ne has been watching the unfolding drama on the awkward stage called Aso Rock (described by Mallam El-Rufai as an "illegal structure") in regard to the odious script written by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mrs. Oluremi Oyo. In her attempt to please her boss, President Obasanjo, who seemed to be an expert at dehumanizing Nigerians, she naively (at least she needs benefit of the doubt) made attempts to deny some selected media houses their accreditation on the excuse that their representatives "did not meet" her "criteria." From Mrs. Oyo's response to the news about her antics in Aso Rock to put chains around the neck of the media, it was easy to see that she did not anticipate that her ill-motivated action of banning hard working correspondents could backfire.

Though, one is very reluctant to take Mrs. Oyo to task over this unfortunate incident, because she is one of us (?). But one would be doing the public at large to whom the media owes the ultimate responsibility a great disservice should one fail to do so. In addition, it would amount to monumental unfairness to allow her to get away with what seems to be a calculated and malicious impugnation of the personal and intellectual integrity of Alhaji Adeyemi Sulaiman Giwa a.k.a. Yemi Giwa, the Abuja Bureau Chief of the Tribune newspapers. According to her press release denying the allegations, Mrs. Oyo claimed as follows:

"The entry pass to the Presidential Villa, including the press corps is renewed once every year and the exercise for 2003 is being undertaken.

'Several criteria are applied by the Villa authorities in determining the acceptability of the nominees of media organisations.

The Tribune Correspondent did not meet these criteria."

Mrs. Oyo, as a former president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, ought to know that it was not enough to come out with an abstract claim of "several criteria" being applied by her and her boss. If she values her credibility and really wants the public to take her seriously that Alhaji Giwa and others could not meet her "criteria," then she has to publish for the world to see what those "criteria" are. Or in the alternative, she must go public with the credentials of others who allegedly met the criteria so that the public could juxtapose their qualifications with that of Alhaji Giwa whom she was attempting to bring to public ridicule and denied access to Aso Rock and as such impede him in the execution of his lawful duties.

Mrs. Oyo would need more than the platitudes contained in her press release to convince the world that Alhaji Giwa did not meet her "criteria." Alhaji Giwa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Language Arts), a Master of Arts (Communication and Language Arts), an LLB (he was recently called to the Bar) all from the University of Ibadan and a certificate in news reporting from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. Here is a seminal reporter described by the former Editor of Daily Sketch, late Ademola Idowu as an "eloquent writer" in late 1980s. Another brilliant Editor, Mr. Sola Akinnuli believes that Yemi Giwa was "a walking prose," and "an embodiment of the simplicity of language." Alhaji Giwa has been in this field for 16 good years and has written countless number of exclusives and front page stories which is the dream of any serious journalist that is worth his or her salt.

If with all these kind of experience and qualifications, Mrs. Oyo would still insist that Alhaji Giwa was not good enough by her standard, then she would have to publish her 'criteria" for the world to see. Or as suggested above, allow the world to do a comparative analysis of the qualifications of all those covering Aso Rock by having the credentials of all of them published. It is patently unfair to smear the professional reputation of an innocent journalist on the platter of blatant sycophancy, shrouded vendetta, odious censorship and flagrant, unwarranted, but obviously misguided dictatorship.

My own 'Albert Einstein," the seminally brilliant Wale Adebanwi who is presently sojourning as a Bill Gates Scholar in Cambridge University opined that if someone spends too many years as a journalist in the News Agency of Nigeria, it is possible for such person to become blurred to the true meaning of "independent journalism." He averred that Mrs. Oyo's action may not be intended to be malicious and that she may probably have the difficulty distinguishing between "sycophancy" and "independence." He posited that it would not be far fetched to contend that Mrs. Oyo's present woes would not be unconnected with this difficulty. He observed that the titanic task of helping those who went through the mills of the News Agency of Nigeria to understand the difference between "government information officer" and "a journalist" is not a challenge to be coveted. Obviously, only Mrs. Oyo knows whether her misstep was a matter of malice or a challenged intellectual ability?

Mrs. Oyo, no doubt has failed in her malicious attempt to discredit a reputable journalist in Alhaji Giwa. Rather, she has set up herself to be perceived as a mischief maker to say the least (because it would be too extreme to call her a "liar"). Otherwise, Mrs. Oyo would need to inform the world what changed in the qualifications of the Tribune Photographer within few hours of the publication of the "clamp down" report to have enabled him (the photographer) meet Mrs. Oyo's "criteria" so suddenly? Or did the photographer do anything special to meet the said "criteria" within such a short period? If yes, what did he do? If not, did this development not expose Mrs. Oyo as having an integrity gap? Also, she claimed in her press release as follows:

"His editors were duly informed and asked several times to nominate a replacement."

But the Nigerian Tribune on Saturday on November 1, 2003, claimed the following:

Mrs. Oyo actually told the Editor-in-Chief of the Tribune titles, Mr. Segun Olatunji, in Lagos on Thursday, October 23, 2003 that she would not re-accredit Alhaji Giwa for his beat. She also demanded that the correspondent be withdrawn. Not only did Mrs. Oyo refuse to give any reason for her decision, Mr. Olatunji got to Ibadan to find out that Mrs. Oyo had actually effected the action in Abuja even two weeks before coming to Lagos!

Mrs. Oyo would need to clear the air on this. This really makes her look very mischievous. For all those who know the Editor-In Chief of the Tribune Titles, Mr. Segun Olatunji, he is everything but a frivolous person. He is one person that is very credible and not one of the "egunje" generation. Even, the presidency could testify to his integrity as unassailable by any means whatsoever. So, one would suggest that she weighs her actions and words very carefully, because she is not dealing with scared cats who have been blemished and compromised by graft pervading the journalistic landscape of Nigeria.

It is one's hope that Mrs. Oyo by that misstep, was not exuding the same symptoms with which Obasanjo is inflicted - arrogance, confusion, power intoxication, myopia, deceit, cruelty and lying. She ought to become more level headed in the way and manner she goes about her new position. She must not only remember, she must also constantly remind her boss that Nigerians are being told that we are in a "democracy" and not the "military dictatorship" that he (Obasanjo) was used to all his life.