03082019 - Worsening Insecurity: Suspected herdsmen kill Catholic priest in Enugu

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They came out in good numbers
to pay a befitting tribute to a
man who had devoted more than half
of his working life which spanned
four and a half decades to active
journalism. Even the other half in
government, was either as a Press
Secretary—to three Military
Governors—or as the Director of
Press in the Presidency. So in
essence, Chief Eric Teniola,
otherwise known as Ericoco, has
spent his entire working life in the
realm of the pen profession.His
professional colleagues led by Uncle
Sam, our boss when we were all at
the Punch,did him proud on the
day.The attendance was also a fair
representation of his many
constituencies. Club 86, his agegrade
club in Idanre his home town,
which has virtually become my own
club due to my long association with
its members, came out almost to a
man. Members of the Ikoyi Club
which is also my club, came to
honour one of their own. Members
of his church society at Archbishop
Vining Memorial Church many of
whom are again, well known to me,
were in copious attendance. My face
is also familiar to many of his close
family members due to my
attendance at his family occasions
over the years. So, I was almost as
at home at the book launch and
reception that marked the 70 th
birthday of Chief Eric Teniola as the
celebrant. The point I am making if
you haven’t noticed, is that Eric and
I have come a very long way.
Our paths first crossed in the 70s
in the early days of the Daily Punch.
We were young, and at the risk of
being immodest, we were good. Our
numerous by lines across the paper
bore testimonies to that. So it was
inevitable that we would notice
ourselves. It was only natural that
we would eventually start hanging
out together. Those were the days.
We worked hard and played hard. It
didn’t help that we had ‘happening’
Directors who alternated the hosting
of parties virtually every week!
Often, the lines between work and
play were blurred. Our work was our
Undoubtedly, one of the low
points for your correspondent
during the just concluded screening
or better, serenading of ministerial
nominees, was the point when
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu intervened
to cover the oral delivery deficiencies
of the nominee from Taraba State,
Saleh Mohammed.
Mohammed’s curriculum vitae had
portrayed him as a very experienced
engineer. However, when it came to
talking, the engineer muttered to an
embarrassment that brought Senator
Kalu to his feet.
While praise-singing the nominee,
he said the nominee was not one
given to much talking. He added as
a clincher that the nominee had been
a very loyal supporter of President
Muhammadu Buhari’s politics over
the years. According to him, anyone
that had followed Buhari for that long
must be a good man!
“He has been a very good person,
even when I was in PDP, he used to
preach to me about President Buhari.
He has been a very good supporter
of President Buhari,” Kalu, the
Senate’s chief whip added.
The right of entitlement flowing
from supporting Buhari was further
canvassed by the Deputy President
of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-
Agege.
“This is one very loyal supporter
of President Muhammadu Buhari
and that support did not begin today.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is
entitled to work with the people of
his choice,” Senator Omo-Agege
said.
That support for President Buhari
has turned into a platitude for
ministerial competence is one of the
revelations that has emerged from
the recent screening exercise.
The president had indeed, told the
A reporter’s er’s reporter er turns 70
play. Often, our personal relationships
or romantic dalliances, were the
casualties. There is the story of one of
us who went to the airport to meet a
girlfriend coming in from Benin.
While waiting for the plane to come
in, a prominent political figure came
out. They greeted. It turned out that a
major political meeting was about to
take place. He asked if he could go
with the man. The man first hesitated
and eventually agreed. In the
excitement of a possible news coup,
my colleague ‘forgot’ the reason he
was
You need to
understand the
pattern of the
pieces before
you can notice
when a piece is
out of sync
SATURDAY Vanguard, , AUGUST 3, 2019—37
at the airport. Not only was that the
end of a romantic weekend, it was also
the end of a promising
relationship.That kind of situation was
par for the course for many of us. Our
work was our life. But we made lifelong
friends across board in the
process.
I have watched Eric evolve from a
carefree bachelor of that almost wanton
era into a loving husband, a
responsible father and a doting
grandfather. I have watched Eric give
up things I never thought he could
give up. I have heard him talk of
giving up even more things that were
inconceivable some ten years ago.
Much of that is due to his attitude to
life, his contentment at home and of
his station in life. Eric in our youthful
days, was a lover of good music;
especially contemporary jazz music
and most of his close friends benefited
from his generosity as he constantly
dubbed tapes for us. It was the era of
cassette. He was also a fountain of
inside information. He could hold a
group enthralled with background
information to the many things that
happen in the public space. Or, the
probable reasons behind some policy
announcements. No wonder our boss,
Uncle Sam calls him ‘Inside Story.’
Our regular breakfast meetings with
Uncle Sam were never the same if Eric
was absent.
Eric is a reporter’s reporter. Let me
break that down. Journalism has a
wide field like most professions. No
single individual that I know is
Will this Senate destroy Buhari?
nation that he was going to choose
only those familiar with him as his
ministers, and that has been done.
The subjugation of this Senate to the
executive is indeed revealing. Indeed,
as the screening exercise progressed,
former legislators on the ministerial
list were repeatedly told to go and
serve as emissaries of the National
Assembly in the presidency.
To wit, they were told to “lobby” for
legislative proposals to get favourable
response from the president! The
Nigerian Senate must be the only
legislative chamber in the world that
would tell ministers to go and BEG
the president to pay heed to its
resolutions! In other climes, it is the
legislature that is lobbied!
Indeed, this Senate is not in any way
making any pretence of its willingness
to act as a rubber-stamp of the
executive.
As the legislators concluded the
screening exercise and given the
waka pass treatment given to many
former corruption suspects and others
who deserved to be queried on their
last experiences in the public space,
a major question troubled your
correspondent.
Was it this same chamber that once
housed the likes of Senator Chuba
Okadigbo, Senator Idris Abubakar,
Senator Saidu Dansadau, Senator Joy
Emodi, Senator Sule Yari Gandi
among other sterling champions of
democratic expression?
It is not as if the senators of yore were
not subjected to the foibles of the
presidency? Your correspondent
remembers sometime in 2001, when
the late Senator Idris Abubakar (the
cicero of the Senate) as chairman of
the Senate Committee on Public
Accounts took on the task of
investigating the sums expended in
constructing the Abuja National
Stadium.
Senator Abubakar was to confide in
your correspondent how Senator
Anyim Pius Anyim, the president of
the Senate at that time tried to play
down the issue for some time in order
not to stir up trouble with President
Olusegun Obasanjo.
But willy-nilly, it was only for a while
as the Senate still tactically found a
way to look into the issue.
The desperate attempt by the Ninth
Senate to subordinate its
independence even to the personal
peccadilloes of a human being in the
person of President Buhari is
understandable.
A substantial proportion of the
proficient in all the fields. And unlike
what most people outside the profession
think, writing good grammar does not
necessarily make you a good journalist.
In fact, there are sections where your
grammar matters little. A good columnist
might not be a good news reporter and
vice versa. Both of them might not have
the skill sets to be a good Editor. Just as
a good Editor might not have what it takes
to be a good columnist or news
reporter.Most of us come into journalism
with a natural gift in an area and train
ourselves to be above average in the
other areas. Eric’s natural gift is in news
reporting. He has what is called, a ‘nose
for news’ in the profession. A sweeping
definition of news is that it is anything
out of the usual. But to spot the unusual,
you must understand the usual. That is
the rub. You need to understand the
pattern of the pieces before you can notice
when a piece is out of sync. A good
example was an experience with Eric
during the Second Republic. The two of
us had gone to see a prominent politician.
We spent about two lively hours drinking
and chatting. When we got up to go and
headed for the car, Eric said excitedly that
we had a lead story for the following day.
I was taken aback. We did not interview
the man. And to the best of my
knowledge, there was no typical question
and answer format. But it was when Eric
pointed out that ‘the man said so and so
when the policy of the party on the matter
is so and so’ that I began to understand
the news value of what we had. You don’t
learn that in any journalism school. It is
a natural talent that is honed by
knowledge and alertness; an instinct that
is developed over time.
His book is aptly titled: ‘On the Spot.’
It is a collection of articles that speaks to
the Nigerian situation across time zones.
Many of the people featured were
prominent actors in Nigeria’s unfolding
drama. Eric was at his reportorial best
during the Shagari era when he knew
and was known by many people in
government. His subsequent work with
State and Federal Governments gives
him an uncanny insight into the workings
and fault lines of Nigeria. You could say
Eric has truly been ‘On the Spot.’Enjoy
your new age my friend and remember
to take things easy.
By its indiscretion, the Senate has stepped down
the competitive drive that would have enabled
the president to aim higher towards putting his
name and legacy in gold
senators are former governors who have
turned the institution into a place of
refuge. It is a place of shelter from the
torrents that could come from the security
agencies on their stewardship in office.
The popular example of the former
Senate President aspirant who disavowed
his aspiration after a visit to the
presidency last May and subsequently
had his case withdrawn from the courts
is an example for many senators.
But the cost to the polity is enormous.
Indeed, what the Senate has done is not
just pernicious to the nation’s democracy,
but a threat to the very survival of the
country. If the Senate on account of
pleasing the president decides not to
interrogate the stewards of the nation’s
commonwealth as to their possible
competence, it only will lead to
enthroning mediocrity.
By enthroning mediocre in government,
the Senate is not helping Buhari to
enthrone the kind of legacy that would
make him a Nigerian statesman.
By its indiscretion, the Senate has
stepped down the competitive drive that
would have enabled the president to aim
higher towards putting his name and
legacy in gold. A legislative house that
puts the executive in watch only helps to
bring out the best in the government. By
doing otherwise, this Senate has not just
devalued the president; it has also
devalued Nigeria.