Former Managing Director of Champion Newspapers, Prince Henry Odukomaiya, tells Adeola Balogun and ’Nonye Ben-Nwankwo about his days working in Daily Times and his relationship with his late boss, MKO Abiola
What have you been doing since you retired?
I might not say I am a good Christian, only God would say so. But I am a good church goer. For the past 16 years, I was serving my church as the chairman of the publication committee. In that capacity, we were publishing a magazine twice a year. I took it as my ministry because it seemed the church knew what I needed. When I retired from Champion Newspapers, I was 60 and I was quite young. Even now, I can still carry myself around as you can see. I will be 80 in July next year. So you can imagine how I was 19 years ago. When I was appointed the chairman of that committee, I saw an opportunity to practise what I knew best. So I did that job for 16 years until early this year when I told them I wasn’t going to be here forever.
Was being a journalist your ambition in life?
No, it wasn’t. I had wanted to be a lawyer. But when I got a scholarship to go to the University of Legon in Ghana, it was to study Classics. As a matter of fact, universities in Ghana and Nigeria weren’t offering Law then. I entered with Higher School Certificate. I left in the penultimate year before graduation.
Why did you leave?
The Daily Times advertised positions for leader writers. I didn’t know who a leader writer was but I knew I was a writer of a sort. My lecturers told me that too. I applied. I was one of the 28 applicants who were tested. Out of the 28, I think 18 were university graduates already. The rest were people like me who were trying to acquire a degree. I was surprised that I was among the 10 people they shortlisted later. We were given another test and they shortlisted to five and I was still there. The editor of Daily Times at that time was an Igbo man. Eventually, they zeroed in on me. My father didn’t like it because it meant not acquiring a degree. I was myopic about it because what I was offered as salary was so much more than what our lecturers were receiving. So I accepted that job and that was how I didn’t complete my degree.
Do you regret it?
Of course I regret it. It is not because I would have been substantially better than what I am today but because I should have resisted the attempt that time and finished my university degree.
But didn’t you get the opportunity of going back to school even as you were working?
That is what I didn’t do, which I also regret.
Was it that you were too busy to further your education even as you started working?
Yes. The appointment of Alhaji Babatunde Jose as editor of Daily Times was what really turned me to become a journalist. He called me into his office and asked me why I didn’t finish my university education. I told him I regretted it and told him that it was the money that attracted me. He asked me if I would like to know more about journalism other than leader writing. I told him I would jump at it if he could give me that opportunity. At that time, we were a subsidiary of a British Newspaper, The Daily Mirror. So, he wrote to them and gave my particulars to them and told them to arrange a diploma course in journalism for me, which would be able to equip me to do the work. They got me a place at Glasgow Royal Polytechnic and I was admitted along with those who had 18 months to do the diploma programme. I worked in a tabloid and after that I came back home. I can never forget what Alhaji Jose did in my life. Most of the important positions I held in Daily Times or elsewhere, hold their source to that training.
And you eventually started covering assignments?
After I came back, he deliberately didn’t put me back on the features desk. He put me on the news desk. I was asked to cover parliament at Tafawa Balewa Square. Later, I was sent to sub editor’s desk as the Chief sub editor. I loved editing and writing headlines. All this was known to my bosses. My future growth in the Daily Times was patterned by God and using my bosses as human agents.
Why did you eventually move from Daily Times to Concord?
I left Daily Times in 1976 along with a number of other journalists and two accountants. It was after the junta of Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo. They came and took over the Daily Times and a crisis erupted in the company. It was an internal crisis. I don’t remember if it was the crisis that provided an excuse for the Muhammed/Obasanjo regime to take over the company. But the crisis was over the appointment of the editor of Daily Times. Over the years, there had been a structured pattern in the Daily Times. Whoever became the editor was invariably, except in exceptional cases, succeeded by the Sunday Editor who was regarded as the next in order of hierarchy. The deputy editor wasn’t the next person after the daily editor. Then, the editor of Daily Times was Areoye Oyebola who was one of my trainees. I was appointed the production controller. The only thing I knew was the editorial work. It was during that period that the coup happened.
Daily Times reported the coup story filed by Segun Osoba?
I don’t know how I did it but I know I got to the office that day. During my editorial days, I used to get to the office before 7am. The person whom I tried to imitate, Alhaji Jose, lived in Ikoyi but he always got to the office by 6.30am. So on that particular day, I was at the office before we heard the announcement of the coup. Segun Osoba, who I think was the deputy editor then, came to the office and was writing the story. Everybody knew Osoba to be a very adventurous and enterprising reporter. That was his forte. Nobody could begrudge him on that. So he wrote the story. Jose was in the office and I was there too. Jose knew my forte was newspaper production. Jose cast the headline and I edited the story.
Are you saying it was just the three of you there?
It was, in this order, Segun Osoba, Henry Odukomaiya and Babatunde Jose. Until we finished the story, we didn’t see the editor, Oyebola.
And he was supposed to be there?
Well, it is in crisis situation that people show the stuff they are made of. When an exceptional occasion presents itself, it is then that the star shines. Oyebola wasn’t there and we produced the paper. Two days later, Jose announced Segun Osoba as editor of Daily Times.
Were you satisfied with the appointment?
I wasn’t in contention because I had left that position two or three years earlier. But I thought it wasn’t right for Osoba to be made the editor. Yes, he did something spectacular but there were many ways to compensate him rather than making a departure from the structured progression in Daily Times. Some of us who felt bad about it met and held a meeting. Two of us were accountants and the rest were journalists. We called ourselves Joint Action Committee or something like that. I was the most senior of the journalists. We wrote a protest.
Were you protesting that Oyebola shouldn’t have been removed?
No way. We weren’t protesting because of that. We had expected the Sunday Editor, Gbadebo Ogunsanwo, to take over from him. That was the structured pattern in Daily Times. The Sunday Editor was even doing well that time. The crisis shook the company a little bit and it led to a number of things. I felt guilty that I was among those that rebelled given the fact that the man who made that decision, Alhaji Jose, had been instrumental to my growth in Daily Times. I was seen as his favourite back then. I don’t think any other person enjoyed trainings abroad as much as I did.
But with the protest, it would have seemed you had something against Osoba…
I had nothing against him. It was just the manner of his appointment that I didn’t like. Oyebola was among us in the committee but he knew we weren’t fighting his cause.
So, was that why you left for Concord?
No. it was the new owners of Daily Times that set up an enquiry. I think the 13 of us were the first batch to be dispensed with.
Was it because you rebelled?
I can’t remember but I think the revolt was probably the immediate cause. All of us who took part in the revolt were affected.
Chief Oyebola told us that the owners of Daily Times appointed him Editor in England.
It was Alhaji Babatunde Jose that appointed him the editor. I know that very well. I was his trainer but he became the editor after me. When I was appointed the editor, he became a working journalist. He was writing a column. The owners of the paper structured the progress of Jose. They gave him editorial tutelage and political tutelage by sending him to Enugu as Regional Representative. He was given the opportunity of ‘hobnobbing’ with Nnamdi Azikiwe. He was also sent to Ibadan a few years later where Awolowo held sway. He was also sent to the North. He was given the opportunity to know the future leaders of Nigeria and he was able to get access to them. When he was made the editor of Daily Times in 1957, I think the owners knew what they were doing. They wanted not just a frontline journalist but a political journalist as well who could get access to top leaders. It was only Alhaji Jose, in the history of editors of Daily Times, who went ahead to become the director and eventually the chairman of Daily Times. His movement was upward and not lateral.
Oyebola said Jose didn’t like him and he (Oyebola) wouldn’t have been made editor if not because of the owners of the paper…
But that is not possible. The only person who was fully in charge in Daily Times to the best of my knowledge (and my knowledge is substantial) was Babatunde Jose. For anybody to claim that his appointment came from England or America or any other planet, it is not true.
What was the problem between him and Osoba?
Osoba was his deputy. I wouldn’t know of any problem between them. Osoba was a precocious reporter. He was adventurous. I think he joined us when he was 24 or thereabout. I wasn’t among the group that interviewed him.
But Oyebola claimed Jose had a sinister move making Osoba his deputy, were you aware of that?
Sinister move? I am not aware of that. If he said all this, then I am surprised. Oyebola and I got on well. I attended his daughter’s wedding at Ibadan.
Oyebola said it was because of him that the protest was staged.
It wasn’t because of him. You can ask Gbolahan Ogunsanwo who was the secretary of the committee. There was no way anybody could justify what Oyebola did. I was in the office the day of the coup. Our boss was there. If he said he couldn’t get to the office that day, it is between him and his conscience and God.
He insisted that when he was removed, Obasanjo and Murtala Muhammed had to query Jose about his removal.
I do not know about that, please. You shouldn’t bring me into this kind of controversy. I don’t know about this and I was in the position to know. Query Jose? That is pure falsehood. Jose was the boss of Daily Times and it was clear to everybody.
You still haven’t told us how you moved to Concord…
I remember Concord with nostalgia. I was approached by MKO Abiola whom I only knew by reputation. A good friend of mine, who was also a journalist, told me Abiola wanted to see me. I asked why he wanted to see me. I was told Abiola wanted to set up a newspaper and people mentioned my name and some other names.
You went to see him?
Of course I went to see him. He was a little younger than me. That MKO wanted to see me was even an honour so I had to go and see him. I even went with my son. We got there and Abiola told them to bring me to his bedroom. I was amazed. Anyway, I went in. He told me about the newspaper he wanted to float. He told me to go and get him a feasibility study of what I would need as the managing director of the newspaper.
So he made you the managing director outright?
Oh yes. Meanwhile, I didn’t know what a feasibility study was. I didn’t study business. I asked him what it meant and he explained. He said he was going to give me one week to get back to him and I quickly told him one week was too short for me. I told him I would reject it right away if he insisted on one week. He told me he liked my courage for speaking out. He said he would give me two weeks. I still told him two weeks was short for me. I told him he should give me one month. He agreed. I managed to do it in 28 days. He told me to come back the following day.
Just like that?
Yes. He told me he would employ me as the managing director and editor in chief. He told me about the plot of land that had a warehouse around the airport vicinity.
When was this?
It was in 1979. He said I should regard myself as having been employed by him from that time. We didn’t start Concord until March of 1980. But we started recruiting the members of staff. He made his jet available to us when we had to interview applicants in Enugu, Kaduna, Jos and other places. That was my first time of getting into a private jet. We employed people we thought were suitable. One of them was Doyin Aboaba, who was a Features Editor at Daily Times. Doyin eventually became his wife. Employing her became my undoing later on. By employing Doyin Aboaba, Simbiat, his senior wife, accused me of conspiring with her husband to get him a wife. I, Alhaji Ashiru, Doyin Aboaba and Abiola’s lawyer and another man, Labanji Bolaji, went to Kaduna to employ people. It was there we got Mike Awoyinfa. He had just left University of Lagos.
Who else did you employ?
We employed Dele Giwa. He was writing a column at Daily Times then. He was their Features Editor. Then again, we also got Louis Obi. He was a prose writer. He could write flawless prose. He later became Dele Giwa’s deputy editor. We eventually started with Sunday Concord. The following day, we came out with Daily Concord. We started with two newspapers at a time.
But you eventually disagreed with MKO Abiola…
Yes. My first disagreement was about a story he wanted us to publish. He was in the opposite camp of Olabisi Onabanjo, Governor of Ogun State at that time who was in Unity Party of Nigeria. He said the governor was going to England with a whole battalion of his commissioners. He wanted us to use that as a story. I told him that we ought to investigate the story first. I told him he wasn’t a journalist and as such, he should please let us investigate before using the story. He agreed. We sent people to investigate and we discovered the story wasn’t true.
So did you drop the story?
I reported to him about our investigation and he said he was the owner of the paper and I should publish the story like that. I had to publish it and the governor took us to court. Damages were awarded against us but of course, MKO didn’t mind.
Was it at that stage that you parted ways with him?
No. we didn’t part at that stage but he knew me better and I knew him better. All of a sudden, his senior wife, Simbiat, came and occupied an office and gave herself the title of Project Director. Well, I was only the managing director and I didn’t have the right to appoint other directors. The owner of the money had the right to employ and appoint whoever he wanted. His brother, Sule, was made the finance controller. We had an accountant as well. Before any paper became money, I had to sign. Sule, who was supposed to be the eyes and ears of MKO, was signing the cheques for things which were not supplied. I asked him about the materials he signed for. He said he didn’t see anything. He said the wife of the owner asked him to sign the cheques. So when he brought the cheques for me to sign, I told him I wasn’t going to do that unless I saw the materials bought. I had to tell him that nobody was going to use me to siphon money. Sule Abiola is alive; you can go and ask him.
So, you didn’t sign eventually?
Of course I refused to be a party to stealing money. Not satisfied with my response, the project director came to meet me herself and said ‘what do you want this man? Didn’t they tell you that my family money was part of the fund for Abiola’s education?’ I told her I wasn’t concerned about all of that and I would not sign a cheque for goods I didn’t see. Some other things happened, which I wouldn’t want to talk about in print. However, she brought a gang of 12 to 14 thugs who came into my office and beat me up. She came to me and said yes, she was the one that did it and that she had used every manner to tell me what she wanted, yet I didn’t want to bulge. I didn’t answer her. I told the daily editor that I was going home. I went to see a doctor and I got treated.
Did MKO get to know and did he get in touch with you?
Yes. Later in the evening, he called me and said he was just told what his wife did to me. He said he was sorry about that and when he came back, he would prostrate before me and apologise. He said he would come back the following day because of me. He actually did and he came to my house with Sule and some other persons to beg me. He told me he had booked a flight for me to go to London for treatment. I told him it wasn’t necessary. I told him I was just beaten up and I didn’t need what he offered. I told him I would come to work after a couple of days. I did that but thereafter; things weren’t so smooth again so I had to leave. I didn’t want to constitute a permanent source of discord between husband and wife. I left on my own and he paid me off handsomely.
Did the incident strain your relationship with him?
We were still friendly. When he went into politics fully, especially during the Abacha days, I went to congratulate him for the courage he had shown and I was happy we didn’t leave as enemies. I told him to be careful of the army boys and he said they were his friends. I told him he shouldn’t be too sure. I was later proved right.
Did Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu also ask you to come and manage Champion Newspapers?
Exactly. It was Duro Onabule, IBB’s Chief Press Secretary whom I had employed in The Concord and who had succeeded Doyin Abiola as the editor of National Concord that told me Iwuanyanwu confided in him that he wanted to set up a newspaper. He asked him to recommend somebody and he mentioned my name. At that time, the man who introduced me to Abiola, Ashiru, had also left him. I considered I had an obligation to also carry him with me when I went to see Iwuanyanwu. I went to Owerri to meet him. He also came up with this feasibility study. Part of the feasibility study was to go to England and look for machines. We did that and I came back home. The feasibility study was easier to write. I gave it to him and for the first time, he asked me if I would want to manage the company. I told him I would if he gave me the chance. This was in 1987. He suggested a title which I instantly rejected. He appointed me the managing director and editor in chief. He made my friend, Ashiru, one of the general managers. I worked there for seven years.
Don’t you feel bad that all the newspapers you worked in have all collapsed?
I feel sad about it. I feel bad in particular about Concord dying the way it did. It didn’t really come to me as a surprise because I knew Abiola’s bravado and the fact that he thought that money could buy everything wasn’t the best approach to life. At the end, it was lack of money that killed the place.