19 November 2008
editorial
Lagos — THE frosty relations existing between the Enugu State governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime, and journalists in the state was not inevitable but avoidable. The tiff, reports say, arose from two botched attempts to honour the governor with an award which the journalists' union called Man-of-the-year, which a government spokesman claimed Chime did not want.
Going by published reports of an off-record upbraiding of the journalists by Gov. Chime at a thank-you dinner for journalists in Enugu, both parties justifiably felt slighted in the failed award saga, leading to hurting exchange of brickbats.
Ostensibly impressed by the masterly way Chime extricated himself from the apron strings of certain political godfathers who claimed they installed him as governor, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Enugu State Council, reportedly nominated Chime as 2008 Man-of-the-Year. He was consequently invited for the conferment ceremony.
The governor who could not personally make it to the event delegated a cabinet member of his executive council to receive the award on his behalf. NUJ withheld the award, apparently feeling slighted by the governor's absence.
The event was rescheduled and the government agreed to the new date but sent the Secretary to the Government of the State. To underscore that NUJ meant serious business, its National President, Mr. Ndagene Akwu, graced the second occasion. The state council still did not confer the award on the governor's proxy. The refusal, for the second time, to offer the award might have prompted the governor to reject the award on the excuse that the basis of his nomination was lopsided in his favour and that the members of the union were responsible for the bad press he got, especially in the incipient days of his administration.
Then came Gov. Chime's well publicised traditional wedding, for which his government later accused some sections of the news media of misrepresenting the true state of affairs to the governor's embarrassment. At the dinner party, Chime allegedly threw caution out of the window and castigated the journalists for their past wrong actions against him. He said other unprintable things that cast doubts on their ethical posturing as well as the altruism of the Man-of-the-year award itself.
Anyone in the journalists' shoes would feel hurt by the alleged snide remarks which, under normal conditions, would not find their way into print on ethical grounds, because the governor had tried to secure their understanding to have the exchange off-record.
The story, from the time the nomination was first mooted to the sour dinner encounter, is riddled with perplexing ironies and contradictions. Both parties must have missed what should be the appropriate working relationship between the public office holder and the professional journalist.
For the avoidance of doubt, the journalist is the society's sentinel, the watchdog, whereas the governor is holding the common patrimony (including the journalists') in trust. Their roles converge at the point where the interest of the reader/electorate begins, and any unduly smooth relations between these two public servants will not serve the people's best interest and common good.
The journalist's job entails speedy reporting of events and any slips (even mischief) on his part is checkmated by the feedback mechanism that affords the aggrieved an opportunity to be heard in the free marketplace of ideas. Judicial and other forms of redress are veritable options that Gov Chime could have explored. And unless there is a switch in their roles, it is not the governor that should tell the journalist what he wants. The journalist's allegiance is to the reader/media consumer.
Inasmuch as the award may be openly patronising, the governor ought not to have looked a gift horse in the mouth. After all, NUJ members are highly critical of the government in Enugu; therefore, an award from their umbrella union to the governor should carry more credibility than any other.
The governor's supposed rejection of the award is indeed a tactless afterthought and cannot stand in justification of the hostility he exhibited, starting from the thank-you dinner party which was held for the journalists at the instance of the Government House, Enugu.
We hope, however, the NUJ has learned, from this experience, the eternal lesson to refrain from awards that sound too patronising, awards for persons like Gov. Chime who do not really need them to discharge their obligations to the people.
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