WHY THISDAY WILL ALWAYS BE A PART OF ME

For so many reasons, ThisDay newspaper will always be home to me. I joined ThisDay at inception in 1995 as Port Harcourt Bureau Chief where I covered the Ken Saro Wiwa trials, and I left in June, 1999 as Diplomatic Editor. In between those two positions, I was the Corporate Affairs Manager and Special Assistant to the Publisher, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena. I was the first occupant of all of these positions. But what I learnt in ThisDay has continued to positively impact on my operations as the Publisher and Editor In Chief of The Abuja Inquirer Newspaper.

I had been a senior Editorial Staff in the ThisDay newsroom for about a year before I was named SA to the Publisher. In that role, I joined the Chairman for meetings in and outside the office. It gave me a ringside seat from where I observed at very close quarters how his mind worked. I was a sounding board for nearly everything: from the ordinary to very complex of matters.

I saw the Chairman dealt with several complex Management and Editorial issues with so much ease. Obaigbena always encouraged you to be yourself and be the best that you can be. There were no shackles. My biggest takeaway was that no task was too daunting or impossible to accomplish. His confidence was infectious. His presence gave you strength and belief in your own abilities. And because you worked closely with him, you instinctively began to think like him and even reason like him.

One day as Diplomatic Editor, I needed a British Visa to travel to London and I asked the Publisher to write a letter introducing me to the British High Commission. “Why should I do that?” he asked me. I explained to him that as the Boss introducing me would make it easier for me to get the visa. His exact response was: “You don’t need a letter from me. Just go there, tell them who you are and they will give you the British visa”. I said “who am I?” He laughed and said “You mean you don’t know who you are?”

Later that day, I wrote a threeparagraph letter addressed to the British High Commissioner to Nigeria for the attention of the Head of the UK Visa section. In a nutshell, I introduced myself as the Diplomatic Editor of ThisDay Newspaper and that I wished to travel to the United Kingdom for personal and professional reasons. I asked them to give me the necessary visa to enable me make the trip. I had gone there with Okagbue Aduba, the Editor, who had his letter of introduction written for him by Ide Eguabor, the Managing Editor. I wrote and signed my letter myself and attached it to my form. Behold, the visa officer looked through it and told me my visa had been approved and that I could pick it up in two days. No questions asked. Unbelievable!

When I got back to the office, Mr. Obaigbena asked me how it went at the British Visa office. I told him it went well. “What did you do?” He asked me. “I told them who I was and they gave me the visa”. Very good, he said.

I first met Prince Nduka Obaigbena 34 years ago in October of 1986. He was the dashing Publisher of Thisweek magazine at the time and had his office on Ogunlana Drive in Surulere, Lagos.

I followed his rise in the media and we were to meet many times afterwards. But it was in 1993, during a chance encounter in Abuja that he told me Leaders & Company was planning a National newspaper that would be called ThisDay and that he already had a team in place in Lagos working on the blueprint. Eventually I joined the team.

Obaigbena was passionate, committed and very driven to make the publication the best.

Many months after, I stepped aside in pursuit of other personal businesses, only to return when ThisDay was about to hit the newsstand.

The staff at the very beginning were made up of rookies. There were not many experienced hands. But Mr. Obaigbena knew how to motivate the staff and get the best out of them. He led by example. He slept in the office sometimes for days to get the project going. He brought his experience at Thisweek to bear and it worked well. He was personally involved in story writing, headline casting and even production, page planning and design. Mr. Obaigbena was compassionate, he listened and was a pillar of support to many. He never showed any signs of weakness. He showed strength and always oozed confidence.

In April of 1997, when I got a letter stating that I had been made the Diplomatic Editor I was clueless on what to do. I was in the thick of my wedding preparations and promised to figure out what was needed of me after I returned from my honeymoon. “You can do it” Mr. Obaigbena told me. And because he had faith in me I knew I could not let him down. I pushed myself very hard and made the best of that position. I even became an “expert” on Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs. More than twenty years after, some people still talk to me about my time as Diplomatic Editor at ThisDay.

Today, whenever I have a problem that needed to be resolved at The Abuja Inquirer, I simply ask myself:

How did we deal with a similar scenario when I was at ThisDay? Once I reflect on it, the solutions would appear.

ThisDay has come to stay. It is bigger than all of us and will be even stronger in the next 25 years. I am glad to have played my part in the growth of this institution.