For being a Daniel come to judge, Mr Nduka Obaigbena, publisher of ThisDay Newspapers and owner of Arise TV is not having the best of times. Neither will he be during this election process, for he has been out and about, doing all the wrong things. Time was when it emerged that he conducted his affairs in the shadowy underworld of backroom dealings and with general apathy towards the plight of citizens, such as using poverty alleviation funds of Bayelsa indigenes to import entertainers from America and feast. Infamously regarded a sybarite, these were the days when he was reported to have ferried in Kim Kardashian on a flying visit. But, give it to him, the man has ambition, never mind the inordinateness or otherwise of it. He was the one to contact when you wanted to have a good time – a bacchanalian time to remember.
Recently, he has been in the media, again, this time for seeking equity by lambasting the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) as oppressors of the freedom of the media. From the heated responses he has received, he may have bitten more than he can chew – and this is significant, for the man is reputed to be in possession of one of the most cavernous chewing faculties in the media industry.
He chewed in South Africa, say some, till the authorities there clamped down on him, but he did not learn much from the experience. He also chewed in the United Kingdom, till he was muzzled and shooed out of the media space there. Of his indigenous, gourmet chewing, virtually everyone he has worked with has some story or the other to tell. It would almost seem like the chewing was habitual. It is not surprising then that he has been spanked for trying to chew his way into the politicking and campaigning leading up to 2023.
The backstory, the media reports, is that Obaigbena’s Arise TV wanted to enjoy the company of APC’s candidate, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in their series of interviews and town hall meetings with other presidential candidates. This is not a bad thing per se. The problem was simply that Arise TV, under the management and administration of Obaigbena, did not embody the ethics of objective media reporting as the APC’s PCC would have liked. To them, Obaigbena and his media agencies were simply hustling and trying to sink their teeth into the perceived transactions that were going into funding campaigns. The desire to not be left out when things were moving along briskly is a good one, but can be corrupted if the means of getting in on the action is not scrupulous.
So, operating under the impression that the man Obaigbena and his media agencies are the apocalypse of honest media work, as well as believing that he shuffled too much in the darker parts of the corridors of power, they snubbed them altogether. In their defence, the media body, Arise TV, had been skittering all over the place for a long time. During the EndSARS protests, where other media bodies professionally eschewed sensationalism, Arise TV pandered to the popular opinion of the social media, currying favour there and recklessly reporting news. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they were rewarded with a sanction of N2m for violating Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation’s regulations. In recent times, they have seemingly calumniated APC’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, and this in tandem with ThisDay, their sister agency through the cavilling of his person and politics. In a word, the jury is out that they have often substituted circumspection and professionalism for haste and personal emotions in their media reportage.
So, the APC campaign team took him to the cleaners. Over a series of articles, they let the public in on the darker parts of Obaigbena’s dealings. They identified him as being the brain behind the forceful invitations of the APC candidate to Arise TV – much like the Odysseus of the Trojan horse. The identified him as the piper calling the tune of contumely against Bola Tinubu evidenced in ThisDay Newspaper. They made it clear that he was one of the horsemen of the apocalypse contracted to vilify their candidate through the agency of his media bodies. The evidence is compelling. So hasty was ThisDay to smear the man’s name that they were gleeful about the death of one Laolu Akande, thinking he was Mueez Akande. Without performing their duty of care, they ran to the media only to return with their tails between their legs. For the APC PCC, this will not do. This is sordid conduct. And for all of Arise TV’s raising up a standard against the APC candidate, they are now the humbled recipients of an NBC sanction – the reward for unprofessionalism.
Obaigbena’s case stands as a warning to those who would think the media a cash cow. It is not. The mass media has evolved to be one of the consolidators of democracy when such media is allowed freedom. Freedom of the press, however, comes with huge responsibilities which are coded in the ethics of journalism. There is therefore no room for indiscretions. Where media owners become indiscreet about their affairs and dealings, then they are treated with the salve given Obaigbena – the reward for indiscretions.