Gabriel Folajimi Akinadewo  is the Editor of the Nigerian Compass. With experience spanning  the defunct National Concord, The Comet, The Nation and now the Nigerian Compass, he is set to launch his book entitled, ‘Here Comes the Commander-in-Chief’, a collection of his witty columns, on October 2 in Lagos. An alumnus of the University of Lagos who is widely travelled, Akinadewo speaks on how leaders should cultivate the habit of reading to change the society.

How did your career in journalism start?
It is not coincidental that I am a journalist today. Decades ago, my father told me that I was going to be a journalist. In fact, he introduced me to journalism. My father, Archbishop I.M. Akinadewo, is a journalist, publisher, accountant, proprietor of schools, administrator, prophet and community leader. In the 70s, he was publishing four newspapers – Nigerian Monitor, Sekstape, Everybody’s and Sporting News – in Ibadan, the then capital of the defunct Western State. Later, we moved to Ondo.

After my secondary school education in the early 80s in Ondo, he started publishing the Nigerian Monitor again and I was heavily involved in the production, editorial content, sales, advert and circulation. It was more or less a state newspaper, covering Ondo, Akure, Okitipupa, Owo, Akoko and some towns in the old Ondo State. There was a time I even edited the newspaper before going to the University of Lagos. So, what I am doing today about production deadline, exclusive stories and others are not new.

You are launching your book soon and going through it, it is like a crusade against the rot in the society. What informed your kind of writing?

As a Christian, I know that Isaiah 58 says: ‘Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression’. Critics are like the engine room of any society. They must keep the machinery of the state running by pointing out vices in the society.

So, you are a crusading cleric?
Well, it runs in the family. My grandfather, who died in 1979, Saint B.A. Adekahunsi, was a crusading cleric. He was the Chairman of Spiritual Workers’ Union in the Western Region. If you get to Ondo town today and ask for the house of Baba Oluso (Shepherd father) in Sabo area, you cannot miss your way.

Gabriel Akinadewo

Spiritually, God used him mightily to alleviate the suffering of the people and save the society from tormentors. He even took the spiritual battle to as far as Ghana. My father is doing same today in Ondo. We, the children, grew up to know our father as a prophet. So, in my journalism career, I cannot but follow their footsteps.

How come that despite crusade by columnists and prophets, the society has not changed?
If we go down the Biblical lane, there were just two persons in the Garden of Eden, a couple named Adam and Eve. They didn’t need to toil or labour. Everything was provided for them. Despite God’s warning, they committed a crime. So, if only two persons could commit a crime in a comfortable place like that, what do you expect of about 170 million people in Nigeria or more than seven billion people in the world? People must commit crimes because God Himself in Genesis 1: 4 separated light from darkness.

So, what has been the challenge?
Well, as a journalist, writing a column is not easy. And for an editor to be writing a column is even more tasking. You can’t just afford to write anything because of your readers and if you don’t satisfy them, you know what that means. There was a time I was really busy and I repeated my previous columns for four weeks.

The text messages I got from some readers were abusive. I have not deleted them from my phone. I had to reply them, apologising in the process. Also, all readers want their responses to be published. There are some responses that cannot be published, you understand what I am saying. Some of these responses are libelous, so to say.

Are you saying the readers are wrong in their responses and that is why you are not publishing them?
No, that is not the issue. If I get over 200 text messages on a particular column, you don’t expect me to publish all. I will just pick.

Have you had any brushes with security agents?
No. In writing a column, there is a way you can tell somebody to go to hell and he will look forward to the trip. Because columnists want to sanitise the society does not mean that we should be reckless. You can write on vices in the society without touching on national security.

What informed the title ‘Here Comes the Commander-in-Chief’?
The book has about 115 columns and I picked the title from one of the columns. But that is not to say that it is the best column. I wrote that column in the build up to the 2011 election when former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and others were trying to wrest power from President Goodluck Jonathan. I elaborated on the enormous power of the President in a country like Nigeria and why it would be difficult for them, given the reality we know, to remove him from Aso Rock.

Are you saying that by that column, you supported Jonathan during the election?
The column was a practical manifestation of the power and resources an incumbent would deploy to retain his seat. When you read it, you will understand where I am coming from.

Which is the best of the 115 columns?
Readers will decide.

Why publish the book now?
A major tragedy of this society is that our leaders don’t read. Some have attributed it to the coming of the internet and social media. I disagree. If our leaders can develop the reading culture, I think the society will be better because,  in this book, there is no aspect of our social, political, economic, spiritual and cultural lives that is not touched.

Do you know that in the New York Police Department, there is a laundry section? Do we have that in the Nigeria Police? How will you have a sane society when those mandated to ensure that sane society are not psychologically balanced? When you get to Ojota, Lagos, you will see some area boys collecting egunje (bribe) for security agents. What is responsible for that?

This is a country in which some people have perpetual injunction, which means nobody can arraign them. These are societal challenges that our leaders, if they can cultivate the habit of reading, will find solutions to through columns.