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Page 1 of 2 As the Special Assistant to Peter Obi on Media and Publicity, I complement the work of the Chief Press Secretary, in Governor Obi’s own case, Mr. Mike Udah. I call him editor because, besides having edited a National Newspapers, he is quite good at crossing of Ts and dotting of Is.
When a certain Newspaper called Fresh Facts, obviously bought over by the opposition, started writing falsehoods about Governor Obi, we discussed what they wrote together. From an editorial point of view, I told Mike that it would be difficult for even the Pope to merit the headline of a particular newspaper continuously for a month except something was clearly wrong. But Governor Obi continues to grace the front pages of Fresh Facts for about two months now.
Having gone through the papers, I told Mike he could reply to their falsehoods if he had nothing else to do. I have my reasons. Going by the pedigree of those behind the paper, it is not worth replying. Even from psychological point of view, their pictures as published cast question marks on their integrity. Mike replied once and gave up telling me that it is dangerous to be sane among mad men. In the last edition of the paper, Mike suffered under their caustic pen. As I have done, I advised him not to bother replying since a gentleman like him cannot afford to engage in duel of the pen with rascals.
The other day, it was Jerome Azubuko who wrote Okey Ndibe On Andy Uba, a reply to Dr. Okey Ndibe’s article, which appeared in the Daily Sun of Tuesday, October 9th. I can say that Okey is a world acclaimed journalist, with pedigree and is courted as role model. Azubuko of fresh facts said unprintable things about Okey Ndibe. It is the mark of his orientation that he even quarreled with Okey’s grey hair.
I do not want to be caught in the cross fire between Azubuko and Ndibe for I do not have a bullet proof. However, Fresh Facts, and the article written by those behind it are refreshing in the sense that they have proved instructive on how not to practice journalism. First of all, let us do a brief analysis of Ndibe and Azubuko.
I have followed Okey since his days in the Guardian newspaper. Okey has distinguished himself as a writer without cant, who does not know how to dissimulate things. Reading Okey, you get the picture of a sincere, moral crusader. He has an exceptionally logical mind; he marshals his a prioris and his a posterioris with the precision of a chess player.
Any writer who is touched by the mess going on in Nigeria, especially in Anambra State, where the dregs of the society are threatening to turn the State into the kingdom of darkness must always write annoyingly. Okey therefore writes with invaluable sincerity; and his thought go through the clouds and cobwebs of the crooked minded like cleansing lightening and a rushing wind. Okey analyses human nature and events in his dear state with a subtlety as sharp as a surgeon’s knife, and perhaps as salutary. His grey hair depicts what grey hair depicts – wisdom.
Okey is beyond price in the conscious grandeur of a seasoned journalist and a finished personality that knows his onion and has demonstrated this constantly. The secret of this conquest is his faithfulness to Socratic dictum of “Man know thyself.” The more we know ourselves, the less passions control us. Okey is a great writer in any clime, because he has placed himself above the partialities and futilities of uninformed desire.
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