In the last couple of years, I have been involved in the media imbroglio between two prominent citizens of Abia state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and Chief (Senator), Theodore Orji, both past governors of the state. Although I am not an indigene of Abia state, my interest in matter goes beyond my understanding of the limit to which media practitioners can allow themselves to be used by politicians to settle personal or group scores. I shall return to this particular point – the perfidious recruitment of journalists for personal wars – but I think it is important to state that my interest arose first and mostly because I happened to have worked with the two ex-governors at a certain period.
That was when Dr Kalu, was governor with Senator T. A. Orji his (Kalu’s) Chief of Staff. I was not a formal appointee of the administration but I was sufficiently close to the governor, and inevitably the Chief of Staff. I did a lot of media errands for Kalu especially at the period he was having problems with some members of the Abia political elite. I stood behind him when some highly respected citizens of the state took advantage of their closeness to the media to harass him. For example, let me repeat my narrative of my encounter with Chief Ojo Maduekwe, who was then a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria.
Maduekwe, to the chagrin of many, formed the habit of always taking on Kalu on the pages of newspapers nearly on a daily basis. And it got to a stage when I had to do an article with the title, “Minister of Orji Must Go”. Of course, the article received ovation at the Government House, Umuahia but, conversely, did not go down well with the minister who promptly complained to our mutual friend, Chief Hope Uzodinma, now a Senator. Uzodinma called me on telephone and had the following message for me: If you love yourself, you must see me immediately. I had to travel with a night bus from Owerri back to Abuja to see Uzodinma and the same evening, we went to see Chief Maduekwe, who was then the Minister of Transport, at Dipchirma House (or something like that) in Central Area, Abuja.
I had known Maduekwe, who remains today a role model for me, long before Dr. Kalu became governor. Naturally, he expressed surprise that I could “be used” to make life uncomfortable for him. I reminded him of how much I regarded him but politely told him that he was the one making life uncomfortable for Kalu who many of us, especially from Igboland, had so much admiration for. I told him that we (I) felt that he had better things to do as minister than always descend on Kalu as he was fond of doing. To cut the story short, we agreed on a truce and I make bold to state that that was the end of Maduekwe’s incessant attacks on his governor. Anybody who is in doubt should go and ask both men.
When Kalu had problems with his Deputy, Eyinnaya Abaribe, I was there and I did an article under the title, “Abaribe Should Resign”. I remember, Hon. Eziuche Ubani, who was then serving the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, calling me to advise that I should not set my foot on Umuahia if I loved myself. I can go on and on but one thing to note most importantly is that when we were doing all that, Kalu had no newspaper of his own. It was for that reasons that I admonished our colleagues who got recruited to work in the newspaper he founded years later to take it easy once the fight between Kalu and his erstwhile friend, T. A. Orji began. Some of them heeded the advice and some did not. One of those who did or have not is Ebere Wabara.
Two years ago, at the heat of the media fight, Wabara issued a press statement on behalf of Dr. Kalu and signed off as the latter’s media adviser. While reporting the story, the newspapers referred to him as an Associate Editor and member of the Editorial Board of the newspaper Dr. Kalu is publishing.
I did make an intervention to ask whether it was professionally correct for one person to be special assistant to a politician and at the same time be on the highest editorial decision making organ of a newspaper published by that same politician. Of course, the matter on which Wabara made the statement concerned Dr. Kalu (his political boss and professional employer) and his quarrel with Senator T. A. Orji. I got several responses from colleagues as well as politicians who agreed that I was making a good point. But because the Nigerian media is wrought with more impunity than we even have in the political parties, Wabara continued with his antics.
One thing later led to the other and there was this encounter he, Wabara, had with security agents who took him from his residence in Lagos to Umuahia where, according to the story, he was charged for sedition over, not surprisingly, something he wrote about Governor Orji and his administration. Hell was let loose in a section of the media where Wabara and his publisher dominated. The matter went to court and, according to reports, the charges were dismissed and Wabara became a free man.
The proprietary or otherwise of the actions of Governor Orji is beyond the scope of this article but what is of concern to me is that Wabara has since thrown every sense of decency over board in his bid to get even with T. A. Orji. His weekly column in the newspaper published by his political cum professional benefactor is devoted chiefly on T. A. Orji even after the latter has left office as Governor of Abia state. Incidentally, Wabara is an indigene of the state. Those familiar with the column know that it is all about an unashamed solidarity with his publisher in the endless story of an “ungrateful” Orji who was brought out from prison and made a governor.
I thought Nigerians had read enough of that until their newspaper became awash with the same issue (of from prison to government house) a few days before the expiration of the tenure of Governor Orji; which prompted me to do an article in which I sought to know whether the media siege on Orji and indeed Abia state will ever cease even when he leaves office.
But for Wabara and his benefactor, no dice. In a recent column, he alluded to something like never going to forgive Orji after recounting the Lagos to Umuahia police saga. And I ask, forgive? What does it really matter if an Ebere Wabara cannot “forgive” a Theodore Orji? Is Wabara in a position to cause Orji any discomfiture even if the entire newspaper is handed over to him to do columns on Orji every day?
My take on Wabara’s no-forgiveness talk is that he is suffering from a measure of timidity and lack of knowledge of what to do. The no forgiveness mantra lacks the type of sophistication expected of a supposedly seasoned journalist and writer like him. I ask, what is Wabara capable of doing to Orji, column or no column? By Wabara’s own admission, the matter for which he was charged was dismissed. Now, if he still feels wronged, the expectation from a fellow of his exposure and caliber is to take legitimate steps against Orji, such as suing the latter and the security agencies for damages or whatever.
To use precious editorial spaces to talk about forgiveness or not forgiveness is at once timid and an abuse of privilege.
In that article, Wabara gave notice that he will begin “a series” on Theodor Orji and how he ruled Abia State. Minus that we are dealing with a very queer situation where he writes for a paper owned by Orji’s “arch enemy” (really?) I do not think any newspaper proprietor or indeed the whole journalism practice, would condone such a thing – I mean putting a would-be target of a virulent attack on notice. And I ask our people in the industry, is that the way?
I have written severally that Dr. Kalu and his media boys have taken the matter too far. As I noted in my previous article, the final victim is the entire Abia state not just Orji. Abia is the only state that has the misfortune of having a media siege laid on it by two of their own –And any discerning observer knows that they have since gone beyond their target. The entire Abia, not just Senator Orji, is the victim of this subterfuge.
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