In celebration of Mohammed Haruna

Preface:

Last week, the nation woke up to the pleasant news that one of the nation’s most seasoned and celebrated journalists, Mohammed Haruna, was among the new INEC’s National Commissioners whose appointments were confirmed by the National Council of States. He is to represent the North Central geo-political zone of the country. His appointment was widely applauded by Nigerians across a broad social spectrum who recognized his encyclopaedic knowledge and understanding of the nation’s troubled, albeit enchanting political space as well as his unique individual qualities.

That Haruna remained on top of his game for almost decades is beyond dispute. Volumes have already been written on his exemplary qualities, but suffice to add that even today, he continues to inspire a generation of writers including my humble self. One of such budding writers, Ibrahim Yahaya Muye, contributed the following tribute to Haruna to celebrate his 65th birthday this coming Thursday, God willing. I have taken the liberty to reproduce the piece below in full, except for minor editing for space. Enjoy!

I am obsessed with newspaper columns. Columns are the intellectual nerve of any newspaper. Columnists’ minds are at times eccentric, peculiar, contentious, brilliant, astute, beguiling and inspiring. Columnist in point of fact sells newspapers. One can judge the superiority of a newspaper by the quality of its columnists and its editorials. Today I have chosen to write a tribute to a star columnist who has written tributes to hundreds irrespective of their race, religion and background.

Mohammed Kudu Haruna who will be 65 on September 22 and whom I have never met in my life is one of the best Nigerian journalists in the past four decades in Nigeria. A regular Wednesday columnist with Daily Trust and The Nation Newspapers, and Gamji.com and Newsdairyonline.com, he was among those named last week by the Presidency as a National Commissioner to represent North-Central at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Haruna is one of the best syndicated political columnists in the country known for his powerful, razor-sharp, and well-investigated writings. He is endowed and exceptional with spontaneous wit. He is also amazingly consistent. I envy him for that. I respect the sheer amount of knowledge he possesses. I go to his pieces for knowledge, but while at it, it is also great fun reading him.

A native of Bida, Niger State and the capital of Nupeland, Haruna was born in Ibadan but grew up in Kano where he started his Western education in the late ‘50s. He ended it with a Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University, New York in 1984 after passing through Government College, Bida and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in between. But even before then he had curved a niche for himself in his career with his razor-sharp weekly column in New Nigerian in the late seventies. His column writing had been preceded by a series of interviews of nearly all the political actors across Nigeria who later became highflying in the Second Republic.

He was Managing Director of New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN) between 1985 and 1989 after being denied confirmation as its editor in 1981 by political actors owing to his highly independent approach of journalism. Upon living the service of NNN in 1989, he and three of his colleagues co-founded Citizen Magazine where he was the Managing Director/Editor in Chief of from 1989-1994.

In October 1998, he was appointed as the Chief Press Secretary to the former Head of State and Commander in Chief, General Abdulsalam Alhaji Abubakar, a position he held until May 29th, 1999. From 2008 to 2014, Mohammed Kudu Haruna was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication of his Alma Mata, Ahmad Bello University Zaria.

Among other things Haruna served as a director on the boards of the following News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), African Petroleum, now Forte Oil, and National Oil Company, now CONOIL. He was also a member of Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC) of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Vision 2010 committee, Vision 2020 committee and the People’s Bank. Apart from being a columnist he has been a media consultant until his appointment last week as an INEC national commissioner.

Haruna is undeniable among the best columnists writing today across the entire country. He has been in the terrain as a Journalist for over forty unbreakable years. Many including this author have been zealously and gladly reading his column for about two decades.

Because of his broad and profound knowledge of so many themes, his several years in journalism, his leftleaning but never polemical politics, his own experiences, his liberalism, his admiration of life, his astuteness, his humour, his attention to detail, and of course his superlative way with writing, every column feels knowledgeable by all of who he is and what he knows and thinks and feels, and reading him is pure contentment. He combines a fearless attitude as a reporter and a columnist with sharp judgement to become an indispensable guide to contemporary media.

Haruna is already a myth in Nigeria journalism circles as a star and one of the most exceptional journalists. How he constantly write so well, always with bright, engaging and interesting ideas and expressions, week after week is incredible to many and me as well. He is a doyen of Nigerian journalism.

As he answers another clarion call to serve his fatherland, he will be sadly missed by millions of his readers particularly the younger generation who take him as an encyclopaedia in learning from him accurate date and places of events. His style of writing stirred young writers like this author for us to think smarter, write better, read more, and above all, to think for us.

Mal. Mohammed Haruna is never engrossed in being acknowledged by the political, religious and regional taste makers. He always puts his ideas on the line.. I can frankly say that I picked courage to continue to write because of his writing styles. I can also say that in my own basic and muddling fashion, I have tried to write like him. My barely literate Nigerian education of 21st Century may not compete with the kind of training he must have got four decades ago at ABU Zaria and Columbia University, but at least I was encouraged by his example to articulate my mind and let the chips fall where they may.

Having been on the receiving end of more than a few of his darts, I can confirm to the pointed supremacy of his pen but also the accuracy of his criticism. He could get it off beam, but never intentionally so, he worked the issues as hard and attentively as any I have known, and few contemporary journalists have so thoroughly discredited their critics by later being proved right. He believed in an enormous animating spirit in everything. He has written over 1000 articles and papers presented at conferences and seminars. One spectacular thing that stands him taller among his co-columnists is his regular publishing of a lengthy retraction and apology.

Happy Birthday, Mal. Mohammed Kudu Haruna and congratulations on your appointment as you transform from a media guru to an election manager in the words of Mal. Mahmud Jega.

Yahaya wrote this piece from Muye, Niger State. He can be reached at Danmuye@yahoo. com