Follow Us on Google
I was miffed when George Mba, the former Senior Assistant Editor of TELL Magazine, who was incarcerated for his uncompromising dedication to truth and press freedom, was missing in the last year’s honour’s roll for pro-democracy martyrs. More concerning was that I saw the names of those who did not suffer his level of persecution.
Thankfully, he made this year’s list as contained in President Tinubu’s June 12 national broadcast. It is also gratifying to note that Dr. Niran Malaolu, the former Editor of Diet Newspaper and late Ben Charles-Obi, the former Editor of Classique Magazine made the list, though posthumously. Three of them were among the journalists secretly tried and jailed for life by a Special Military Tribunal. They were accused of being in possession of information considered as an “accessory after the fact of treason.” But the military junta later reduced the prison terms to 15 years after vigorous local and international pressures were mounted. And nearly three decades after their acquittal, the president, in his 2026 Democracy Day address, noted that the journalists and other awardees “suffered persecution, endured indignities, exile, incarceration, and, at times, solitary confinement, so that we have democracy today.”
For George, he did not play the martyr. He enjoys operating from behind the scenes. But that does not warrant a denial of what is due to him. At home, honour did not elude him. When he was granted state pardon, his younger kinsmen under the auspices of Umuaku Undergraduates Association, Isuochi, Abia State, led by Mr. Onyebuchi Okpara (Spaco) bestowed on him ‘Courage in Journalism Award’ in 1999. Beyond that, yours truly, as the Editor-in-chief of the maiden edition of the Association’s magazine was mobilized to interview him. I traveled to Lagos and we met inside his office at the then TELL Magazine’s headquarters, 10 Acme Road, Ikeja, Lagos. The interview which was published unfiltered in the year 2000 afforded us the opportunity to dig into the building blocks of his strength of character and the story behind the headlines. As such, many got inspired by his self-immolating moral fibre.
As a thorn in the flesh of the absolute rulership of IBB and Abacha years, TELL Magazine stood out to be counted. But unknown to George, the then national security adviser, Sama’ila Gwarzo had compiled a list of radical journalists they would deal with. And he was marked out. What however set him up readily for the hangman’s noose was his probing curiosity over the news of the 1995 “phantom coup” in which the federal military government had arrested some officials for alleged involvement. He headed to the Defence Headquarters and interviewed the then Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General Fred Chijiuka who revealed that the indicted officers were making uncomplimentary remarks against the military high command. The interview was published alongside the story of a Major who died mysteriously. He was suspected of spying for the media in the military and was therefore roped in as a linchpin of the coup plot but he challenged his interrogators furiously.
So, the news by TELL embarrassed the military. Chijiuka was queried for granting the interview. His supervising boss, the then Chief of Defence Staff, Major Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who later became the Head of State, was also queried for authorizing the interview. And Abubakar’s punishment was to grant a world press conference to affirm that there was a coup. According to George, “At the world press conference…you will understand that he was forced to do what he didn’t want to do. In fact, it was a press conference they scheduled at 10.00am and they didn’t start until one in the afternoon. So, at that place, we were warned that we should mind what we write. Then I asked Abubakar why he was saying there was a coup when there was no coup and he started saying: there was a coup, there was a coup. As I asked him this question, he was cold and retorted: how can we say there was a coup if there was no coup. After the press conference, the army public relations officer, Colonel Umor called me and warned me. He said that I embarrassed the Chief of Defence Staff by asking that question and I said, I am sorry! I didn’t know I was embarrassing him by that question because I think a press conference is about asking questions.”
On the fateful day, the security forces stormed TELL headquarters and the whole place was deserted. George explained that he walked up to the Major who apparently supervised the operation and asked him what the issues were. At a nearby restaurant where they sat down, the Major started lobbying him to work with them; that government can make him okay, buy him a car, and a house, if he can act as a spy for them. It was when he turned down the offers that the Major ordered his arrest.
Indeed, it was passion to see things in the right direction that led George into professional journalism. The potential manifested early in school. While others were reading text books, he delighted in reading magazines and good novels to the extent that he finished Chinua Achebe novels as a primary five pupil. At a time, he became the editor-in-chief of the magazine of Government College, Umuahia. He did same at the Evangel School, Umuahia. And after graduation from the university, he proved his mettle by editing the newly established Megastar magazine for four years before his writing ingenuity cleared a path for him to join TELL through Onome Osifo-Whiskey. George would later become one of the pioneering editors of Insider Magazine.
Certainly, government has a responsibility to mobilize the young generation for ethical leadership. It has to go beyond public praise and affixed title by giving bounties for outstanding integrity and heroic deeds; the way sports men and women are rewarded with houses and cash bonuses. Those who fought to enthrone democracy at great personal risks deserve the best. They need to be rewarded tangibly.
