Wale Fatade, journalist and Executive Director of Media Support Centre writes on the likely successor of Gbenga Omotoso, Editor of The Nation who has been screened to be a member of the Lagos State cabinet.
It was not an unexpected piece of news. As perhaps the longest-serving newspaper editor in the country, seemingly immune to the vagaries of newspapers’ owners who change editors like diapers, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, The Nation editor, sorry, former, could not have been caught unawares when he was nominated to serve in the cabinet of Governor Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos State. It was a nice way of making him leave the office he has occupied since 2006 when the newspaper commenced operations. He was also the pioneer editor of The Comet, the precursor of The Nation just as he also edited Guardian Express and The Guardian On Saturday.
He was screened last week by a special committee of the Lagos State House of Assembly – that’s another story on its own which I’m not sure caught the attention of our colleagues. I mean how come it was a special committee that screened commissioners to-be and not the entire assembly? Any legal implications of such action? Hopefully, we will give this more than a casual look.
But we are talking about who steps into the saddle after Omotoso’s exit, something I believe we should all be interested in as newspapers are of great public interest particularly one like Nation. With the way my former employers at The Guardian are wobbling and fumbling their ways in appointing a new editor for the paper that used to be known as The Flagship, we ought to play closer attention to the process in the nearby Matori office of The Nation.
In interviews with nearly a dozen people in the last three weeks, including present and former staff of the newspaper, journalism lecturers, public relations executives and politicians, yes there are some of them actively involved in the process particularly two who used to be journalists and who have the ears of former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the paper’s owner, I can reveal confidently that it is not only competence and experience that will determine who succeeds Omotoso but also the place where such a person comes from, yes nationality. Fine, one can argue that in other places too such mundane reasons are equally considered before editors are appointed as it is more or less a political decision of the newspaper owner, but it gets worrisome when a fine professional might be passed over because of his race.
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Among the names said to be under consideration include Festus Eriye, currently the editor of the Sunday paper; Olukorede Yishau, deputy editor, Adeniyi Adesina, chief press secretary to Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and former news editor and Ololade Olatunji, associate editor. My sources said no other name was considered by the powers that be even though some of the staff made their colleagues think they were under consideration. While some were pushing for a generational change that could have seen a relatively younger person like Yishau, assumed the mantle, the feelers is that he is not going to be, at least yet. A fine professional and competent hand who is well regarded among the top hierarchy at Nation, it might not be his time yet. Full disclosure – he is well known to me personally.
Eriye too was under consideration and could have been until the fact that he is not Yoruba became a factor. Another fine professional too, but the Yoruba irredentists would have none of that and the movement that could have thrown up my egbon, Olayinka Oyegbile, currently Eriye’s deputy, as the Sunday editor was aborted even before conception. The same argument against Yishau’s ascension is what will not make Olatunji too become editor now and the management may have settled for Adesina, Oyetola’s press secretary. A consummate professional that is well-loved by all and sundry, it appears his sojourn in Osun will soon be attenuated by the lure of the newsroom. It is an open secret that his appointment is a mere formality; a public relations executive confirmed this over the weekend. “He is coming back,” he said, adding that he was not surprised that Adesina agreed to return to the newsroom.
But there are lessons to be learnt in this process. At least the management did not discountenance staff efforts by looking for an editor outside The Nation, neither did it go the ridiculous way of advertising the position without mentioning the newspaper’s name. She is looking inward recognizing the worth of her staff and employees, hope folks two streets away are watching and learning?
