North vs South: Has Nigerian Media War Ended?

femi Akintunde-Johnson

Now that the campaigns have begun, it is vital to revisit some of the activities and dynamics that propelled this current Fourth Republic, providing for us unflagging democratic privileges and perquisites since 1999 when the military voluntarily relinquished power to civilian authorities. Today, as the hustings begin, we believe a journey into the archives, especially concerning the critical roles expected to be played by the Nigerian media in acting  as the responsible middle man conveying the aspirations and desires of the electorates towards the ambitions and manifestos of the political class for the benefit of an egalitarian and prosperous society. 

  Here is a careful rendition of a cross-fire between two “aristocrats” of the Nigerian media in the late 1990s which clearly underscores the long-standing and remarkable distortions within the Nigerian media, and its rancorous practitioners.

 Join me on this textual excursion via a piece titled, ‘Coomassie, Lagos Commissioner in Crossfire… over role of press, Buhari, Tinubu’: 

  “Words pregnant with delicate barbs were part of the ammunition used in a surprise broadside between Publisher of Kaduna-based Today newspapers, Alhaji Abidina Coomassie and Lagos State Information Commissioner, Dele Alake at a recent forum in Lagos. 

Coomassie let loose a tirade against the Western Nigeria press for its alleged complicity during the Governor Bola Tinubu’s certificate scandal while presenting a paper during the 1999 Colloquium/Luncheon of the Yoruba Tennis Club. The conservative journalist-politician whose newspaper broke the Tinubu scandal was one of the speakers on “The Role of the Press in the Emerging Democracy” alongside Chief Pini Jason (Managing Director of National Examiner) and Dr. Reuben Abati (representing Chairman of the Guardian’s Editorial Board, Dr. G. G. Darah). The club flung its gate open for the forum on Thursday, November 4,1999.

 Alhaji Coomassie in a six-page submission read on his behalf by Hadji Mustafa Isa (Today’s General Editor), dissected the historic and contemporary roles of the Nigerian press, heaping kudos on the revered pioneers of the 140 year-old institution. He however attracted the ire of the day’s Guest of Honour (Mr. Alake) when he rounded up the Lagos-Ibadan media in a round-house kick, indicting them on their treatment of vital national issues and editorial judgement tending towards ethnic biases in political crisis management.

  Coomassie boasted: “We in Today Communications Limited believe that we can help in our modest way, the sustenance of democracy in our country, by insisting on the truth and exposing falsehood no matter who is involved. As a practical demonstration of our commitment to this, we did not hesitate to expose (former speaker of the House of Representatives, Salisu) Buhari long before others picked up the story. We drew the attention of the public that the governor of Kebbi was a dismissed public officer, and, therefore, was not qualified to hold the office of a governor. We exposed the fact that the governor of Nasarawa State is an ex-convict, and also that the Governor of Lagos State did not attend some of the schools he claimed to have attended. We did all this, precisely because we strongly believe that democracy cannot endure falsehood. Probity is extremely important.”

  He lampooned the selective reporting of the Western press: “There used to be something golden to the press and that is ‘reporting’. Reporting appears to have died in Nigeria. How can the press explain why it did not report the tragedy of the River Niger floods in Niger State, yet extensively covered the ones in Mexico, Nicaragua, Columbia and the United States.

“Three weeks after the Cable News Network (CNN) and the BBC showed extensive pictures of the damage of the flood ravages in that state that cost hundreds of lives, the Nigerian press is yet to realise the destruction the event has done to our social and economic growth. And that area is part of Nigeria’s food basket.

  He took to the cleaners the practice of today’s reportage: “And the press cannot justify its role in a democracy by living solely on speculation and white-washing otherwise villains. We are not accusing ourselves of the avoidable brown envelopes. We only think the press can do better because professional reporting seems to be dying or has died in Nigeria…

“The press cannot reinvent the wheel in Nigeria. Although we now have the benefit of better technology, our professional practice seems to be lacking. The press should do well to improve its present editing in all ramifications to avoid howlers, absurdity and bad manners. Our language has grown very abusive over the years, especially after the misfortune of June 12, 1993.”

  And to rub his message home, he lashed out at the current peculiar political engineering: “I would like to draw attention to a development in our country since the last election. This is important because it has given the press an added responsibility. One of the conditions for democracy and good governance is the existence of a vibrant opposition. Unfortunately, this is what we are now lacking in Nigeria. The fact that the AD and APP have joined the PDP government led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has left our nascent democracy without an opposition party. In principle, it is not wrong to have a government which incorporates the opposition parties. But, this cannot be justified outside national emergency. What is absurd in our case is that the opposition made up of the APP and AD performed electorally well. The Presidential candidate of the two parties secured 32.22% of the votes. This would have given them a vanguard role in the nurturing of our nascent democracy but they have wasted it. That the importance of opposition in a democracy is not even appreciated by the press can be seen from the way it has been treating minor disagreements between the Presidency and the National Assembly. And yet what has happened has placed added responsibility on the press, to be vigilant. I hope we shall not fail.”

 Of course, the response to Abidina Coomassie’s tirade was swift, comprehensive and well-measured – next time.