Journalism is one profession that occupies the mind of its practitioners for 24 hours. When you are eating, or even picking your teeth, you think of where the next story will spring from. In the bathroom when you close your eyes and rub soap on your face, your mind drifts to how you will come up with a perfect intro to that story taking shape in your brain. Even when you are with your wife… I did not mean that one, silly!
The family also feels the pain of sudden calls that the journalist should travel. That was exactly what happened when we called Femi Adi on Sunday 17 January to leave his Kaduna base and travel to Jos, the theatre of another religion-induced mayhem.
He and his wife, Awa, who had just finished her law programme at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, were at the husband’s family house at the High Cost Estate, Narayi in Kaduna when his phone rang. A lazy journalist would have cursed his editor or editor-in-chief under his breath! Not Adi, who, two weeks ago, was called upon in similar circumstances, to interview Balarabe Musa, a former Kaduna State governor, for our cover.
Adi, our eager beaver, made a beeline for the motor park. But that Sunday night, there was no vehicle going to Jos. The following day he traveled.
On getting to Jos, he contacted Gregory Yenong, the Information Commissioner. To Adi, his experience was like that of a tourist crossing from West Jerusalem to the Muslim-dominated Eastern part. As Adi explained: “The few commercial motorcycles belonged to Christians. None could take me straight toNasarawa Gwom, the centre of the crisis. As the bikes approached any Muslim area, it would drop me. I would then cross on foot, wave my identity card at security agents only to mount another bike, owned by a Muslim to take me across.”
Adi made his way to Jos Central Mosque to interview the spokesman of the Muslim community, Mohammed Sani Muji, a lawyer. Our man also spoke to many members of the Christian community.
He was, on 28 November 2008, asked to cover the crisis in the same city. As he put it, “I was in the know of what could be the potential threat to public order. The last time I came, the acrimony between Christians and Muslims existed. The Birom thought it was their time to take charge of Jos North.”
As at the time of writing this report, Adi, for more than 48 hours, had been feeding on only bread and water. That was because of the 24-hour curfew government slammed on Jos. These and more are the sacrifices that journalists make to bring stories to you, dear readers.
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This week, our main cover is on Tanimu Yakubu, President Yar’Adua’s Chief Economic Adviser, who critics have accused of performing the role of a regent, in the absence of KING Yar’adua. We supply details of what you don’t know about this former student union activist and Marxist.
This week, we take you into the avaricious world of banking fat cats – Erastus Akingbola and Cecilia Ibru. What the EFCC says they have amassed directly and by proxy is twice the annual budget of Lagos State, Nigeria’s richest state. A sure case of psychotic, mindboggling greed!
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Our Error
Last week, we mistakenly captioned the photograph of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Central Bank Governor, as Tunji Braithwaite. We regret the mix-up.
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