By Muda Ganiyu
An authentic Titan of journalism and media scholarship has gone to be with his creator. A man who mentored and influenced generations of Nigerian journalists and media scholars has left this realm to go where nobody ever goes to and comes back. But before he departed, he left indelible footprints in the world, and the world will never forget him.
Who is this Teacher of teachers, Mentor of mentors and Destiny Helper? I’m talking about Professor Idowu Sobowale, reporter like no other, impactful teacher, incisive scholar and creator of precision journalism in Nigeria.
I first encountered Professor Sobowale in the classroom at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, when I went to study for my Master’s degree in Mass Communication with a specialisation in Print Journalism. And because Prof Sobowale was a print man who started his career with the DAILY TIMES when it was the newspaper to beat in Nigeria, I paid particular attention to his classes. He taught me Editorial Writing and Precision Journalism.
While Editorial Writing was common in the four journalism schools (UNILAG, Nsukka, BUK and NIJ) in Nigeria back then, Precision Journalism was unique to UNILAG MASS COMM only. It was data driven journalism, the forefather of today’s Data Journalism that’s associated with the age of the Internet. The course involved scientific surveys using questionnaires, the interpretation of the data generated therefrom and the writing of a scientifically precise story from the data. It was a rigorous course and Professor Sobowale did not only teach us theory, he pushed us to conduct surveys and write publishable stories.
This was not a Vox Pop reporting where you asked passersby the same question and record their different or even similar answers as some have portrayed in writing Professor Sobowale’s obituary. It’s opinion polling. Precision Journalism is the examination of very serious issues of the day through the distribution of questionnaires and the analysis of the data generated to reach an informed conclusion. He was later to consult for different newspapers, notably THE PUNCH, on this brand of journalism. Other newspapers, especially THE GUARDIAN, soon started copying this brand of journalism.
I graduated from UNILAG in 1991, and did not meet Professor Sobowale again until 2000 when he was then Special Advisor on Education to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State. I had lost my job as the Editor of the NIGERIAN TRIBUNE the year before and had applied to be a Journalism teacher at the Lagos State Polytechnic. We had done the first round of interviews at the Isolo Campus of the Polytechnic and another round was scheduled for the Ikorodu Campus. We were about 30 candidates shortlisted for six positions for the new department.
Not being a Lagos indigene and with LASPOTECH being a state school, I reached out to Professor Sobowale through Alhaji Rahman Balogun (now of NIDCOM), who was the correspondent of Ibadan-based MONITOR newspaper at Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. Alhaji Rahman had informed me about the day Prof Sobowale was to address the Press at the Governor’s Office Press Centre, so I laid an ambush for Prof.
As soon as Alhaji Rahman introduced me to him, Prof said, “Yes, I remember your face,” even though he taught me for only one year, ten years earlier.
I told him I wanted to speak to him about the teaching job I had applied for at LASPOTECH. He asked me to see him in his office on a specific date and time. Wether by coincidence or design, when I got to his office that day, his secretary told me Prof was in a meeting and asked me to sit down and wait for him. A few minutes later, he escorted the Rector of the Polytechnic out of his office, I stood up to greet them. “Ahh, you’re here” he said and called out, “Rector, this young man said he applied to your place, can you see what you can do for him? He was my student.”
He then took my right hand and literally handed me over to the Rector, Engineer Gasper Olawumi. The rest is history, as the cliche goes, even though Prof Sobowale had, in one his classes, cautioned us against using cliches when writing. He had advised that our writings and choice of words should be fresh.
Prof Idowu Sobowale was a gentle, self-effacing man. Soft-spoken but very erudite. A thoroughbred journalist and erudite scholar, he continued to practice as a journalist even when he was in the academia. Throughout his life, he went in and out of the classroom and newsroom interchangeably until he finally retired from the Lagos State University where he founded the Department of Mass Communication.
Coincidentally, I was thinking about him a day or two before his obituary was announced. Why was I thinking about him? I was wondering how he was faring in old age considering the struggle I am going through at a much younger age.
May God reward you Prof for your scholarship, your mentorship and your pioneering creativity with Eternal Light and Rest.
Adieu Idowu Akanbi Sobowale! O ti di Oosa akunlebo.
Sunre o Akanbi
Ma je kokoro, ma je ekolo ti o ba d’Orun
Ohun ti nwon ba n je l’ode Orun ni ki o bawon je o.
Prof Ralph Akinfeleye,
Prof Olatunji Dare,
E ku idaro ore yin o.
E ku araferaku!
Odun a jinna sira won o.
Tiyin o ni ti ya bayi o.
Temi na o ni ti de bayi o.
Gbogbo oju ti o nka idaro yi, tiyin na o ni ti ya bayi o.
My condolences to his immediate and extended family, and friends. May God give you the fortitude to bear the loss. Amen!
