Tribute: Gallant Passing of the Igala Man (Yakubu Mohammed, 1950-2025)

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He was the youngest of them all at Newswatch. While Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu and Dan Agbese were born in the 1940s, Yakubu Mohammed, aka, Yak, was a “child” of the 1950s and a flag bearer, of sorts, for the “Senior Citizens” especially the line editors who were mostly “children” of the 1950s.

He was closer to them, age wise, and wallowed in mutual respect and humility. Easy to relate with. You would feel confident to walk into his office at any time to seek his opinion, advice and, at times, to rub minds together on socio-political issues prevailing at the time. Our paths first crossed in the National Concord where he started as deputy editor from 1980 to 1982 and later as substantive editor (1982- 1984) when the incumbent, Doyin Aboaba (later Mrs MKO Abiola), was promoted Editor in Chief of the Concord Group.

It was under his editorship that I was given the rare opportunity for a features man to cover a major news assignment of covering the prestigious Oganisation of African Unity, OAU, Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1983.

It was by his sheer insistence that the duo of Duro Onabule and Doyin Aboaba agreed to let me go because he felt I was up to the task. He did not stop there. He made sure I was well equipped for the big assignment for me outside the country. And what did he do? He personally contacted the Chairman, MKO Abiola, for foreign exchange assistance, which he (Abiola) usually provided for overseas travel expenses. An act of sheer generosity outside the books. 

What he brought for me, with uncommon apology, was something that almost made me do an “Oviewhiskey” (a reference to an Electoral Commission Chairman then who said he might collapse if offered a gift of one million naira, an amount of money he never dreamt of having!).  It was, by my own “osomalo “(shrewd) financial standard, a staggering sum. Two thousand dollars! In the 1980s, that was a lot!  I had never handled such a “huge” amount of dollars before. The Ethiopian Birr was no match to the almighty dollar which enabled me to throw all my entire being into the assignment. To whom much was given, I thought, much was expected of me. He was impressed about the extra effort I put into the assignment judging by the daily dispatches and post conference features and behind-the-story reports on getting back to Lagos. He should take the credit for whatever success I made of the assignment. I so much cherished the confidence he reposed in me to prove my mettle.

He was closer to (his fellow founders), age wise, and wallowed in mutual respect and humility. Easy to relate with.

It was an assignment that really bonded us together in Concord, a bond which became a carryover to Newswatch where he and three colleagues and friends of his established the trail blazing newsmagazine of international repute, a touchstone of ideal journalism.

As co-pioneers in Concord I shared with him the same pioneering position in Newswatch though, this time, on an employer-employee pedestal. To quote a protege of his, Oga Yak belonged to the “Editorial Suite” while I, like the rest of the ground troops, belonged to the “Editorial Street”. Yet, the new employee-employer relationship notwithstanding, he again chose to assist me in my strive to secure a fellowship to hone my skill in writing and reporting abroad.  He personally offered me an application to fill and compete for a Press Fellowship in the US in 1987, the result of which was a six-month internship I had on the fifth largest newspaper in the US, the Philadelphia Inquirer, under the aegis of the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship for reporters and editors in  the developing countries from all over the world. It’s another kind gesture of his that has remained deep etched in my subconscious ever since.

Fond memories shall always be made of this Igala man. 

Igala? How come that I referred to him as Igala man? 

Among the four musketeers that co-founded Newswatch one came from Edo State, and another came from Cross River State, while two of them were from the same Benue State, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed. To differentiate between the two Benue men, I, an unrepentant funny man, (never for dubious or mischievous motives) devised an “ingenious” way of not confusing one for the other. Hence my referring to Yak as the Igala man and Dan as the Idoma man, a subtle, covert, semi-coded device of showing who’s who. I and my own inner caucus made sure the secret was never leaked to the “uninitiated”. The reason for the dichotomy goes without saying. It’s an index of the ethnic diversity in the composition of the Newswatch family.

Had he known?

Oga Yak would not have felt angry because I have always had the reputation of being a connoisseur of humour, a merchant of wits and a creative ‘rebel’ with a cause, any given day. He too was a damn funny man, by his own right, who knew how to trade banters with “the Idoma man”, the witty, humorous Oga Dan, who loved teasing and taunting, not tormenting, Oga Yak, with BURUKUTU as the usual motif for pulling the legs of his fellow Benue man.

The two were great companions. They jelled with each other, yelled and joked together. With the others they made Newswatch a living haven of joyful camaraderie and memorable, meaningful razzmatazz on the canvas of creativity which Newswatch was, is, and ever shall be in the hearts of those who value what the magazine believed in and stood for. Excellence is it! 

Unfortunately, both the oldest, Dan, born 1944 and the youngest, Yak, born 1950 passed barely half a year after the demise of the other. 

Dele Giwa did not pass or die in his own case. 

Really?

He was assassinated via a parcel bomb by assassins still at large since 1986! Forty years after!!!

O Allah may the soul of Oga Yakubu and the souls of those who departed before him rest in perfect peace.