Daily Times@100, My 40 Years On The Beat

Last June, Daily Times Nigeria clocked 100 years.  It first hit the newsstand on 1st June 1926 thus retaining its historic position as Nigeria’s oldest surviving newspaper. This September also marks 40 years since I walked into the newspaper’s colossal Agidingbi, Ikeja premises in 1986 seeking internship placement. I was armed with nothing but a “To Whom It May Concern” letter from my HOD at UNILAG Mass Comm, Professor Idowu Sobowale.

At the time, Daily Times was reputed as the largest newspaper conglomerate in West Africa with a score of titles in its stable, while its sister title Sunday Times was the largest-circulating weekend paper in the sub-region.

There I was apprenticed by some of the finest minds in Nigerian journalism: Malam Farouk Muhammed, then Editor of Daily Times, who sent me to Mr Achike Chuks Okafor, Editor of Sunday Times; Mr Olusegun Ojo; Ms Dupe Adesioye; Mr Soga Odubona; Mr Kunle Odufunwa; and others whose professional standards, intellectual rigour, mentorship and grace still guide me today.

It came full circle when, 33 years later, I returned to Daily Times as Group Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, before stepping out to found NatureNews, Africa’s foremost newspaper focused on environment and climate change.

The journey has been tortuous and humbling — marked by remarkable strides, sharp disappointments, and, mostly, a deep sense of fulfilment. I recall with nostalgia that 1990s was a period the nation witnessed political turmoil and virtually every journalist was drafted into politics as a beat.

As a Lagos-based Senior Correspondent for Kaduna-headquartered Citizen magazine, I covered the March 1993 Jos Convention of the SDP that produced Chief MKO Abiola as presidential flagbearer. Back in Lagos, I followed the political career of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu (now President of Nigeria) then a budding political grandmaster and news maker. He was the rallying point for most senators elected on the SDP platform — the party that produced Abiola, winner of the June 12 1993 election annulled by General Babangida.

At the height of the ensuing crisis during General Sani Abacha’s regime in early 1994, I visited Senator Tinubu’s Victoria Island office for an exclusive interview. His waiting room was full of political heavyweights, but he asked me to wait. After a long moment he freed himself, beckoned me to come with him downstairs. I was ushered into the back seat of his chauffeured SUV. “We’ll do the interview on the go,” he said, sounding pressed for time, as he sat at the owner’s corner.

It was only when we arrived at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, that I realised he was travelling. He spoke all the way as I recorded it on the then fashionable portable tape recorder. But before the piece could go to press, Citizen magazine was rested. In an age without ubiquitous social media, that was a bitter disappointment. Some stories, like some eras, simply end mid-sentence.

From the deafening staccato of bulky typewriters at Daily Times to the speed of AI-enabled digital newsrooms today, my core principles have not changed 40 years on: be fair to all, uphold professional integrity, and hold power to account for good governance.

I remain grateful to the scholars who shaped me — Professors Alfred Opubor, Onuorah Nwuneli, Ralph Akinfeleye, Idowu Sobowale, Luke Uche, Olatunji Dare, Olu Fadeyibi, and Adidi Uyo; to the journalists who mentored me — James Igbinadolor, Nojeem Jimoh, Femi Abbas, Kabiru Yusuf, Chukwu Onyekachi, Kunle Akogun, Ike Okonta; to the newsrooms that tested me; and to the sources who trusted me with their stories.

Four decades on, journalism in Nigeria is at another inflection point. The platforms have changed, the threats have multiplied, and the economics are brutally unforgiving. Yet the bargain remains the same. We must keep bearing witness, keep asking the difficult questions, and keep giving voice to those who would otherwise not be heard.

As Daily Times marks 100 years, it was an honour to have walked in the footsteps of Alhaji Babatunde Jose, the grand architect of Nigeria’s modern journalism who built for the newspaper an indelible legacy before retiring in the mid-70s. The standard he set Walking The Tight Rope and which my mentors in 1986 upheld has remained evergreen: that the press must endure, evolve, and speak truth to power.