Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is famed for his raw audacity. He speaks out. He is a proponent of the Soro Soke (Speak out, speak up) mantra long before it became a sing-song among #EndSARS protesters. He spares no one, including the media.
Recently, he threw a challenge at the Nigerian media: “Stop praising public office leaders if they don’t deserve praise. Stop giving awards to those who do not deserve it. Don’t write what you are told, write what you have seen.”
Then he reminisced: “In those days, the media used to be strong in exposing the ills of society, but the enthusiasm is going down. Challenge those of us in authority. The media believes projects presented on paper and projector in 3D instead of real and existing projects.” Is Governor Wike right? Yes, in a sense. Some media professionals and outfits have been known to cozy up to authorities on account of ownership, ethnic consideration, religious sentiments, political partisanship and individual censorship and affinity. When this happens, such media loses its independence.
Yes, Wike is right. The pre-Independence and military-era media operated in a different environment. Pre-Independence media, for instance, propelled by great journalists of that era like the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, MCK Ajuluchukwu, Pa Obafemi Awolowo and many more, was militant in its advocacy for Independence. In like manner, military-era media also assumed a force of advocacy and militancy. Especially in the era of the dark-goggled General Sani Abacha. It was then that pro-democracy groups like NADECO, Eastern Mandate Union (EMU), Campaign for Democracy (CD) and hordes of pro-democracy activists graced the front pages of major newspapers.
This writer was the Group News Editor of the defunct The Post Express, the first Nigerian newspaper to have a portal on the world-wide-web (www.postexpresswired.com) and the first to partner with the authoritative New York Times, in the days of Abacha. The agenda was very clear: Get the military out, especially Abacha who had all but morphed into a bloody tyrant and turned Nigeria into a one-party state. The language of the media at that time was not persuasive. It was caustic even scathing. Astringent and razor-sharp criticisms of the military jackboot was the norm. But soon after the birth of democracy, our language changed in tonality. It became more of agenda-setting for the politicians. Even in communication, the media conformed to the tenets of civil liberty. The media became persuasive, urging the people to adhere to the rule of law and respect the fundamental rights of others. Indeed, the media became barometric to the authorities, bench-marking their performances against the constitution, other statutes and wishes of the people.
This is where I agree with Wike. The media has changed, but it’s not in terms of its core duties of informing, educating, entertaining and advocacy. The change is majorly in tonality of language. Yes, there are exceptions. Some media outfits have openly gone partisan, crossing the borderline of reason and objectivity; and standing by the truth. But take a closer look at such organisations. They are more often than not owned by politicians whose partisan interests ‘must’ be protected. This is the difference between the media in pre-Independence (military-era) period and today’s media. Media owners in the early days had one motive: Birth Independence (Chase the military away for military-era media). Not so today. Some media houses are fully owned by partisan politicians. It’s either the journalist shapes up and conforms to the house rules or you ship out. It’s a dilemma and a catch-22 for the modern day journalist. But it’s not peculiar to Nigerian journalists. It’s a global trend. The media becomes ‘partisan’ when the issue has plural dimensions and interpretations but sings with one voice when the ‘enemy’ is one. The US media was unanimous in condemning terror and all its many fronts from Al Qaeda to ISIS. But the same US media split across sentiments and ideologies when internal politics is the subject.
Again, Wike was right when he charged the media not to believe projects on 3D (what we call audio projects, in local parlance). Among governors across the country, Wike holds bragging rights in terms of development in physical infrastructure. Any visitor to Rivers State would be amazed at the quantum of ongoing and completed projects in the state. Roads, flyovers, bridges, hospitals all being equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, sporting facilities one of which is the Real Madrid Football Academy- a nursery that will in the coming years produce generations of billionaires through football – global brands like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi started from academies like this; recreational facilities including the Pleasure Park – a paradise created from a dirty marshland. Wike is simply bullish with development as he is with unrelentingly speaking his mind on state of the nation no matter who’s involved.
On September 13, 2017, Governor Wike pressed the red button on insecurity in his state. At a press conference, he told the world that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was the biggest security headache he has in his state. They are involved in robbery, kidnapping and killing of innocent citizens, the Governor alleged. He was brutally blunt. But not many gave heed to his alarm. How did he know? Is he the only governor in this country? Can he prove this? These were some of the sarcastic responses to the voice of courage. Rather than amplify his voice and act accordingly, some Nigerians turned it to puerile politics. He’s a PDP governor trying to discredit an APC central government. But three years after, Wike has proved the proverbial prophet not appreciated by his own people. SARS, as it has turned out, was our national albatross. And the price for not heeding the Wike warning was the wanton carnage that hallmarked the #EndSARS protests across the country. Lagos became the epicentre and paid the highest price on a national disaster Governor Wike foretoldto the nation three years ago.
Lesson: next time we hear a message, even if we don’t like the face of the messenger, we must as a people pause and analyse the message. Had the federal authorities, even the media, heeded the warning of Wike on the criminal manifestations of SARS, maybe we would have averted the bloodletting and destruction that trailed the #EndSARS protests. This is why the Wike challenge to the media to sift the wheat from the chaff makes sense. It’s obviously not a verdict of damnation on the media; it’s a clarion call for renewal of the spirit of independence of the media as the conscience of the people. A free and independent media remains the best manure for democracy to thrive.
The Nigerian media deserves a huge credit for fighting and winning democracy for the people. The same must not lose focus of its constitutional duty: To bring public sector actors to account to the people. This is at the core of the Wike challenge – the media must not patronise public actors by giving them more than is due to them. Rather, the media must insist of investigating, seeing and reporting what it has seen; not what it was told.