Chief Bamiji Ojo, who marked his 84th birthday in October, started his journalism and media career when he joined the Nigerian Tribune in 1968. He speaks on his experience in the newspaper in this interview with Deputy Editor, SAM NWAOKO.
How did you find Tribune when you joined in 1968? What was it like then?
I joined the Nigerian Tribune in 1968. Then I was trying to gather myself for a course at the University of Lagos. It was a special diploma course for publishers and broadcasters established by the university’s Department of Mass Communication. After the course, I approached Lateef Kayode Jakande, we called him LKJ then, in Lagos. He told me that I should go and report at the Ibadan head office of the Tribune When I got there, I met Baba Oni, who was then the Managing Director. Baba Oni said I should report at the Iroyin Yoruba department. When I got to the Iroyin Yoruba, the editor then, his name was Mr. Ajibade, said he was not going to hand over to me.
You were to take over the Iroyin Yoruba as the Editor?
Yes. I was to be the Editor of Nigerian Tribune’s Iroyin Yoruba, a weekly newspaper. Baba Ajibade said he could not understand why somebody would say he had gone to the university to study Yoruba and he was now coming to be the editor of Iroyin Yoruba, and wondered what we were studying Yoruba for. He was of the opinion that you could still be the editor of Iroyin Yoruba without formal training in Yoruba. I went back to the managing director to report what had happened at the Iroyin Yoruba. He said I should wait and see him later that day.
In the afternoon, he called me and called the Editor of the daily then. He said ‘Mr. Ojo, don’t waste your time. Come tomorrow, this is your desk. You will work as sub-editor.’ I said thank you, sir. That was how I became a sub-editor in the Nigerian Tribune and not the Editor of Iroyin Yoruba for which I went to the company. Baba Ajibade refused to leave the office and said he was not ready to vacate the office. So, the following Monday, I began duties at the sub-desk. They gave me a page to edit. That was the story of my employment.
You never had any formal training in journalism before that time?
Except for the internship we had at the university, which was informal, there was none. It was after I got the job that I started going here and there for formal training. So, I worked at the Nigerian Tribune as a sub-editor.
What was your first day on the sub-desk like?
It was wonderful. My experience for the first day on the job had to do with my desire to leave teaching job. I used to be a teacher. The uppermost interest on my mind was to change my profession and that was why I enjoyed every hour of my stay in the newspaper before resigning to join the broadcast arm of the journalism profession.
You didn’t find it odd that you had to sometimes sleep in the office?
It was part of the joy. If you believe in a cause, whatever happens in it you take it. I was enjoying it. I was married and already had children but my family was in Shaki. She later joined me in Ibadan. So, the experience we are talking about was when she came to Ibadan to join me, and whether she liked it or not, that was my job.
Who were some of your colleagues in the newsroom then?
I remember the man called Oredoyin, I think he is late now. I also remember Alfred Ilenre who was in the features department. Then, there was Oshungbohun who was an Ijesa man too. We had a Deputy Editor then who was doing Pools, his name was Augie. He was the number one forecaster then. He was so committed and he had a lot of knowledge about the older people who had been at the Tribune – like Lateef Jakande, Oni and all those people. He was married to that job.
Generally, how do you feel when we tell you that Tribune is 75?
I feel good. It feels great that the Tribune is still surviving. You know that Tribune is a training ground. No matter your background, when you get to Tribune, you learn more the hard way. In those days when you heard people talk about politicians and that there would be a raid and so on, – when security agents went on a raid, the editor would call us and would not say more than ‘boys, okay’. That meant that the police were on raid and it might likely get to Tribune’s office. We didn’t know for what. So, we would have to go somewhere else and towards five o’clock, we would come back to write our stories. You felt good or sad at the end of each day’s editorial meeting. At the meeting you would find out whether you had missed out on a story or not for your page.
The thing is that every page had a block. If your page was not ready or if you were not turning up, there was something to block the page. All that would be done was to change the dateline and use the page instead of yours. It could be letter page or features. This happened because of the police, you could not say if you would come in tomorrow or not. So, there was already a page to block your page. We learnt a lot.
Was that during the Nigerian Civil War?
That was during the war. You know there were activities that culminated in the war. Whatever happened, we were always eager to go to that office and we had the pride to be called journalists from Tribune. We were proud to say we were journalists working in Tribune and that we wrote for the Tribune. We had great columnists then, the likes of Ayo Ojewumi. He was editor before I joined the company.
When you left the sub-desk, where was your next posting?
I was sent to the field as a reporter. I was covering sports and the courts. I covered the courts, and I covered sports. In the courts, I had left the newspaper before the S.T. Oredein story for which I was beaten by people who didn’t like how I read the news about his conviction.
My experience in Tribune was very useful in this period. Like I said, I see Tribune as the training ground. Mention any name in journalism today, one time or the other they would have passed through that Tribune House.
When we were there, on Saturdays we would be taken to Imalefalafia, the Oke Ado site of the new Tribune House. We would go there to weed the land. It was the proposed new Tribune office.
Even journalists did that job?
Who were you? Besides, there were not many administrative and other staff members, we were mostly journalists. Apart from the journalists, we only had the secretary to the Editor; the advert people and circulation. We were just about that. On Saturday, submit your story and go with them to the site whether or not journalist or not. You were part of the team. Jakande was still in charge and who were you? When you hear that Jakande said something should be done, you dared not query the decision. If you refused, the second day you were gone, nobody would discuss with you.
I recall when we wrote a story that didn’t go down well with Jakande and he reacted by sacking all of us. I cannot recall the exact incident, it was an agitation. Jakande told the Editor to inform us all that he would be coming to Ibadan the day after and that we should take it that we had resigned our appointments.
Why?
There was a national labour agitation in that period and we thought perhaps we could show solidarity with the agitators in our reports. He said we should go home. But before his arrival the next Monday, all of us had assembled at the gate of the Tribune office at Adeoyo and we begged him and said we were sorry.
That is why I said it was a training ground. You learnt lessons, take the lessons relevant to your situation as you went on to somewhere else. The name is more than what you see on the ground.
Did Jakande accept your pleadings?
He accepted our pleas and said our action should not repeat itself next time. That was Jakande for you, he never talked much. He would lay the matter and conditions before you. It was for you to accept or not. That is your cup of tea, he didn’t bother.
Tribune is an interesting establishment and that it still exists today… I thank God for the Tribune and I will always thank God for the family of the founder. They still care for the newspaper and that is one of the major reasons it is still existing. Otherwise, it would have been one of those newspapers that have gone.
Tribune is still surviving despite all odds. I think we need to thank God and thank the family because they still care. The foresight of Chief Awolowo while we were at Adeoyo, he had already planned the new site at Imalefalafia. That says a lot of the quality of the man. The same Chief Awolowo, by the time we moved to Radio O-Y-O at the creation of Oyo State, we were given a shed opposite NTA of today. In a couple of months, the then General Manager, Engineer Dare, said we should follow him to Basorun. There, we discovered that Chief Awolowo had already planned for the future development of WNBS/WNTV at Basorun where we went. I was just thanking God for the man. We didn’t know that that was coming up. It was a virgin land, already surveyed and planned, and everything put in place by Awolowo since the 1950s. He had foresight for everything he was doing. While Tribune was in Adeoyo, he had already secured a site for its movement and expansion in Imalefalafia! God bless him o!
Were there ladies among you?
There was a lady typist but there was no lady journalist. There was none until I left.
However, my experience was that as we worked there we were exposed to a lot of goings-on in the political space. You knew who was who and who was not. It was very interesting a time. 75 years! Wow, that’s a lot.
Why did you leave Tribune when you did?
I got a job elsewhere with a federal establishment – Radio Nigeria. Apart from the glamour of being on air as broadcasters, I also got a better pay. By the time I was in Tribune, I was freelancing at Radio Nigeria as a newscaster. By the time their budget was able to accommodate extra staff, I moved in.
However, I was still freelancing too for the sports page of the Tribune. Fabio ‘Lanipekun was the first chairman of Sports Writers Association while I was the first Secretary. Fabio was employed by the WNBS/WNTV while I was writing for Tribune. Kayode Osifeso was the chief sports writer for the Daily Times. He is at Ijebu Ode now.
We thank God that Tribune is still alive. I was thrilled by what I saw when I visited. I saw a modern office with the photographs of everybody. We thank God that the newspaper is still alive and thriving. Mention the great journalist, somehow he must have passed through that newspaper called Tribune.
What advice do you have for the people who are working there, going forward?
Keep the legacy alive. That is what I have to tell them and try to influence the place for growth. If it had been a system where the people cannot be trusted, that place would have crumbled before now. The owners of the place know what they are doing, that is why the paper is still alive up till today. They don’t just put people there and forget about them because people cannot be trusted. But I believe the owners of the newspaper are still watching and they are still there. So, the people there now should keep the ball rolling and maintain the values. When you mention Tribune, people will not just look away, they would come back to say “Nigerian Tribune?” that is because the paper has a pedigree. So, keep the flag flying.
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