attracted icons of the tribe that would later turn it into the seed bed of one of Nigeria’s historic political parties, the Action Group (AG).
Nigerian Tribune stands as the only media house today set up to fight for independence and also to safeguard and pursue the interest and integrity of the then Western Region and the Yoruba race. It needed to be a voice then because it was a feisty time for news and views and the west wanted an audacious presence alongside such mainstays as The Daily Times and The West African Pilot, a newspaper established by one of Awolowo’s rivals, Nnamdi Azikiwe, in 1937.
The paper follows in the tradition of Nigeria’s first-known newspaper, Iwe Irohin, that evinced nationalist brio but it was a Yoruba language newspaper. The Nigerian Tribune, from its small beginnings, became prescient in its founding as it served Chief Awolowo’s cause and his AG when he was in the battle not only for independence but for his own political life and the progressive struggles. It stood to be counted when the AG became a powerhouse roiling with ideas in the parliament, when Anthony Enahoro first proposed the motion for Nigerian independence, the excitement of the Western Region when the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and AG locked horns for supremacy in the region, in unfurling Awolowo’s Fabian ideas and how he executed project after project in the region, from Cocoa House to the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, in the crisis of the region that was to split the region ideologically forever between Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the ferments and deaths of “operation “we tie,” the prosecution of the treasonable felony and its cause célèbres, the incarceration, the rumbles and tragedies of the civil war.
Perhaps because Awolowo did not become president, and perhaps because somehow the newspaper did not seek to transcend its original regionalist appeal, the newspaper has never been perceived as a national newspaper in readership, sales and content. Awolowo was a presidential candidate, and a hopeful for the nation’s state house before he died. But his newspaper, just like the patriarch, had ideas for all Nigeria but remained ensconced in an insular perception as the voice of the Yoruba. Nothing wrong with that. A newspaper does not have to speak for all. Sometimes when it does, it can lose its authentic voice.
In fact, some newspaper historians can thank Nigerian Tribune for the development of such newspapers in the country, like the Observer in Bendel State, Chronicle in Uyo and Nigerian Tide In the southeast, and of course, the Daily Sketch, also part of the Lagos-Ibadan press.
Many may also argue that the newspaper is not of the ideological hue of its founder, not in the mould of Lateef Jakande, Tai Solarin, Tola Adeniyi or Folu Olamiti. At one time it was the counterfoil to Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s National Concord, when that newspaper was a military apologist before its founder’s pirouette as a vanguard for democracy in the June 12 saga. But all newspapers, like every organism, must evolve. Its present corps of writers, while different, also follows a tradition of irreverence, if of a different digestion.
Vanguard was a child of rebellion, founded by Sam Amuka, a ferocious columnist and writer of the sardonic brand, after he suffered injustice from another organisation. It also benefitted from the rebellion of journalists from another newspaper who made its beginnings refreshing. It began as a reader’s favourite in sports, fashion and culture news and features. It was founded at a critical point in Nigerian media when university graduates found the profession enthralling and its writing and presentation were free and breathtaking. Its founding editor Muyiwa Adetiba started a tradition that ran through men like Sunny Ojeagbase, Chris Okojie, Gbenga Adefaye to Mideno Bayagbon to now Eze Anaba. It has had great columnists like the famous ‘Lipstick’ with Doyin Omololu whose edgy and irreverent style engrossed readers for years, as well as Donu Kogbara’s dispatches.
The newspaper also evolved to a more “serious” one for political and economic reasons. Its segue was seamless and a testament to the management’s versatility and flexible vision. Like the Nigerian Tribune, it has come to be known for its regional appeal, in its case to the Niger Delta region, especially Edo and Delta states. This enriched the variegated pool of the media offering, and gives voice often to little-known tendencies and voices of the country.
We congratulate these two institutions in journalism, and wish them well in these turbulent times.
Source: @The Nation
