By Ismail Omipidan
As a devout Muslim, I know God doeth all things. But He uses people to make those things possible- in our individual upward social mobility or career growth.
The late Dimgba Igwe, a quintessential media guru, was my own God-sent. But for him, I probably would have resigned from The Sun, in 2008, barely three years after he had visited Borno, to again intervene on my behalf and that of the management, after I was declared a persona-non-grata, in the state by the then Governor Ali Modu Sheriff.
When the news of his death first filtered in , it was my late mother who first called me from Otukpo. I did not even know she remembered him. Speaking the Igbona dialect, she said: “Oga yin y’o wa ilu ibi yo tin sise ni igba yi governor gb’ogun ti e ko nu ni?” (Meaning: Is that not your boss, who visited your station, during your running battle with the governor?) I said yes, he was the one. She said again: “Oun ko l’owi komo kuo ni Sun ni?” (Is he not the same person that saved your career in The Sun?) I said yes. Finally, in deep agony, she said: “O ma se o, Abiyamo ku oro ibi. Won pa ni o!” (It is a pity. They must have killed him.) I had no answer to that.
She now went ahead to pray for all of us journalists, especially, those of The Sun family, that God would always protect us against enemies, who pretend to be our friends.
Throughout late Igwe’s sojourn on earth, I had encounters with him, three times. The first encounter was in June 2003, barely a month after I joined The Sun family. We were assembled in Lagos for an editorial conference, in preparation for our daily publication then.
During that session, he told me the things I could do to make The Sun outstanding in my area of jurisdiction. He reminded me of a story I did of a little boy that was put in chains by the parents, for wanting to acquire western education (Boko Haram), when I was with the Comet, (now defunct). He instructed me to look for more of such stories. I did as I was told, and the rest today is history.
The second encounter was when he visited my station, in 2005. Before his visit, I was already apprehensive of my continued stay in the place, following several threats from the then governor, his father and supporters. On his arrival, we were getting set to go to the Government House, when the governor sent a message that the management team should not come to the Government House, with me. And the late Dimgba Igwe simply said: “Ishmael ( that’s how he calls me), it is obvious; the man wants to discuss you. Just stay back, we will see you, the next day.”
When we met the next day, he again said: “Ishmael, we are proud of you. We don’t expect less. Elsewhere, what we hear is that government is pocketing reporters. But here, what we are hearing is that you have refused to be pocketed by government. Ordinarily, we would have asked you to remain here. But we don’t want to lose you, because the man said any day he wakes up to see you, the day is spoilt.”
The late Dimgba actually wanted me to come to Lagos, because according to him, I would grow faster on the job in Lagos. But I was reluctant. He then picked the phone again and called me to admonish me, to proceed to Abuja, saying “from what I have seen of you so far, you are not the type of reporter that will go to Abuja and be buried.” I listened to him and proceeded to Abuja. To God be the glory, I was indeed not ‘buried’.
The third encounter was in 2008, shortly after my wedding. I was drafted to The Spectator, but some principalities within The Sun were bent on frustrating the survival of the new stable. Owing to the frustration, I got fed up and opted to leave The Sun. I wrote my resignation letter and gave them a month notice in accordance with the rules of engagement. While the notice was on, I started hearing lots of stories being told about me by one of the principalities as regards the reason I was leaving.
I had once told him about my ordeal at Weekly Trust; so he told people that it was my character to always look for excuses to leave. When the then MD of The Sun, Mr Mike Awoyinfa, informed me, I responded to him that God would forgive the man. Somehow however, it was like the management did not want me to go and two weeks to the expiration of the notice I gave, I was invited by the management to Lagos. In Lagos, a senior management member advised me not to ask for promotion because from all indications, the management would do anything I wanted and that I should just relate my ordeal to the management and they would work on it if the reason for the exit is something that could be corrected. I related my frustrations to the late Dimgba Igwe at the meeting and he said the fellow was not the owner of The Sun.
“Do not let him frustrate you out of The Sun. The same way you were employed was the same way we employed him. In life, when people are climbing up the ladder, there would be distractions. But you who are climbing must remain focused and not give in to the distractions. In any responsible organisation, when a good hand is leaving, you find out the reason. If it is what you can fix to prevent the good hand from leaving, you fix it and stop the resignation. But if it is not what can be fixed, you take precautions to prevent it from happening again. You have a future here. Ask around, a lot of your other colleagues have left; I did not bother to engage them. So, you have to withdraw your resignation letter,” the late Igwe said.
That singular encounter was gratifying and reassuring. He told me to remain focused, declaring that my future was bright at The Sun. That was how my notice of resignation was withdrawn.
Before I returned to my station, I was refunded the cost of my return tickets!
Because the meeting took place barely four months after my wedding, he found out from the Administration Department, if management got my wedding invitation. Once that was confirmed, he again approved another Fifty Thousand (N50, 000) naira for me as wedding gift, and impressed it on the Administration Department to process same immediately, so I could travel with the cash.
For a man that did this much in my career, I owe his memory a sense of gratitude. But for the fact that my wife was indisposed, I would have been physically present at the event held in his honour yesterday, to mark a decade of his demise. God bless Mr. Femi Adesina and all those who came together to mark the 10 years of the late Dimgba Igwe’s passage.
Omipidan, a journalist and public Affairs Analyst, writes from Abuja.
