Why we formed League of Nigerian Columnists

It is my pleasure and distinct privilege to welcome you to this history-making event. It is for me a dream come true. For many years, I had conceived the idea of men and women who wield mighty pens that shape and mould the thoughts and world-view of communities coming together in an Association or a Society that would define them and set them apart from regular pen-pushers. I therefore considered myself singularly lucky when on a visit to Professor Kila at his invitation; he also broached the subject of a Union for Columnists that have distinguished themselves over the years.

To me, columnists are a rare breed. Whether as a creative artist, visionary, analyst, essayist, historian, preacher, ideologue, propagandist or agitator the man or woman who can originate and compose thoughts by way of commentary that would engage the mind and thought of their reader almost in a compelling manner should be singled out for celebration and adoration. No other branch of journalism interrogates the mind as the columnist. And no other professional calling wields as much influence as the columnist does.

Nigerian columnists have always been powerful and influential. Even before the legendary Ernest Sisei Ikoli, columnists had been a thorn in the flesh of colonialists in Nigeria and throughout West Africa. And in recent memory the exploits of Anthony Enahoro, Lateef Jakande, Ayo Ojewumi, Ebenezer Williams, Bisi Onabanjo, Adamu Ciroma, Alade Odunewu, Peter Enahoro, Sam Amuka, Areoye Oyebola, Adaora Ulasi, Esther Adebiyi, Dupe Adeogun, Helen Oviagele, Bunmi Sofola, Nojeem Jimoh, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Haroun Adamu, Aba Saheed and a host of others readily come to mind.

It is our strongly held view that the Nigerian columnists that have made their mark must come together and carve a respectable identity for themselves and jealously protect that identity to ward off quacks and pretenders.

It will be recalled that because of the array of columnists assembled by the great Babatunde Jose of the old Daily Times in the late 60s and 70s, the then Head of State General Yakubu Gowon made it a duty to call Dr Jose on daily basis! I will reinforce the view held of columnists by a brief opinion titled ‘The Columnist: A Newspaper’s Greatest Asset’ published by Freelance Writing a US based writers’ hub. And I quote:

Throughout the world people show tremendous loyalty to newspaper columnists and find they identify with them rather than the newspaper itself. They turn the pages of their favourite read to see their take on things. A columnist’s opinion tends to reflect readers’ mood; they are often controversial or at least enlightening. This empathy with the readership transfers intense loyalty to the newspaper they write for. The title is apt for, like Saint Simeon Stylites of Syria, who in the 5th Century harangued the populace from his column, newspaper columnists also wield enormous power.

Just as Norman Rockwell once epitomized the United States with his paintbrush, the nation’s columnists carried out the same task with their typewriters. Their names live on; in the U.S. Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Walter Winchell, and H.L Mencken: In the UK Cassandra, Lynda Lee-Potter, and Richard Littlejohn of the Daily Mail. The list is endless. They shape opinions, they become household names.

The Power of Three Senators
The Washington columnist Marquis Childs guessed that James Reston of The New York Times had roughly the power of three U.S. Senators. Their influence is such that presidents and prime ministers tirelessly court them; none more so than U.S President Lyndon B. Johnson who was a Walter Lippmann sycophant. He knew that such an influential columnist could make or break him while the electorates were still in bed.

Lippmann’s ‘Today and Tomorrow’ column appeared three times a week in more than 200 newspapers. He had drafted President Wilson’s famous 14 Points and was later wined, dined and courted by Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Lippmann played a leading part in bringing the Vietnam War to an end; a war, which his formidable rival, columnist Joseph Alsop helped to start. As he ordered 50,000 more troops to Vietnam Lyndon Johnson was heard to murmur: “There; that should keep Joe Alsop quiet for a while.”

Mightier Than the Sword
No fewer than 800 American newspapers carried Walter Winchell’s daily column. Little did his adoring readership know that Herman Klurfield, for twenty-nine years, served as Winchell’s ghost writer. Many columns are written by a group effort and appear under a pseudonym; in effect a brand name.

In the United States alone, feature syndicates and major newspapers carry the opinionated daily debates of over 200 columnists. To these can be added local commentators covering everything from gardening to sportswriters, political pundits and social gossip columnists. Across the U.S. it is estimated that 26,000 periodicals are provided for by15,000 mostly freelance writers. This number can at least be doubled if the UK and European Union are included.

Such is the influence offered by a barrel-thumping columnist that the calling has attracted the most illustrious figures in history. Both U.S. President Roosevelts’ were newspaper columnists, as were President Ronald Reagan and one-time presidential hopeful Barry Goldwater.
A columnist’s value to an editor cannot be understated. Controversy moves newsprint like no other. His challenging wordsmith gets away with expressing opinions the editor daren’t utter; it is the columnist not the newspaper that attracts the flak. The column is space accounted for and so is someone else’s problem. Most important of all there is neither news nor sport feature that can draw and keep as many readers as can the columnist.

Cynics may write them off as people who scribble on the backs of advertisements. There are very few of those that carry as much influence as the challenging publish–and-be-damned columnist. They wish.”

As it is in the Americas and Europe and perhaps more so in the emerging economies, we in the ‘League of Nigerian Columnists’ believe the columnist occupies a unique place in the lives of the societies they live in and they must therefore be conscious of their ordained role as seers, philosophers and guardian-spirit to their communities and their leaders.

This explains why we came together to form a formidable block that can always be looked up to in times of uncertainties in the country’s evolutionary stairs to nationhood. The Nigerian columnist must command the quality respect and regard which his contemporaries command in other climes. And to achieve that degree of relevance and respectability, the impactful columnist must be conscious of the place and position his or her special talents have imposed on him or her.

The League of Nigerian Columnists (LNC) which, we have unveiled is a non-partisan, voluntary association of responsible and respectable columnists dedicated to the nurturing and preservation of a truly democratic and progressive society. Our Members are writers whose columns are published weekly or with reasonable frequency in newspapers and magazines. Columnists’ articles are published in mainstream media (newspapers or magazines) that has a full-time editor.

Our Objectives include:
To contribute to the attainment of the goal of holding governments accountable to the people as enshrined in the Constitution.
To contribute to the achievement by the country of the status of a society that consciously works for the realization of the goals of fairness, equity, justice and egalitarianism for its entire people.
To publish yearly or as may be convenient a book of Best Columns.
To publish an encyclopaedia of Nigerian columnists living or dead.
To hold yearly lectures on any subject of contemporary relevance, etc.

You are most welcome as witnesses to the unveiling of the League of Nigerian Columnists.

We promise the Nigerian peoples that we shall dedicate our energies, our talents, our resources to the betterment of the citizenry through continuous and rigorous interrogation of the powers that be and all institutional leaders of the country. It is our belief that the pen that we have and the influence we may wield are for the service of humanity.

At critical and crucial moments the League shall always make its position known as we shall continue to drum to the ears of our leaders in various segments and sectors of the society that their powers are held in trust for the people to whom we are mandatorily responsible.
The Voice which our legendary predecessors had, the Voice which shook our colonialists and shook off their suzerainty over our commonwealth is now resurrected.

Our League is set to serve the public good, as we have been doing in our individual columns and as we shall now do as collectives.
Ladies and Gentlemen, for the avoidance of doubt, the League of Nigerian Columnists is NOT in competition with any other organization either within the fold of the media or in any other professional body.

We remain simply, the Oracle. Thanks for your attention.

This is an excerpt from the inaugural speech of Chief Tola Adeniyi, Chairman of League of Nigerian Columnists, unveiled in Lagos yesterday.