Lagos — Dr. Dele Sobowale, a columnist with Sunday Vanguard, mounted his new hobby horse last weekend. He continued with his serial attack on my person for reasons that he has not been man enough to openly acknowledge.

As usual with his ilk, there is always something to hide under. And this time around, the handy excuse was his great concern about the seasonal exodus of journalists into government. At least that is what he wants us to believe. He can tell that to a donkey.

Until now, I have restrained from dignifying him with a reply for two reasons. One, I believe everyone is entitled to his or her opinions, no matter how illogical and misguided such opinions are. Two, I would not want to be dragged into an open confrontation with an old man. With his latest installment, however, I am constrained to set the record straight and let him know that he has to look for his punching-bag elsewhere. Despite the unwarranted provocation, I will try to respect his age and observe the expected decorum in public exchange. But let him be on notice that if he wants to drag himself on the ground after this, I might not be in a position to dissuade him.

Brimming with a pretentious self-righteousness, he shredded my reputation in a piece he wrote under the title "an echo no longer a voice: journalist in government." (He said it took him three days to settle on the award-winning title. Waoh!) His grouse was that after each election, journalists leave the profession in droves to work with government. Making money is the sole motivation of these journalists, he stated. He said the turn-coat journalists make the money, but end up losing their integrity. To start with, these are sweeping generalizations, which anyone with basic training in logic and writing would have been tutored to avoid like a plague. But not this old hand, and one supposedly with a PhD.

But he would lounge into more slippery ground by claiming that I personify this tendency. (The word he used was proxy, not personify. Another award-winning choice of word.) According to him, my crime was that I wrote a column with the title "A Joke Carried Too Far," attacking the election of Senator Adolphus Wabara yet I ended up working with him as "senior adviser on media." He went further by imputing corruption on my part, impugning my person and casting a question mark on my character. I will return to this egregious lapse.

Our paternalistic and sanctimonious columnist had earlier made reference to the same set of "facts" on more than one occasion. I ignored him on the previous occasions. Even when he engaged in pure fiction just to hang me, I let it go because I believe that even an old man has a right to excite himself. But this time, he surpassed himself by descending so low as to call me corrupt and unscrupulous.

Dr. Sobowale prefaced his vitriol against my name and person with a solemn promise: "it (the piece) will not be pleasant; but there will be no angry denunciation of anyone; just an elaboration of undeniable facts." In another breath, he professed to have a great(er) respect for the truth. If only he could stick to facts as they are. As an old man in journalism, he should be familiar with the journalistic axiom: opinions are free; facts, sacred. With this man however, that would amount to asking for too much.

Let's quickly examine a few of the facts/truths that this professed lover of journalism used in setting up his straw man. He said I wrote a column with the title "A Joke Carried too Far." I never wrote a column with that title. It is possible that Elder Sobowale's memory played a trick on him. But a quick trip to the library would have saved him this embarrassment. I indeed wrote a piece titled "A Farce Taken too Far" on July 13, 2003. It was on the abduction of the former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chris Ngige. It was not on Senator Wabara.

Two, he said I was "senior adviser on media" to Senator Wabara. I am not aware that such a position existed. It was public knowledge that I was Special Adviser on Research and Strategy to the former Senate President and never directly related with the media. For someone who promised undeniable facts, some fact-checking would have helped. Another axiom in journalism that he claimed to love says, "if in doubt, leave out."

Three, he said I wrote a column on the election of Senator Wabara and skewered the man. This is a patent lie. Indeed I wrote three pieces on the April 2003 elections. On April 20, 2003, I wrote under the title: "The Unraveling of Afenifere Hegemony." The following Sunday, I wrote a piece titled: "Saving Our Democracy." And on May 4, 2003, I wrote: "Where is Our Democracy Headed?" Senator Wabara was elected Senate President on June 3, 2003. I wrote on three Sundays in June and all the three pieces were on the 10th anniversary of June 12. None of the pieces I wrote in July was on Senator Wabara.

So where did our man see the great article written by one Waziri Adio with the title: "A Joke Carried too Far"? Maybe he authored it for me in his dream. Even at that I take offence. In his imagined reality, he should have credited me with a more elegant title. Maybe some things are just beyond some people. If a man sets out to state undeniable facts, he had better be sure of his facts. And if a man of his age and education cannot get basic facts right, then we are all in trouble. I think his problem, however, is more of ill-motive than incapacity. I think our man knows what he was doing. He simply set out to create facts as a basis for hacking me to pieces. It is fictitious. It is mischievous. It is malicious. It is tendentious. It is not a strange tactic, though. The only thing is that such practice is only prided in that genre called gutter/hatchet journalism.

Now to the issues. I think there are two interlocking ones: what motivates journalists to join government; and what motivated me to work for the Senate President. According to our wise old man, the answer is simple: money. With all due respect, this is a very reductionist, if not puerile, argument. It is robbed of the nuances expected from someone who has been around, who has a PhD and is granted the rare privilege of illuminating issues for the public through a weekly column.

Yes, there are some professionals (journalists, lawyers, bankers, academics etc) who go into government just to make money; just as there are people who go into journalism just to make money. But there are also those who participate in government and practice journalism for some other reasons. Such reasons include: being in a position to shape policies and programmes, enriching governance discourse and choices, contributing directly to change, and shaping the course of society and history. Admittedly, this is easier dreamed of than achieved if you are not the one with the mandate, but some appointees still have the space and luck to make the difference.

Even if those with noble intentions in government represent only one percent, I think it is only fair and charitable for an old man who cares about his beloved profession to acknowledge that. (In passing, he said only the late Tunji Oseni came out of government with his reputation intact. Only one man, out of the many journalists in government? Is there a generational grouse here?) And whether he wants to acknowledge it or not, there is still something called service to fatherland, which serves as the sole motivation for some people, and which sometimes comes at enormous sacrifice to some.

Dr Sobowale's thesis is not new though. There are those who believe that anyone who joins government is tainted and that those who stay out of it remain the saints. There are those who beat their chests that they can never join government. Good for them. But does that make them morally superior to others? I don't think so. Besides, I don't think this false dichotomy of we/they, saint/sinner is useful. It lacks rigour, is pretentious, and is even asinine.

Now, let's turn to my own motivation. Here I am forced to write about myself just to illustrate that I could not have been the opportunistic, corrupt and unscrupulous creature of Dr. Sobowale's malicious fiction. Let me start by saying that I didn't stumble into journalism and am not one of those who saw journalism as a stepping stone to something more financially rewarding. By the time I was ten, I was very clear in my head that I wanted to be a journalist because of my fascination with the power of the written word and my passion to contribute to change. It came at a cost: I had to wait for two years after A' Levels before I could secure enough JME marks to study Mass Communication at the University of Lagos.

At UNILAG, I chose to specialize in print journalism (and not broadcasting or public relations/advertising), knowing fully well that my choice would not make my face a famous one nor would it guarantee a path to riches. To be a better journalist, I earned a master's in Journalism at Columbia University in New York and did a fellowship for journalists at Harvard University. With all sense of modesty, I did my bit as a journalist.

After a while, I realized that as powerful as journalism is, it also has its limitations. Great journalism can influence thought, move people to action and change the course of history. But journalism is no golden bullet, and its impact is not automatic. I also realized that journalism is not the only platform for engaging your society, and that the skill sets acquired through journalism training and practice can be deployed in other arenas in the service of self and society. I wanted to move from the realm of ideas to action. I would not be surprised if this is too esoteric or sophisticated for someone who thinks the sole human motivation is pecuniary.

If my motivation was money (and if I would do anything for money as Dr. Sobowale has claimed), I would still be a practicing journalist. As our pious elder knows to well, government is not the only place where people make easy money. Perhaps, you stand a better chance in journalism than in government if you are as unscrupulous as this man has painted me. But it shows that he doesn't know me, and has not bothered to ask simple questions about me before setting out to murder my character.

In case he needs to know, money doesn't mean anything to me. Two things matter to me: a good name and a clear conscience. As a journalist, I could have been stupendously rich if I didn't put a high store on my name and conscience. At the risk of sounding immodest, I was not an obscure columnist somewhere. I took a leave from active journalism because I wanted to get in the belly of the whale. In actual fact, I took a 30 percent pay cut to work for the former Senate President. (As bad as the salary in journalism is, it is still better than that of public service. At least mine was better.) But I took the pay cut because I saw it as a necessary sacrifice for my political education. It was the kind of hands-on knowledge that a hefty tuition at an Ivy League school wouldn't have given me.

Even then, I realized that joining government at that time will create a moral muddle for me. But it is either you wanted to be part of how your society is run or not. There is never a good time in a country such as ours. I decided that what matters is what you do with the appointment. I found solace in the experience of Dr. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti who served the government of General Ibrahim Babangida and made meaningful contributions. I agonized over the unsolicited offer and eventually negotiated to be a speech writer and adviser on strategy. I was there for fifteen months, deliberately in the backroom, using the opportunity to put pro-poor issues in the mouth of the number three citizen. I think I gave a good account of myself and I learned a lot.

I left on my own accord, poorer, materially, than I went in. Despite my dire financial conditions, I had the courage to look temptations in the face and say no. I am not sure our self-righteous, old testament apostle can openly say the same thing. Among others, I turned down the offer of a house in a choice part of Abuja and returned to the National Assembly salaries mistakenly paid into my account because the National Assembly bureaucracy was not notified that I had left. For me all this was nothing, because nothing, not even the whole world, counts as much a good name.

But it is this same me that Dr. Sobowale, after erecting a convenient fiction, has chosen to describe as this: "He made his money, undoubtedly, but what happened to his integrity? Thereafter, who again would read anything by Waziri Adio and believe it? I certainly wouldn't because I have become convinced that he would take any position if the price is right."

Made his money? How? If the price is right? Which price? Is this man writing about me? Evidently not.

I don't expect everyone to applaud me for working for the former Senate President. To be sure, people can disagree with my decision and can even disagree with my conduct in office. That is fair. Even then, a certain Dr. Sobowale doesn't have the veto on where I work and with whom. The last time I checked, he didn't pay my school fees. What I do with myself is my call. I make my decisions and I live with the consequences. But part of the consequences should not be unwarranted and consistent defamation of my character.

Well, it doesn't matter. I am convinced that this man has gone beyond the bounds of fair comment and has done irreparable damage to my reputation. He has assaulted the only possession I have, and this I will not take lightly. We shall meet in court.