Those who have attempted to write, or even those who are accomplished authors and writers, will testify that it is no mean feat to consistently write, and maintain a column, for close on 20 years.
Why does the writer describe himself as a Citizen Journalist? Are there other types of journalists who may not quite qualify as ‘citizens’, though they may be carrying valid National ID cards?
Google offers that “in the internal creative drive that motivates a writer to create, or the social role of a writer, is the conscience of society.
The internal conscience is the writer’s inner sense of purpose, driving them to write intentionally, and to hold themselves accountable, while the social conscience refers to a writer’s duty to expose societal wrongs, advocate for the vulnerable, and hold the powerful accountable through their work”.
For me, this sums up what I think the writer has spent the last 20 years, or so, doing, that is, serving and probing, while holding himself accountable.
I recall the story of TheNews/Tempo stable of publications. Right from the get-go, the founders rejected the notion of unbiased, neutral journalism. They chose, ab initio, the partisanship on the side of the disadvantaged, marginalised and voiceless Nigerians who were labouring under the yoke of military misadventure in Nigerian Politics.
Thus, they registered the company, not with their own names, but with the maiden names of their wives, and sought funders who did not expect financial reward.
Orebe’s journalism has not been about newsreporting, which should be unbiased and fact – based. Rather, his journalism has been about commentary, Education, intervention and mobilisatþion.
And in these, he never had a chance to be neutral” –
Hon. Idowu Obasa, Industrialist, former Chairman, Onigbongbo LCDA, and Lead Presenter of ‘SIMPLY … during the Author’s 80th birthday celebration.
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Book: Simply A Citizen Journalist.
Author: Femi Orebe.
Publishers: Mindscope Africa, Lagos.
Year of Publication: 2025
Amazon Link:https://a.co/d/dXnfY77
Reviewer: Olakunle Abimbola, Editorial Board member/columnist, The Nation Newspaper, Lagos.
I will start this review, of ‘Simply A Citizen Journalist’, with two very popular Yoruba sayings. (1) “Omode gbon, agba gbon, la fi da’le Ife” and (2) “Ogbon ol’ogbon ki je ka p’agba ni were”.
Both, translated roughly into English, mean ideas — or more narrowly, wisdom — is no monopoly of the aged or of the youth. That means a liberal mind soaks in ideas from far and wide: young or old, familiar or strange.
So, the greatest strength of this collection of column essays (from 2006 to 2025), is its eclectic mix. It is a 616-page
book, going by the Publisher’s preface. The work draws from far and wide, foreign and local, sweet and sour, over a range of issues. But lo! That’s its greatest weakness too. The author, liberal and extremely polite, rather gives these ideas full “probative value”, as the lawyers say when jousting in the court, especially when they support his view point. But more on that, presently.
In the Preface, the Publisher, Okanlomo Seye Adetunmbi of Mindscope Africa, detailed the book’s structure.
He spoke of five sections: “Reminiscences”, “Interrogative Political Essays”, “Mixed Cogitative Writings”,”Commendations, Reflections and Tributes” and “Reviewed Books”, as duly listed under the Table of Contents.
In his Preface, the Publisher shared, with readers, the rigour that went into shaping these five sections — and did a rather convincing job of that.
But hey, a caveat emptor! You want to dive into this huge ocean? Then, you had better be a consummate swimmer, but not that cocky one the Yoruba warn against, that drowns with his skills! The author, need I say again, is humble to a fault! He also writes in clear, flowing and sparkling prose that just comes alive!
But don’t be deceived: his logic and rigour take no prisoners! So, to best enjoy him, you must bring, to the table, your own counterpart intellectual humility. Who knows? You’ll probably take home a few new words, extremely readable as he is! He comes to the party with a rich vocabulary — as expected of a rich mind and a lover of words.
In this work, Orebe writes about others: persons, issues and places, though with his native Ekiti — of which he is immensely proud, with absolutely no apologies! — central in his thinking. It’s as the Avatar, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, said: you can’t be a good Nigerian without first being a good Yoruba man.
So, from this tome, he oozes the Awo paradigm of patriotism: proud son of Are Ekiti, refined Ekiti gentleman all his long life, unapologetic Yoruba nationalist, and a very patriotic Nigerian.
He is very proud of his country, yes. But he is also very angry at any thought that Nigeria, tremendously gifted, could be punching below its immense weight!
Except you thoroughly understand these critical fundamentals, you just might not fully appreciate the passion — frothing and exciting — that the author brings to bear on each and every topic on which he sets his sharp mind, and applies his flowing pen.
Which is why former President Olusegun Obasanjo is perhaps, in this book, the Ekiti “Enemy No. 1” — “enemy” here in inverted commas. But if by Ekiti, Obasanjo could hardly do anything right, then Dr. Kayode Fayemi, an Ekiti son in whom the author is well pleased, could hardly do anything wrong!
But on this too, the author seems to follow the pathway of another great Nigerian, the humble-to-a-fault, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former military Head of State. I don’t know if Orebe sees eye-to-eye with Gen. Gowon. But the polished General always said he would always honour his elders; and sort out his mates. But those younger than him? To those, he’d never be cavalier: for you never know what they’ll become tomorrow!
This Gowon-like humility, towards the far younger folks, seem to drive Orebe’s love for former Governor Fayemi, in power and out of it. That’s clear from many essays in this book. Sure, that Fayemi halo is far from universal. But tell me which public figure’s is? Suffice it to say that the author respects anyone, of any age, that adds value. That intellectual bent is very clear from these beautiful column pieces.
Indeed, that has been my impression of him, since I have had the privilege of knowing him at The Nation. Which is why I wondered: why me, when he asked me to do this review. Why not his battery of brilliant and erudite protégés, young and old? Besides, he could have phoned — and I would have jumped to make his day. But no! He personally come to ask, bearing his tome! Such humility! God bless you sir!
Simply A Citizen Journalist teems with the glut of polished humanity in the author’s cultured universe. This prompts, in your mind, that famous quip — “Show me your friends, and I will tell you who you are!” — as you meet that galaxy. That’s the cultivated world to which the columnist speaks.
The first of the two Foreword pieces was written by Prof. Richard Adeboye Olaniyan, his teacher as a History undergraduate at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy), Ile-Ife. The second, by Dr. Dapo Fafowora, a retired ambassador and respected, former columnist with The Nation Newspaper.
In “A stint in University Administration”, he listed Prof. Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, the iconic vice-chancellor that shaped the golden age of the old UNIFE; Chief S. J. Okudu, the lengendary Registar at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s first university, Prof. Ladipo Akinkugbe, ex-UI, famed medic and scholar, and first Principal of the University College, Ilorin (now University of Ilorin), Dr. Christopher Kolade, the famed Mr. Integrity that just passed on, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate: the quintessential normative force and voice against moral and allied decay in Nigeria, etc.
Move over to his heroes in “Tributes”, and who do you find? Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (now Nigeria’s president), Dr. Amos Akingba, Chief Deji Fasuan, Justice Olajide Olatawura, Chief Alex Olu Ajayi, Chief JGO Adegbite.
The others are: Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Prof. Sam Aluko, Prof. Jide Osuntokun and Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi (in a single tribute piece), the “Moremi” of Ekiti, the late Mrs. Funmi Olayinka, the other half of the Fayemi stolen mandate, recovered after three years, but who died of cancer before their term ended, Prof. Kayode Osuntokun, Sesan Ogunro, and Chief Samuel Bamidele Felegan, among others.
Add to this stellar list the suave, highly respected and unassuming General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, whose Agbajo Yoruba Agbaye (Yoruba World Congress) the columnist toasted to no end as a must for every Omoluabi Yoruba, across partisan aisles.
Of course, Prof. Oladipupo Akinkugbe also made the list, not shutting out Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti at 80 (in 2013) — the school that produced the author, and many, if not most, of the Ekiti icons that dominate his “Tributes”.
Now, what does this tell you about the Orebe world? It’s a universe of excellence — brilliance that teems with character — a twin-attribute lacking in today’s Nigeria.
Take “Nelson Mandela’s 12 avatars” (29 July 2007). It was the author’s cultured, yet candid way, of telling the fresh ex-president how he had traded true greatness, ala Mandela, for a near-pariah status, despite his global clout — no thanks to his “do-or-die” voter heist of 2007, aside his collapsed Third-Term gambit. Still, he scolded Obasanjo with love, even suggesting how he could repair his battered image.
So, honest but brutal candour runs through the entire collection: his anger that Nigeria was a joke at 50 (12 September 2010); that the insane pay structure of the National Assembly could bankrupt the country (29 May 2011); his prescribed leadership for Nigeria: referencing the Edo/South West ACN gubernatorial class of Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Ibikunle Amosu (Ogun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); and Labour Party’s Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo). He reckoned the bumbling President Goodluck Jonathan, at Abuja, could pick up one or two things from this sub-national ensemble (5 June 2011).
Other major issues that he treated were restructuring and the national question, in his endless engagement with other minds, on Nigeria’s unitary federalism — what an oxymoron!
Indeed, he always went back to this topic: as the unrepentant Awoist and unflappable post-June 12 progressive that he is.
The ludicrous 16-is-greater-than-19 stance of PDP Plateau Governor, Jonah Jang, who lost the Nigerian Governors Forum election to Rivers Rotimi Amaechi, but went to church for thanksgiving for his “win”! (28 July 2013). The war-without-end among the Afenifere grandees, the Afenifere younger elements’ futile efforts to settle these ancestral feuding and the eventual birth of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG).
Indeed, what other topic of the age did he not treat? The Ekitipanupo intellectual-fest on Nigeria? The Yoruba Academy and its brilliant DAWN: the Development Agenda of Western Nigeria? The odyssey of Justice Ayo Salami, then President of the Court of Appeal, for doing right by Ekiti voters, by helping to retrieve the Fayemi/Olayinka stolen mandate?
Boko Haram and its variant of banditry and kidnapping for ransom? The Fayose second coming in Ekiti, and the shame of a “photochromically” rigged election by the Jonathan Presidency, even as Governor Fayemi and his Ekiti progressives fought to the death? The EndSARS riots of 2020? Or: What I call the Orebe-Buhari puzzle?
The Orebe-Buhari puzzle! The columnist backed Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to the hilt as the APC candidate. But as President, he also railed at him, with no less ferocity, during that southern hysteria against the “Fulani herdsmen” and “nepotism”!
In fairness though, outside the bogey of an alleged Fulani rogue force, surreptitiously taking over Yoruba forests for evil motives, he still showed the former President grace, understanding and empathy.
Of course, he also wrote on COVID-19, the direst public health pandemic, so far, of this 21st century.
In this tome, posterity would find the true spirit of the age, as captured by a fecund, influential and significant columnist. That’s why it should prove a priceless collection for any tertiary education library worth its name.
Also, though not a career politician, his role — and his darts — in helping to shape Nigeria’s progressive politics, especially in his native South West, made a compelling reading.
He was “Saul” in pushing the Akin Omoboriowo’s gubernatorial cause. But he turned “Paul” by backing Governor Michael Ajasin, after Omoboriowo had crossed over to the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Thus, he reinforced his Yoruba progressive credential. That, in the terrible violence of the period, made the difference between life and death!
Still, his family — nuclear and extended — was caught up in that 1983 Ondo State electoral violence, which buried the Second Republic (1979-1983). Though the author and his young family of four: his wife and three young children escaped unscathed, his brother-in-law was felled in it all! This bitter-sweet tale honed his progressives bona fides.
Why, there was even a grim humour to it all: the military take-over also buried his new job as Board Chair, Sungas Ltd, an Odua Investment subsidiary. But all his nuclear family could offer was a mock celebration: “No more chairman! No more chairman!” His wife and treasured young brood won’t touch politics — not even with a long pole! Yet, his mother-in-law, Mama Chief (Mrs) Adeyinka Fagbola, the one they called AG MOTHER in Ile – Ife, was among the first eleven, in Chief Awolowo’s Action Group (AG), at Ile-Ife!
Is the collection perfect? No. Hardly any work is — and that takes us back to how the columnist liberally quotes from others, and gives all of them full probative value, to reinforce his point of view.
In truth, most of those voices do justice and add value, as the Obama and Fayemi takes, which the columnist fulsomely quoted, in his Mandela obituary piece.
But a few of them too end as flabby emotions. A good example is a University P
rofessor, so irked at the huge pay to National Assembly members, he asked that the Senate be abolished. The author promptly agreed.
Well, just imagine. By population, Ekiti and Bayelsa are among the tiniest Nigerian states. What, if you abolish the Senate, six members represent Ekiti in House of Representatives; against 24 representing Kano! Won’t tiny Ekiti shriek marginalization?
That’s the point! Federalism is no mere label. Rather, it’s a rigorous concept, to balance the interest of the tiny against the mighty, in a federal territory. So, with all due respect, suggestions to abolish the Senate, because the cost is prohibitive, is emotive rather than rigorous. Any thinking that suggests that reminds one of that quip: if education is expensive, try ignorance!
On the technical side, the book’s editing is tight. But not so tight, the proof-reading. Many compound words: e.g. “short-lived”, “people-friendly”, etc, which ought to have been hyphenated, roll out as two words. But happily, these glitches hardly define the work. The chapter heading/text contrast and display, for reader-friendliness, could be better. But again, vintage pictures, at various stages of the author’s long and illustrious life, were used to break the monotony of text.
Now, on a lighter note! The Irish, James Joyce, wrote on his alter ego, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). Baba Femi Orebe, in whose honour we are here gathered, turned 80 on September 24. Happy birthday sir!
But in his tribute of 28 September 2025: “Salute to citizen journalist extraordinaire”, the Snooper in The Nation Sunday, Tatalo Alamu, was in a rare impish mirth, away from his grumpy jeremiad, over the collapsing “post-colonial state”! He recalled how, a editor of Cobra, that militant UNIFE campus magazine, created one “posthumous” Love me Obere — to fend off, he warned, any legal complications! To which the suspect would gamely respond to his mischievous teasers: “Awon omo radarada!” — infernal rascals!
No prize for guessing right: it’s Tatalo’s impish portraiture of our grandee at 80 as a dashing, cerebral and sociable young man! Even at 80, he remains the ever dapper one!
I will end by congratulating the Orebe family, starting with the matriarch, Mama Atinuke Orebe, whose abiding sweetness, the patriarch always spares no superlative to vouch. To their three lovely offspring, and their own spouses and children, you’re indeed blessed to belong to such a lovely family.
But my parting words to him would be this: Baba, it’s those same words you used to honour your late mentor, Prof. Oladipupo Olujimi Akinkugbe, when he turned 80 in 2013: Wa daigbo sir! May you live longer than your hero in health, wealth and an ever acute mind!
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your attention.