Bayo Onanuga, The Godfather Of “Guerrilla Journalism” In Nigeria, By Ckn

Many may look at the current spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, Mr Bayo Onanuga, on the surface as a politician (is he really one?), but behind that “mask ” is a man who has seen it all.

I don’t want to delve into his background, which is well-documented online.

My focus is on why Mr Bayo Onanuga and a few others were referred to as the godfathers of “Guerrilla Journalism”.

During the terrible autocratic military regime of Gen Ibrahim Babangida, some young, vibrant journalists came together with the sole aim of ” fighting ” the continued clinging to power by the military.

They also decided to take investigative Journalism to the next level.

Before they came into the saddle, the profession had had similar news with the same mission

The first was the NEWSWATCH MAGAZINE, founded by Dele Giwa ( who was killed with a letter bomb ), Ray Ekpo, Yakubu Mohammed, etc., in 1984.

Later, TELL MAGAZINE came on stream, founded by Nosa Igiebor and others.

There were many others during that period, such as African Concord and Guardian Magazine, but Newswatch and Tell stood out.

After the killing of Dele Giwa (for obvious reasons), Newswatch watered down its editorial content, giving room for Tell to become the undisputed market leader in the Magazine sector.

Back to Bayo Onanuga, TheNEWS Magazine was a prominent Nigerian news and investigative magazine founded on February 8, 1993, by TheNEWS Magazine creators, including Bayo Onanuga, Dapo Olorunyomi, Babafemi Ojudu, and Kunle Ajibade. Others were Seye Kehinde (now Publishes City People) and Obasa.

It was published by Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL).

Founded during Nigeria’s military rule, it famously practised “guerrilla journalism” to oppose authoritarian regimes.

Transitioned fully from hardcopy print production to a digital-first online platform.

Focuses on deep investigative reporting, politics, business, and societal issues.

Its other titles were Tempo Magazine and PM News, which were strictly evening newspapers circulating in Lagos.

PM News was competing side by side with Evening Times (Published by Daily Times).

For many years, their head office was at Labour House, Acme Road, Ogba, Lagos.

The role played by Bayo Onanuga and his colleagues at TheNews and Tempo during this period was heroic and daring.

While TheNews was more into investigative Journalism (with some of the best in the industry under its fold), Tempo was into what was known as “Gurrrilla Journalism”, established to attack all policies of the military government.

The military regime made several efforts to shut it down, raided their offices at every given opportunity, and seized their publishing tools.

Surprisingly, when you think that was the end, the magazine will appear on newsstands the next week.

Most of their staff were also targeted for elimination, especially Bayo Onanuga (how they survived remains a mystery to date).

The greatest challenge to the military during this period in our history, as far as the media was concerned, was The News/Tempo Magazine. This does not in any way underplay the roles played by other journalists during that period in the print and electronic media (some of them even lost their lives in the process).

When the military finally left the scene in 1999, TheNews/Tempo whittled down its Guerrilla Journalism approach.

It focused mainly on investigative Journalism, Tempo was rested, TheNews and PM News remained.

Its first casualty was Hon. Salihu Buhari (who was in his 30s), elected the first speaker of the House of Representatives in 1999.

Within weeks of the Assembly’s inauguration, TheNews dug into his background. They found that the man had forged his University Certificate, which he had allegedly obtained from a prestigious University abroad (the University of Toronto).

After several back-and-forths, the man was forced to resign and left the National Assembly in total disgrace (Nothing has been heard of him thereafter).

I can go on and on.

Later, while most of the staff remained in practice, one or two decided to join politics.

I learnt that Bayo Onanuga was offered several appointments by the AD (Action Congress), but he refused the offer.

His colleague Babafemi Ojudu accepted his own offer and decided to contest and won a Senatorial seat in Ekiti.

I don’t know at what point Mr Bayo Onanuga decided to join the murky waters of politics.

If anyone had told me Onanuga would join politics, I wouldn’t have believed it because he was not cut out for such.

He was a no-nonsense journalist to the core, very strict and professional.

I won’t judge Mr Bayo Onanuga by his current office; I’d like to remember him as someone who stood for the profession and faced the military at the risk of his life.

The history of modern Journalism and Nigeria’s return to democracy cannot be complete without a page dedicated to Bayo Onanuga and his “guerrilla boys” at TheNews/Tempo Magazine

Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Publisher of CKN News and a former Artiste and Promotions Manager at Sony Music