Abdulsalam Mahmud, a CAMPUSLIFE reporter, graduated in 2016 with a distinction from Fati Lami Abubakar Institute of Legal and Administrative Studies (FLAILAS), Niger State. However, it was only last month, August 28, that he collected his Diploma certificate. The institute held on to his certificate for three years, following a story he published in CAMPUSLIFE section of The Nation n1ewspapers. OLUWAFEMI MUBARAK, MASS COMMUNICATION graduate of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, reports
On October 6, 2016, Mr Abdulsalam Mahmud, then a CAMPUSLIFE reporter and Mass Communication undergraduate of Fati Lami Abubakar Institute of Legal and Administrative Studies (FLAILAS), Minna, Niger State, wrote a story on the CAMPUSLIFE cover of The Nation with the title: ‘Varsity applicants battle institute for results’.
Pronto!
Mahmud’s report jolted the management to do the needful immediately. However, FLAILAS management debunked Mahmud’s claims, and considered the story ‘offensive’, ‘false’ and ‘injurious’ to the image of the school. And before anybody could say ‘Jack’, Mahmud was slammed hard with a punishment: his certificate was witheld for more than three years.
It was, therefore, a victory for Mahmud, when the management issued him his certificate on the school premises.
Mahmud, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, dwarfed others, bagging a Distinction with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (cgpa) of 4.57. Interestingly, Mahmud was the only Mass Communication student who got Distinction among his classmates, an accomplishment which earned him the department’s best of his set.
Mahmud, who started writing for CAMPUSLIFE in July 2015, has published over 93 reports and articles in the weekly pull-out of The Nation. In 2015, he received the ‘Most talented intern’ award from Newsline Newspaper after completing his media internship at the organisation’s office in Minna.
A source, who was abreast of the incident, recalled the victim’s journey to his predicament.
“The reason why Mahmud’s result was not issued to him immediately after he graduated was crystal clear,” began the source who pleaded not to be mentioned.
He continued: “It was about the article he wrote on the plight of his classmates, especially the final year students. Mahmud published a story which the school management considered to be malicious, baseless and defamatory. But, actually, the report was not a falsehood, neither was it aimed at defaming the reputation of the institute.
“The reporter (Mahmud) indeed carried out a thorough investigation and interviewed parties involved in the matter. He thereafter published a factual story on the plights of some students who missed their Direct Entry screening tests as a result of the delay by the institute to release their final results. That ugly development resulted in some of the 2016 graduating students missing their DE screenings, with some being denied admission that year.
“The interesting thing was that barely 24 hours after Mahmud’s report was published, management quickly released the results of the graduating students, which enabled some of them to participate in DE screenings and post-UTME tests of their preferred tertiary institutions. There were a couple of the graduating students I know, who eventually got admission into universities that same year.”
However, a day after Mahmud’s story was published, his name, matriculation number and details of his results ‘miraculously disappeared’ from the result sheets pasted on the notice board of the Department of Mass Communication.
Shocked by the development, Mahmud had promptly drawn the attention of his Head of Department (HoD), Mallam Musa Gbage, who told him the error might have occurred during computation of the final results. Gbage assured Mahmud that the issue would be resolved
“However, both the HoD and the school management didn’t actually address Mahmud’s complaint for weeks, until management sent a rejoinder that was also published in the same medium on 16 of November, 2016,” added one of Mahmud’s bosom friends, Umar Abdulkadir.
Further, Abdulkadir explained that Mahmud was pressed into seeking justice in the court following several interventions by some eminent personalities with the Provost and other top principal officers of the institution, to no avail.
A lecturer, who does not want his name mentioned, dismissed the assumption that Mahmud was victimised over the publication, saying some students and workers did not seem to understand Mahmud’s true character and ‘uncultured attitude’.
The source stated that on several occasions, Mahmud was warned by management against publishing stories that were not only injurious to the image of the school, but could also instigate riot on campus.
The lecturer stated that the victim was in the habit of writing negative reports about the school, without cross-checking his facts.
“As a young reporter learning the ropes through the window of campus journalism, it is expected that he adheres strictly to the ethics and tenets of news reportage. He should not be passionate about reporting issues without first gathering facts and doing thorough investigation. That was not the case with Mahmud. He authored several stories that dented the image of the institute even when he was yet to graduate from the school. A good student should also be a good ambassador of his or her alma mater. It should not be that you are destroying the image of your school,” the lecturer said.
The lecturer, who attested to the fact that Mahmud has a very bright future in journalism, advised him to draw lessons from the ordeal by henceforth reporting issues objectively, and in such a manner that would not incite violence.
Another source told CAMPUSLIFE authoritatively that the issue was eventually resolved in June this year when the victim’s lawyer and counsel to the institute both resolved that the matter be settled out of court.
“Two lawyers made a gentleman agreement. Mahmud was prevailed upon to tender an unreserved apology in writing to the school over the said story, while the school management should also accept his apology and issue him his certificate.
Miss Amina Ibrahim, a former classmate of Mahmud, described her friend’s victory as ‘a long walk to freedom’.
Going down memory lane, Miss Ibrahim recalled how the 2016 graduating students of FLAILAS, especially the DE applicants who knew Mahmud published a report about their plights, were deeply saddened on hearing about Mahmud’s dilemma.
“I know Mahmud to be a very brilliant student. He was the best student in our department. Mahmud is a creative writer and a fearless campus journalist. While in school, Mahmud regularly filed in stories and other interesting events by students on campus for publication,” noted Miss Ibrahim.
“He was the first Mass Communication student in the history of the institute that wrote stories and got them published on national dailies. He regularly contributed reports for The Nation, and some other national dailies. His numerous stories, especially inside CAMPUSLIFE pull-out projected the image of the school positively,” she added.
Ibrahim admitted that even though there were some of Mahmud’s reports which did not sit well with the management; yet there were many which similarly projected the institution in good light.
Garba Ismail, a 2016 law graduate of the institute, debunked claims by management that the victim was acting someone’s script by publishing some ‘harsh’ stories which sought to smear the reputation of FLAILAS.
Ismail, stated that Mahmud, who was then the president of the school’s Creative Writers’ Club (CWC) of their set, should be proud that his writings motivated and spurred key authorities into action in addressing major problems facing the institution.
He said: “Mahmud was the one that pioneered campus journalism at FLAILAS. He wrote stories of great impact. In the wake of the of the looting of the equipment of Mass Communication radio studio of FLAILAS in November 2015, Mahmud wrote a report in The Nation which prompted the Niger State government and Ministry of Education to re-equip the facility.”
Also in his reaction, the victim’s lawyer, Mohammed El-Surur, expressed delight that their legal intervention finally yielded fruit with the successful release of Mahmud’s credential.
El-Surur, advised his ‘client’ to be wary of writing stories that may appear offensive to ‘powerful’ authorities, and which can truncate his academic pursuits or even terminate his life. The lawyer urged him to remain focused and continue to pursue his passion of becoming a seasoned journalist in the nearest future.
In a chat with CAMPUSLIFE, Mahmud expressed gratitude to Almighty Allah for giving him the emotional strength to continue writing stories for CAMPUSLIFE and also practise journalism, even when his school certificate was withheld.
The CAMPUSLIFE reporter, who said his travail was just like a flash in the pan when compared with what many famous journalists had experienced, described the entire experience as a ‘baptism of fire’ on his path to becoming a celebrated reporter.
“Let me register my profound appreciation to my lawyer, my parents, lecturers at FLAILAS, my friends and several others well-wishers who stood by me and still believe in me, when I was denied my certificate.,” Mahmud began while thanking everyone.
He added: “I also wish to thank the management of FLAILAS for pardoning, and issuing my result. I will forever remain indebted to them. Many thanks also to my lecturers who groomed me. The ordeal I passed through has only strengthened my courage as a pen pusher,” Mahmud added.
Early this year, Mahmud won the ‘Upcoming writer of the year’ award at the annual Campus Journalism Award (CJA), hosted by Youths Digest at the Sheraton Luxury Hotel in Abuja.
Prior to his ordeal, Mahmud had repeatedly told his friends and course mates how, upon graduation from FLIALAS, he had hoped to use that certificate for DE to a university of his choice. With his credential now ‘discharged’ Mahmud can now further his academic dream.
