Three readers on 'He left journalism for academia' By: Guardian Nigeria Date: 15 May 2026 4:00am WAT Follow Us on Google Discover Federal University Lokoja Federal University Lokoja By Tony Afejuku Anyone who wants to be enough in contact with reality in our contemporary times should, must, give significant thought to 'He left journalism for academia' which was serialised here for four consecutive Fridays. The conversation between the gleaner-glimpser-glitterer and one of his loyal readers of impressively active imagination and unquenchable desire to act and do things courageously, officially ended last Friday. But because the central image relating to the truths in the series resonated in the minds of a number of readers, the Gleaner-glimpser-glitterer took the decision to let our audience have pictures of three of our high profile readers' judgments which shall soon follow. Before the charming judgments are illustrated, it should be noted that the reality of the professions of journalism and academia painted is a perilously perilous one. Journalism and academia in this country – your country my country our country – of the present time in particular are professions for toilers, strivers, sufferers, who live in a circle, an environment, a world – populated by sinners who are never tired of sinning against the charming ones. Who are the charming ones? The honest toilers, strivers, and sufferers in journalism and academia whose honesty and ideals of truths and truthfulness and integrity become flaws, shortcomings, and weaknesses – and are treated as such by the sinners – the owners of power especially of the very ruthless kind. A past Vice Chancellor (whose identity shall not be disclosed) of a federal university communicated with me a great deal on this subject when our series began. He provided me a few examples which served to illustrate the manner in which a former Vice Chancellor in the South West demonstrated this. To any reader now who wants to build a career in journalism or academia, the gleaner-glimpser-glitterer will say thus: 'Don't hurry to choose books by their frontispieces'. Now before anyone, any critical critic, any analytical analyst, puts it before the gleaner that he is reviewing, or attempting to review, his conversation with Reader Professor Omoha, let it be known that any such presumption will not do justice to the analytically minded's aesthetic perception or ethical perception. The motive here is to prepare readers, our audience, with the respective points of view of three of our very regular and supremely valued readers of this column. They are readers, frontline readers, of extraordinary profundity. They should be immediately identified and introduced, before their words of admiration are poured here from their rich intellect and true reservoir of knowledge. The three greatly great readers are Professor Emeritus Olu Obafemi, NNOM, FNAL, FANA, one of our country's brightest intellectual stars of penetrating insights, who really does not need any introduction here; Barrister Alade Rotimi-John, an Awoist, who is a true and thorough Awoist – who has a vast reservoir of knowledge on the nuances of our country's opposition politics and democracy – and who writes robust, vigorous, essays in The Guardian regularly; and Dr Clement Eloghosa Odia, an emerging rebellious, angry, poet of rich, fresh and elaborate imagery – who is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Literature, University of Benin. Their brief thoughts on 'He who left journalism for academia are rendered in the column now in accordance with the rule of punctuality, and not in accordance with that of seniority. Thus the gleaner begins with Dr Clement Eloghosa Odia's rendering. 'Prof. Omoha's reminiscence about his days in an inclement season nostalgically takes me to a sad time in our history as a nation. IBB and his regime loved sycophancy that a journalist who revered truth could not have enjoyed working in such an atmosphere. I discovered that both Professor Omoha and Professor Afejuku share several affinities. One glaring difference is that while he left journalism for academia, Professor Afejuku continued to practise in academia. You held up two of them with unmatched artistry, brilliance and dedication. Whether as an academic or as a journalist, truth was never an option and as an academic and as you always say, 'my needs are few.' I remember when you held your immaculate and righteous pen against President Goodluck Jonathan and some persons who were close to that regime reached out to me that why is this Professor doing this to our Niger Delta brother? After our discussion on the subject and you said, 'Let me do it now so that if another President comes, and I start bashing the government, they won't say when your brother was there, what did you do?' As a prophet that you are, when President Buhari began to fumble it was evident you were writing from a patriotic pedestal. You spared no angst. Reading your column today brought many refreshing memories'. Professor Olu Obafemi's rendering runs, flows, as follows: 'Your 'He left journalism for academia' was frank and truthfully couched. It veered away from Professor Omoha whom I can claim to know fairly well. I met him as Controller of News of Radio Benue. I also met him in 1997 when he was Chairman of Association of Nigerian Authors, Benue State when he invited me to deliver a lecture on 'The Art of Poetry' during their Literary Week. Furthermore, I met him actively at the conclusive phase of his postgraduate studies, and I worked with him when he was the Coordinator of the Postgraduate Programme at the Department of English, University of Abuja in 2018 when I was on sabbatical there. In all these phases, I can confirm from experience that he was an active and industrious professional and scholar. Some of his students were not totally comfortable with him. Some would rather not work with him but all agreed that he was a man of compulsive industry and appreciable integrity. All would agree that he was a genuine professional in the media and in the terrain of scholarship. Thanks, Tony the delightful poet, straight literary scholar, and radical, unique media intellectual for throwing Professor Omoha up for scrutiny.' Barrister Alade Rotimi-John sums up 'He left journalism for academia' in this manner: 'Great literary style. You have allowed the 'full disclosure' to come from the mouth of the one who left journalism for academia himself. The heroic but little known story of Professor Omoha is an outstanding contribution to our fight against corruption, maladministration, and brute force in the public space. 'Give my regards to inimitable Professor Omoha – the one whose trajectory, among others like his, is beaming the light to our progressive development. Thank you, Tony, his adorable, resilient discoverer and mentor, for fetching out Owojecho Omoha to the eternal glory of our collective resilience against cant.' Does the gleaner-glimpser-glitterer need to render a brief review of what our lucidly lucid readers of intense intellect have stated, proclaimed, above in their states of wholly mental actions? The answer to this question is an intense NO. Afejuku can be reached via 08055213059.
