Chief Tola Adeniyi still traverses the Nigerian media space like a colossus – which he truly is if we weigh his contributions to the Nigeria media industry since he formally joined mainstream journalism in the early 1970s. He is better known for his acute columns, some of which impact forced him to seek refuge under pseudo names, including the popular Abba Saheed. He tells SAM NWAOKO a part of his journalism story in this interview.
You traversed the length and breadth of journalism and you have left legacies that are indelible in the profession. How did your journalism career begin and when?
With all modesty, I can say that mass communication has been in my blood from birth. I started with oral poetry (Rárà) which was an offshoot of my Quranic education. I graduated from the Quranic School at the age of ten and from that time onward, I would be going round town preaching, and waking people for fasting during the Muslim fasting period (Wéré) and so on. In primary school, I was an actor taking lead roles in the plays we presented at the Western Region Festival of Arts Drama, of course, is also part of communication. By 1959 when I entered secondary school, the urge was irrepressible. I erected a giant board with glass covering so that I could lock and open it. I called it ‘Young Journalists Club’. That was in 1959 – I was writing and pasting articles on that board almost on daily basis. The principal then designated me “School Reporter” because every weekend (on Saturday) I would give a summary of the events that had happened in the school throughout the week. Everybody who went to my secondary school at that time will testify that every Saturday it was something nobody in Ago High School would like to miss. They would always come to the school hall to hear ‘Week in Review by Tola Adeniyi’. That went on for all the years I spent in the school. Of course, by then, I was a columnist of some form because I was writing and writing. I also led the school in debating and I later became the Editor of the school’s magazine “The Spartan”.
By the time I got to Form V, I became the Editor-in-Chief of The Spartan. That was the post I held till I left the school. Before I left secondary school, I was also a Yoruba poet on Radio Nigeria. The poems I recited formed the bulk of my first book on Yoruba Poetry: Aye Ode Oni which became a standard text in the 19 colleges in Ijebuland at that time.
By the time I got to a higher school, I had money to erect a giant board which was placed in front of the school hall. It was then called the Press Club too. I was writing and I also encouraged other people to contribute to that board. I also became the Editor-in-Chief of the Muslim College magazine called ‘Sciential’. I was the Editor-in-Chief of the Sciential in 1962, ‘63 and ‘64. By the end of that course in 1965, Segun Olusola took me to Chinua Achebe to obtain his permission to adapt his book ‘Things fall Apart’ he wrote in 1958 into a stage play. This made me to become the first person to adapt Things Fall Apart into a television and stage play. It was taken round the country. It was staged in Ondo, Ibadan, Lagos, Benin, Shagamu and so on. I did all that as drama and stage plays. You know drama is a genre of mass communication. I was also the president of the school’s drama club, president of literary and debating society, the president of social and cultural society known as Afro-Culture Society. I was also writing and producing plays when I was in higher school.
When I got to the university, I founded the University of Ibadan Writers Club in 1966. My colleagues were Iwakun, Femi Osofisan, Egwuagu – they joined me in the writers club after I founded it in 1966.
You indeed started early, but how did your actual, formal journalism career take shape post-university education?
I started out at the Ministry of Information, Ibadan. I was designated ‘Information and Cultural Officer’, given my theatre background. At that time too, I started writing columns, contributing to Sam Amuka’s Sunday Times. I remember writing the ‘Overthrow of the Middle Class’ which was published in 1970 or thereabouts. I remember also contributing to Oseni’s Sunday Sketch as a columnist. Then I also had a column in Uche Chukwumerije’s Afriscope – the first quality magazine in Nigeria. That was 1971. I later joined Daily Times. That was when Babatunde Jose was going round recruiting young graduates into Journalism. It was the repeat of Doyin Aboaba (later Doyin Abiola); Tola Adeniyi, Haroun Adamu, Effiong Essien, Patrick Sanwo and so on joined Daily Times. Of course, Dipo Ajayi had joined Daily Times since 1968 and Areoye Oyebola had also joined Daily Times about the same time. Those were the earlier graduates in journalism in Nigeria.
Remarkably, after I joined Daily Times formally in late 1972, by early 1973, which is within four months of my joining Daily Times, I was made Regional Editor. When we go by the standards of that time, it was a record achievement. It was phenomenal at that time to be made a regional editor within four months of joining an establishment such as the Daily Times, covering the whole of Western Nigeria. I took the responsibility to lead the paper in the whole of Western Nigeria at that time. It was swift and it brought me in contact with many personalities. I was doing really major interviews for the paper. It brought me in contact with the likes of the Commissioner of Police; Peter Odumosu, the Secretary to the Government and Head of Service; James Oluleye, the GOC 2nd Division. It got me in contact with all these people and other important personalities in business, contractors, leaders of major establishments at that time. Soon, I started writing articles for Sunday Times, although I had been writing for them before I joined but I was writing from the inside. I started with ‘Visit the Mortuary’ brought me to limelight in early 1973. Then I was also doing reviews of music and plays, which got me in contact with Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He actually came to Ibadan when I launched my book on poetry – Soul Fire in January 1974.
Did he come with his wives?
No, he hadn’t married his wives in ‘74. But he came with a long bus and he had already arrived in Ibadan before 8am. Journalism gives you huge exposure. When I was launching the book published by Progresso, the publishing arm of Aromolaran Books, Baba Jose was the chairman and Aminu Kano, the Minister of Health, came from Port Harcourt from an assignment given him by General Yakubu Gowon, the Head of State. Aminu Kano came specifically for the launch of my book.
Journalism in military regimes and in civilian administrations in Nigeria is like different kettles of fish. When compared, in which of the eras does journalism usually give practitioners more mileage – civilian or military?
For me I will say journalism fared better under the military.
How sir?
I say military regimes because the journalists of that time, apart from slight self-censorship, were not pocketed by politicians. They were not exposed to this kind of blanket bribery and conscience-buying that is prevalent in civilian administrations. Politicians want favours, they want to be known and they are self-centred. They want publicity and all that. A military governordoesn’t really care, he doesn’t need your publicity. He doesn’t need to come and curry your favour or bribe you. Politicians by their trade need public applause; they need approval and the only way to get that is to have favourable publicity. The journalists of our time were under the military. We were more focused and we were more professional. I must also say – and I say it without any fear of contradiction – that at that time, especially with Daily Times, every morning, Gowon must phone Jose. He must get in touch with him. The journalist of our time commanded a lot of respect – a lot of respect. Therefore, based on this a lot was expected of us and we carried ourselves with a lot of respect and we maintained standards. Our employers too treated us as partners. For instance, the house rented for me by Daily Times in 1974, it was a London-trained lawyer who rented and was living in my boys’ quarters. Haroun Adamu lived in a big house in Surulere; Gbolabo Ogunsanwo lived in a whole bungalow; my Oga, Areoye Oyebola lived in an expansive bungalow in Surulere – in the heart of Surulere, not in the backwaters. We had dress allowance and as an ombudsman if I entertained guests, Daily Times would pick the bill. And these were under a military regime. What I’m saying therefore is that journalists of our time didn’t suffer the disrespect that they’ve come now to suffer under politicians.
Journalism back then didn’t have the influence of the social media which has also given rise to the problem of quackery in the profession. What solution would you suggest for this infiltration sir?
I don’t know. I cannot deceive myself. I cannot deceive you. It’s a special challenge that requires media scientists to really look at and find solution to. I say this because technology has, eroded the sanctity of journalism ethics because anybody who has money to buy N1,000 data can write anything and post anything. The media is at his fingertips – he has WhatsApp and all these platforms. So you don’t know who is a real journalist and who is not a real journalist. Then, online newspapers, some of them have trained hands but they just float online newspapers and anybody can write. There are no standards and no standardization and that has really eroded the respect that journalists used to have in the past. How anybody can change it, I don’t know because I don’t see how anybody can change social media. They’ve been talking of moderating it but I don’t know. They get any story, write it and put it raw but before you get a story you give it to your editor and it has to be approved before it can be published. But now any greenhorn can write anything and dispatch on the social media. Even those working in established newspapers are not well paid. There’s no proper remuneration and inducement and that appears to have lowered the standard of what everybody is doing.
What about your time in Nigerian Tribune? What were some of your most memorable experiences in the Nigerian Tribune?
Before I got to Tribune, I must say that I did what we called ‘Campaign Journalism’. By 1973, I campaigned for the establishment of an overhead bridge in Lagos because of accidents crossing Ikorodu Road. With all modesty, I want to claim credit that my meeting with Brigadier-General Mobolaji Johnson put pressure, and that is why you have the overhead pedestrian bridge on Ikorodu Road. That is what I call ‘campaign journalism’. It was also campaign journalism when a man named Taylor was awarded the contract for the construction of Lagos – Abeokuta Road and he messed it up. We also campaigned against it and the contract was taken away from him. I remember saying ‘how could you give the job of an engineer to a judge or a tailor’? So, there was campaign journalism and you remember there was Tarka/Daboh campaign by Daily Times to get Tarka removed as minister.
In the Tribune, what I can say with all modesty is that there was a campaign to remove Adadevoh. This was when Adadevoh rented his own property to the University of Lagos while he was the Vice Chancellor and I demanded that he should be sacked. I also wrote about Paul Unongo under my Abba Saheed column and the NPN. I ended this by saying “Dr Unongo, Minister of Steel shall steal no more” and other such campaigns. There were other journalists who did similar things that made sure there was sanity in the polity. That was campaign journalism.
How did you meet Chief Obafemi Awolowo and what was your experience like at that time?
Chief Obafemi Awolowo never for once interfered with the Tribune in terms of editorial policy. Never. He would never call a reporter or editor and say write this or don’t write that or rejig this or anything. It was under Chief Awolowo’s leadership that I was able to write an article on Chief Bisi Onabanjo, who was governor of Ogun State. Onabanjo was a UPN governor which was led by Chief Awolowo and I wrote an article against him when he didn’t allow an NPN fellow – I think Attah or someone like that – to distribute water to residents of Abeokuta. I said why should you be doing what Shagari was doing, how could you say that an opposition fellow could not distribute water to people? Chief Obafemi Awolowo would insist on respect for journalists. If he invited you to Ikenne for a meeting, he would call you to confirm if you had returned to Ibadan safely. He never interfered and he really gave a free hand to the staffers of Tribune. I must say this also, in appreciation after the campaign in August 1979 or thereabouts, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to my utter surprise arranged for a dinner at the Chinese restaurant at Premier Hotel with his wife; Mrs. Oyediran and Professor Oyediran; his two Oyibo pilots, then my humble self and my wife and he said he gave the dinner to say thank you to Mr. Tola Adeniyi. I remember that very vividly. It was heartwarming for me because it meant a lot for a ‘big man’ like Chief Awolowo to say he was calling a private dinner to express thanks to Tola Adeniyi.
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