In the Newswatch founding quartet, Yakubu Mohammed was reputed as the pearl and vital link to gold. He was the Sheik who had a Midas touch that translated to huge resources. His immense contacts provided access to several deals thereby opening doors to the magazine’s financial stability in its hay days.
Unlike now when media professionals “work in silos”, according to a former President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Gbenga Adefaye, or prefer to operate as atoms, the collaboration of high flying editors — Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Mohammed — to found Newswatch in 1984 was not only novel but hinged on harnessing their peculiar endowment.
From conception — sourcing for funds to giving character to the new product — they traded ideas, shared thoughts and brought their individual competences to the table to midwife a magazine on the platter of noble ideals. Their dream visualise a quality magazine like Time and Newsweek. The magazines that took their birth thereafter like TELL and TheNEWS borrowed from this pattern.
From Ume Umanah to Abdulaziz Udeh, Mohammed was the anchor in the angling to reach out to men of means. As Associate Editor and Managing Editor at the New Nigerian newspapers from 1976 to 1980, and later Editor of the then influential National Concord newspaper, owned by the winner of the 12 June 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, he had built an arsenal of rich contacts.
Although his writings appeared a bit colourless and sometimes shared views that veered on the far right ideological spectrum, he had the ability to combine vision, determination, deft entrepreneurial spirit, willingness to face failure with relationship building and could wrap deals that addressed the needs of all parties while achieving his own ambitious goals.
In simple terms, Mohammed, who was the Executive Editor and Managing Editor and later Deputy Chief Executive became more financially endowed than other Newswatch founders,
He could have turned out as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Ratan Tata, Gautam Adani or Andrew Carnegie, if he operated in a different clime with more promising fortunes. However much of these resources were also spluttered on his governorship debacle in Kogi State.
At a time, the Editor in Chief, Agbese who was sharing the other wing of a twin duplex apartment hired by Newswatch and owned by Mohammed, was piqued and could not fathom why the rents of the house were suddenly raised. Agbese’s grouse was that since Mohammed exploited his Newswatch identity to become rich, he needed to show more pity.
Born in Ologba, Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, Mohammed attended St Joseph’s Primary School, Ayangba (1964) and Government Secondary School, Okene (1965-1969). He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos (1972–1975) and later studied at the Glasgow College of Technology, Scotland (1978–1979).
Shortly after the assassination of the founding Editor in Chief, Giwa on 19 October 1986, the massive drift of the first generation editors, led by Nosa Igiebor, Dele Omotunde, Dare Babarinsa and others to float TELL magazine had nudged Newswatch into a quandary. Rising from this sudden flight of its first 11 leading to a near depletion of its newsroom was a grilling task.
This was also against the backdrop of the stiff competition posed by new publications like ThisWeek, TimesWeek, African Concord and The Sunday Magazine. This necessitated the poaching of fresh hands. And that’s how I got a note from Mohammed for a chat to come on board.
Coming from the Daily Times that was then enmeshed in the outcry over the perceived “jumbo salary” offered to staff brought in as part of Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi era to change the face of the newspaper, I got a 67% raise to join Newswatch.
It was then a fat cheque but nothing compared to the whooping 412% difference between The Post Express which I later joined in the middle of 1996 and my subsequent movement to National Interest in October 2000.
Just as it was at the Daily Times, where then General Manager, Angus Okoli generously approved our travelling expenses and other claims, story ideas were properly funded at Newswatch. There were no financial inhibition on your trips. Reporters were sent to far flung places sometimes at short notices and without any opportunities to say goodbye to their families in a pre mobile phone era.
In response to breaking stories, reporters were given funds to also cover purchase of new shirts and pants just to make sure they had no recourse to go home to pick their luggage.
From the editorial meetings, we sometimes get marching orders. I recall one of our colleagues, Utibe Ukim, who covered aviation, being put in the next flight to Kano to make on-the-spot check of the newly installed instrument landing system at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.
Many times, the then General Editor, Soji Akinrinade would raised alarm about reporters not meeting the financial threshold for trips. ‘What’s happening that you guys have not travelled this week’, he would wonder, raising fears about the magazine not having enough stories in the bank.
Thanks to the Daily Times and Newswatch experiences on field trips and particularly covering the Northeast, I remember how former Governor of Borno State, Maina Maaji Lawan almost threw me out of his office when I asked him about the wisdom of taking 1,000 persons to Mecca in the midst of acute water scarcity in Maiduguri, the state capital.
It was easy knocking my jottings to do a tribute on Dr. Shekarau Angyu Masa Ibi, the 27th Aku Uka of Wukari when he departed on 10 October 2021 at the age of 84 after 45 years in the throne. I also relish the story titled, “Askira Uba: Death of Gallant Soldiers on My Pathway”, published in TheNEWS magazine on 23 November 2021.
The terrorist group, Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) (formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād), which has seemingly grown fiercer than the dreaded Boko Haram, was in the offensive against our soldiers in Bulguma, Askira Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, a pathway traversed severally by this writer long before Boko Haram conceived opening their operational base in Sambisa, located within earshots.
By the time the staccato of their smoking gun had receded, one of our gallant generals, Brigadier General Dzarma Zirkisu, Commander of the Special Forces, and three soldiers laid dead. It was really tragic losing a general, who had called for reinforcement to confront the brazen attack from ISWAP.
These days, many reporters churn out stories from their dingy laptops and phones. Publishing interviews with persons they’ve never met because of the astronomical cost of travelling around is commonplace.
The vital lesson of that glowing era perhaps still haunts us. If media professionals collaborated to pool resources in a period of economic boom, it should be a matter of great worry that we’ve now opted to work in splinters when the economy is in virtual shreds. Nurturing a strong and viable Nigerian media on this warped thinking may be a mirage.
Mohammed’s demise at 75, after a protracted bout from prostrate cancer for which he underwent chemotherapy, is the huge loss of an astute deal maker. Coming weeks after Agbese’s death, this is a big blow to the Nigerian media and the Newswatch family.
It’s not particularly soothing for Ekpu, who’s now left alone to bear the can of their initial dream. My heart and prayers are with Mohammed’s immediate family in this period of tribulations. May his soul find rest in the Lord’s bosom, Amen.
Iyare, an international journalist, is also a development expert
