Bayo Onanuga, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of TheNEWS, spoke to ADEMOLA ADEGBAMIGBE and ERNEST OMOARELOJIE on the history of the magazine
Q: When exactly was TheNEWS first published?
A: The first publication came out on 8 February 1993. Any other thing we did before then was just like preparing for the birth of the baby. The actual birth was 8 February 1993.
Q: What prompted the birth of the magazine?
A: It’s a story we have told and retold. When we left African Concord in April 1992, some of our colleagues (Dapo Olorunyomi, Kunle Ajibade and Seye Kehinde) joined the African Guardian. There was a problem of what the rest of us – myself and Babafemi Ojudu – would do. We were two of the founding members of TheNEWS who didn’t find where to go initially. We all thought of abandoning journalism and going into other things. In fact, we toyed with the idea of going into fish business. Ojudu actually plunged into it, but regretted doing so because it was not his calling. I still stayed a little in journalism, reporting for Gemini News, which is like a news agency based in the UK at that time.
But the money was not so good and it was not a regular job. At a stage, people started telling us that there was nothing else we could do but to stick to journalism. That prompted us to call ourselves and decide that we needed to start our own publication. We started meeting in April and by July or so of 1992, we started meeting again. And by September, we had registered a company. That same month, we actually tried to open an account. The others were just preparations–recruiting staff, getting an office, doing the preview edition, seeking the help of shareholders and calling people to join our team and the rest of them.
We found out that many Nigerians were willing to at least, put their money into what we were trying to do. Some of them heard about what we were trying to do and actually called us, saying they were ready to help. I remember Chief Femi Adekanye of the defunct Commerce Bank. That was what he said. He told us that anytime we were ready, we should just call him. People like our current Chairman, Tayo Adesanya, and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu did the same thing. I did not have any direct contact with Tinubu. It was a friend of ours who told him and he didn’t even see the feasibility report or any other thing for that matter to be convinced. He just said he would support our dream and that was it. There were a lot of people like that who shared in the passion we had about our country and were ready to assist us.
Q: How were you able to find like minds to start with? Were the founders childhood friends?
A: We all worked as colleagues in African Concord . The defining thing was that those of us who came together resigned together. I resigned first and the others just put their resignation letters in as well. It was as if their editor was being pushed out of the place, since they all took part in the story that led to his stepping aside, as Babangida said. They also felt ‘we were all part of the thing’ and resigned.
Q: Was it true that MKO Abiola asked you to apologise to Babangida?
A: It was true. I didn’t lie against him (Abiola). He called me and I went to meet him in the house and he said something which, ironically, later happened to him. He said: ‘Look, you are a young man, this country is not worth dying for.’ He was trying to persuade me, saying I should just write a letter that he would take to IBB and his security chief, Haliru Akilu, that we were recanting and apologising. Ironically, about five years after, the same man died for the same country. He never denied that he asked me to apologise to IBB. I didn’t lie against him. I just told him that I would think about it and let him know my decision.
Q: Within the period, you started thinking about setting up a magazine and when it finally took off, you must have faced a lot of challenges. What were those challenges?
A: We didn’t face any challenges. No, we didn’t. I was quite surprised by the outpouring of support by fellow Nigerians. I got a lot of letters from Nigerians from all parts of the country saying, ‘you have done us proud, your position is correct.’ And they were urging us to provide more services for our fatherland. A lot of letters like that got to me from across the country. Prominent Nigerians were asking where they could get in touch with me. They wanted to see me and some gave me a lot of gifts, unsolicited gifts, just to say that they supported what we did and what we were planning to do. In fact when you have such words of encouragement from fellow countrymen, you can only say let’s try this thing out. On our part, we knew that there were going to be problems. It’s like you stepped on the tail of a tiger and you are just able to hang on a tree. The tiger would be there waiting to pounce on you. That was what happened to us. We knew that we were going to have that problem. As we were going about talking to people to invest in the company and so on, we kept asking if the government would allow us survive. That was the recurring thought on our minds. We resolved that we would try to do our best within the limits of our laws. Just two weeks after we started, we had a problem with Justice Moshood Olugbani, who committed us to prison.
Q: Then you had a problem with IBB…
A: No. It was his government. I think we published a story on Babangida’s methods and tactics, about the way the man operated and ran the country. We were going to publish a story Help! Nigeria is Dying, but before then, he ordered that they should go and lock up the place.
Q: What were your lowest moments over the period in review?
A: My lowest moment was the time I had to run out of Lagos. I had to escape from Lagos to my home town, Ijebu Ode. It is a place I had not visited for some years. Here was I under serious threat and I felt the best place for me to hide was my town. I ran away from Lagos and I was in Ijebu Ode for more than a month.
Q: Was that under Abacha?
A: It was under Abacha. That was in 1997. That was my lowest moment. Shortly after that, I had to also run out of the country.
The other one was when I was in the US and I was getting to know what’s going on at home, only to be told then that they had shut down all our offices and about 13 to 14 people were arrested the same day and locked up. For me it was very shattering. Well, by the grace of God, we all survived it. These are the things that really made us to rethink whether we could go on or survive.
Q: Is there anything you learnt from those experiences?
A: The experiences really made one to be stronger. As a person, when many people see me they say, this man is a gentleman but they know that the spirit behind the gentleness or the gentlemanliness is a spirit of steel. I am not afraid of any human being. The only person I am afraid of is God, if you call God a person.
But the experiences have only made one stronger, to believe in what we are doing because I believe journalism must not be for journalism’s sake. It must be for making a statement. Journalists should be agents of change wherever they operate. That is the kind of journalism we are practising–to see how we can impact on our society, to see how we can goad governments to do better for the people. This is because we believe that if you don’t get it right at the centre, we are wasting our time at every other level. If Nigeria gets the right leadership at the centre, the problem in our country will be solved. But as of now, we have still not got it right. We very much believe what we are doing and that is what keeps us going.
Q: Was there a period when the company faced real financial challenges?
A: All through, financial problems are what we keep facing.
Q: Was there a time it became very critical?
A: It became very critical under Abacha, especially when we floated AM News. At that time, we stretched the company to the limits financially. We nearly went under, under that man. But of course, we got a lot of support from many Nigerians who believed in what we were doing. They may be government contractors, government businessmen or something, but they had interest in what we were doing. But because of the nature of their businesses, they could not come out in the open. But when they see journalists trying to change the society for the better, they also support. People from the Northern part of Nigeria and even some from within the Abacha government supported us! That was one of the things that made us survive. We had advertisements from even military governors who, though were serving under military high command, still gave us adverts because we are Nigerians doing what others ought to do. That was how we were able to wade through.
Q: Tempo was a major part of the struggle but you rested it at some point. What led to that action?
A: When Babangida banned TheNEWS three or four months after we started, we had no other option than to bring out this title we had registered to continue the roles of TheNEWS. But Tempo was caught in a web of political crusade because at that time, there was the issue of June 12, an election we believed was free and fair had been annulled by Babangida. We felt that justice ought to be done, not because the man was our Yoruba brother but because we felt he was a Nigerian and he had been injured. It was an injustice and we felt it must be corrected. That was why Tempo came out; not for Abiola but in order to continue the role of TheNEWS. But it was caught in that crusading spirit and for the three or four years Tempo was publishing, it continued to perform that role.
So we felt after the coming of the civilian government that Tempo had succeeded in its role because it came out to champion a cause. Even though it didn’t succeed in that cause, at least that cause led to the birth of democracy. So we felt fulfilled and felt the best thing was to allow it rest in peace, since TheNEWS had returned, it should continue to do its job.
Q: In many instances, problems arise where partners are involved. In your case, there appears to be a strong bond. What makes your partnership strong?
A: I think the unifying force is that all of us in this company, I mean the founding members, have made sure that we have mutual respect, and then we run the company as a committee. There are a lot of things I cannot do even as the Managing Director without carrying the rest along. If they disagree, I will not do it. It’s like a socialist kind of thing and if we don’t do it that way, the partnership will collapse.
If one person is the embodiment of the company, the company will not survive. So we put up a system where if I am not here, like the situation recently for seven months, and the company did not collapse. It even waxed stronger while I was away. That shows you the kind of arrangement we have in place, where we have respect for each other.
Q: Many would say TheNEWS has come of age after 15 years. In a few years, where do you see the magazine?
A: I see us getting stronger. I see TheNEWS embracing the digital or e-publishing age which we are pursuing vigorously to make our news portal the most attractive place to visit. We are doing that and I see us diversifying because the trend we see all over the world is that the media business in its narrow sense is having a lot of problems. All over the world, the media are trying to diversify. For instance, Washington Post makes more money from its non-media business than it makes from newspaper sales. That is what we are trying to do to make sure we increase our streams of income.
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