Godwin Agbroko - Journalist murdered in Nigeria

Another Journalist Murdered

I had veered off into the wild for news when I happened upon ThisDayOnline – a useful and sometimes informed outlet for news from Nigeria.

As it happened, there was the unfortunate and rather bizarre brutal murder of the Chairman of the editorial board of that news organ on the 22^nd of December 2006, something I had not picked up from all the other blogs I frequent.

It is of great concern if like Dele Giwa of NewsWatch who was mortally wounded on receipt of a letter bomb in 1986 that another news man should come to his end being killed by possibly some hired hoodlums.

There is the suggestion that he might have been attacked by armed robbers, however, the likelihood is that he was onto something that someone influential did not want exposed.

Journalism in young democracies

It makes journalism a very precarious business considering the advent of a nascent democracy in Nigeria requires the freedom of the press and the freedom to information as well as access to information that threatens to undermine the function and progress of democracy – corruption being a principal impediment.

Russia is another example of where journalists live in great peril when they come across news that the government or oligarchs would like suppressed, in a democracy that seems to losing a positive focus, 2 were killed in 2006, and many are incarcerated.

The evolution of the scoop

There is no doubt that editors of major and seemingly impartial news outlets would gain access to volatile material and information, which they might not publish immediately as they investigate and try to gather a compelling and useful story.

As they develop the plots, there are people who would prefer that the truth of those issues are not exposed, where rather than having the good sense not being engaged in suspect and nefarious activities they would prefer to do things with impunity and eliminate any function or person that might expose their “shameful” deeds.

These rotten people do need to be exposed, deposed and prosecuted to the limits of the law, it would mean that exposés that editors come against cannot be used as exclusives that we are used to in the West, there has to be a league of trusted editors with a secure and vibrant network of shared values and information.

Here, it would mean all editors have to be eliminated, all almost impossible task – if a story that can cause ructions hits the investigation trail and is about to cause a serious upheaval that would upend these influential criminals.

This is the kind of evolution required of journalism in countries like Nigeria and partnership which helps safeguard the freedom of the press, the freedom to publish and the freedom to do so with the fear of loss of life, property or face.

His stewardship

Mr. Godwin Agbroko, whose demise has generated a rash of condolences – enough of the condolences and get with tracking down the culprits – did seem to lead a group of dedicated editorial staff though I have much disdain for his attention to the work of his proofreaders, a legacy he now seems to have suffered that they did not discover that his name was misspelled as Agboko in one of the articles, an issue I raised about sloppy journalism when they wrote a piece about Margaret Ekpo.

This is an area of journalistic expertise that needs good resources and strict supervision, it detracts from the quality of that work if we have to read and understand words from context only because they are meaningless due to the lack of proofreading.

The layout of web articles are also in need of some radical improvement, the paragraphs are not properly delineate, the lengthy pieces are literally impossible to read after the first new lines.

However, this should not detract from that fact that a journalist has been murdered and much more should be done to ensure that the culprits are brought to book first and then these crimes should not thrive in Nigeria, this highlights an area in need of serious development – forensics.

Reference

The journalist death toll of 2006

Rotten journalism ruins obituary

Death at a great age

In Nigeria we have a seemingly mature perspective of death especially when the deceased was full of years with children, grand-children and great grand-children. In fact, I once attended the Christian wake of a prominent Nigerian who died at 89, what I noticed was that no one was mourning in black, but everyone was in a radiant blue.

Basically, we rejoice with the survivors when a full life with generations of issues predeceases their offspring – they are congratulated and the deceased is lauded.

So, I read from Ayoke’s blog that Mrs. Margaret Ekpo, one of the foremost female politicians in Nigeria has died at the age of 92.

The women who shined for us

This brings to memory the famous women of Nigeria who during the struggles for Nigerian independence ensured that the voice of hand that rocks the cradle was not silent as we determined our future. People like Mrs. Ransome-Kuti, Mrs. Oyinkan Abayomi and Lady Ademola blazed the trail in the emancipation of women in Nigeria, to them; a great debt of gratitude is owed.

The source article on ThisdayOnline does this great departed no honour; now, my blog is not perfect, I do proofread and check my spelling and grammar many times over but sometime fail to see errors.

Rotten journalism

ThisDayOnline is a newspaper of journalists who produce copy in English; it would probably have an editor that oversees all material before it is published for global viewing.

How Mrs Ekpo’s son who announced her death twice acquired the female gender in their copy is not only annoying, it is sloppy journalism, leaving much to be desired.

Mr Eddy Ekpo would have confirmed that his mother died in hospital and remains of his mother would be returned to the family home in due course. Mrs Ekpo, having passed on, would now acquire the possessive past tense of having had 12 grand-children and so many more great grand-children, regardless of the living status of the children.

Naijablog has time and again lamented the poor quality of Nigerian journalism; this example just shows there is much to be done about people who write for a profession.

Beyond all this, Mrs. Margaret Ekpo who served as representative on the Eastern House of Chiefs from 1948-1966 and was a delegate to Nigerian Constitutional Conference in the 1950s and a Nigerian delegate to international conferences in the 1960s – she was a worthy delegate – my her soul find repose as we remember her.

References

The offending article Courtesy of This Day Online (PDF)