SIR: If you have the courage of your convictions as an individual or as a corporate entity, you must stand up and be counted; counted amongst the truthsayers, and agents of credible information dissemination. Truth is bitter! Naysayers are pessimists; they’re truth twisters and destroyers. They are subsumed in self-denial. But truth is indestructible.

I addictively settled for The Guardian for the publication of all my articles, through the indoctrination of literary gymnast, Dr. Rueben Abati. The Guardian is true to its name: “Conscience, Nurtured by Truth.” The Newspapers that dread the burden of history.

The Guardian, the guardian to the patriots and resourceful Nigerians yearning for the soul of a nation. The in-depth nature of their stories, news reports and the imports of their analysis always tune me to Fareed Zakaria of GPS on CNN cable news. The two sources of information have nourished my thirst for local and international news and fed my intellectual starvation on world affairs.

The Guardian headlines and the substance of stories are academic, poetic, creative, insightful, resourceful, entertaining and penetrating. They are not ashamed to retract any story unsubstantiated by facts in their publications. That is the true genius in journalism. You cannot buy integrity, you ultimately earn it.

Meanwhile, the show of shame in one of the Nigerian newspapers in recent past attests to my expressive commendations for The Guardian and my condemnations for some other newspapers that have lost in ethics of their profession.

The evil or good that men do lives after them. Alex Ibru established a colossus (The Guardian Newspapers) with a fine touch and mind. Alex Ibru has etched his name in posterity.

Kudos to The Guardian Newspapers for protecting the ethics of the profession and also, for maintaining their integrity and continuously pricking the conscience of a beleaguered nation.

• Yahaya Balogun,
Arizona, USA.