A few days ago, on June 13 Samson Oruru Amuka-Pemu, better known as Uncle Sam, and also widely known as Sad Sam joined the nonagenarian club and was fittingly celebrated by the media and political elite in Lagos. A day earlier President Bola Tinubu had honoured him with the national honour of Commander of the Office of the Niger (CON), an improvement of his OON which he received many years ago. In a country where buildings collapse and kill people frequently, where fuel vans fall and spread fire that kills many people regularly, where people overspeed on good roads and kill themselves, their passengers and bystanders, where doctors kill people easily with wrong prescriptions and go scot-free, it is certainly a big deal to live up to 90 years. Besides, 13 is said to be an unlucky number but it has turned out to be a lucky number, a very lucky number, for Sam Amuka.
Amuka is a very different Nigerian. He is, in fact, a very unNigerian human being, very pleasantly unNigerian. This is a country of titlemania, a country where both achievers and nonentities are crazy about titles, they crave exhibitionism, they write three or four titles before their names and then write their qualifications after their names. Some of them who are chiefs do not derive contentment from just being called chiefs. They now prefer to be called High Chief. Before long some of them will ask to be called Highest Chief. That is the kind of stupidity that we live with here. I don’t know if Amuka is a Chief or Prince because he has never indicated that he is any of those. He is a very self-effacing man, he is simplicity personified, the epitome of humility. A few years ago I had a problem that I wanted to discuss with him. So I called him on the phone and asked for an appointment. He said that he would rather come to see me. I was shocked by his response for three reasons (a) He is 14 years older than me (b) He is many years older than me in journalism (c) I was the one who needed his advice on a problem that was bothering me. I, of course, refused to give him my address. I thought he might get my address from any of my colleagues. So I got dressed quickly and drove to his house before he would think of coming to see me.
Some years ago during one of Uncle Sam’s birthdays I decided to write a tribute on him eventhough I knew that he doesn’t like such things. I thought I could ask him to allow me to write something on him to give inspiration to younger journalists but I changed my mind and decided to write it without getting permission from him. However in the article I asked for forgiveness if he thought I had done something wrong. I went scot-free, there was no punishment to me from this publicity-shy man. This time I need no permission at all because he has accepted that he cannot dodge forever the attempt by Nigerians to appreciate and celebrate him for his exertions to Nigeria.
In 2005 the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) was about to conduct an election to fill its officers. I was doing my second term as the General Secretary of the Association. Uncle Sam asked me whether I wanted to run for the Presidency of the Association. I said “No” to him. Then some members of the Association put pressure on me to run for the office because they thought that I had enough experience that might be beneficial to the Association. So I changed my mind by deciding to run. I told Uncle Sam of my latest decision. He told me that he was supporting the Chairman of Punch, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola. I respected his decision but requested that he should allow me to come and campaign within his company, Vanguard. A large-hearted man, he allowed me. This story and his stand are important because since he and Olu Aboderin, the founding Chairman of Punch parted ways there was still that lingering hostility between Punch and Amuka who had now founded Vanguard after the split. Some other person, not as open-minded as Amuka, would not have supported Ogunshola at the election. I won the election and when I finished my term I spoke to Uncle Sam about giving Ogunshola a chance to run the affairs of the Association as its President. He was a bit surprised that I was the one making the proposal because of the hostility that Ogunshola’s supporters unleashed on me during my presidency. I told him that I would like to move a motion for the Association to elect Ogunshola by acclamation and that I would urge my supporters to back the plan. Again Amuka supported Ogunshola. I moved the motion and he became President by acclamation. Another evidence of Amuka’s broad-mindedness.
When I was General Secretary of the NPAN I benefitted from Amuka’s wide experience and wisdom in the management of public affairs. In 1997 General Sani Abacha had, as Head of State, published a draconoian document on what he called “The National Mass Media Commission and Press Court.” If implemented these two institutions would have destroyed the Nigerian media almost irreparably. So the various arms of the media started meeting and looking for ways of combating the demons that Abacha wanted to inflict on the media. One day Amuka said to me “Ray you are the engine room of this Association. Don’t let us come and gather here debating what to do because Abacha can send his goons to come and pack all of us into prison.” So I asked him what he wanted me to do. He said I should always draft a communique at home and simply come and distribute at the meeting and we would look at it and take a decision within a few minutes and run away. In obedience to that advice I drafted the NPO position on the National Mass Media Commission and Press Court which the NPO printed and distributed widely to counter Abacha’s incendiary document that would have killed the Nigerian media.
Amuka is an eminent journalist who had been at various times a reporter, writer, columnist, editor and publisher. He edited Spear magazine which became a fierce competitor to Drum which was published in South Africa and was prominent in the Nigerian market. He also edited the iconic Sunday Times which had a roller coaster life in the Nigerian media scene before he went to establish the Punch newspaper along with his friend Chief Olu Aboderin. He was also a famous columnist writing under the pseudonym Sad Sam, a witty, sometimes satirical column that made some people actually sad and some people actually sanguine. In real life he is also very humorous and has the enormous capacity to turn every situation into a scene for roaring laughter. He is someone who lights up any and every room where he steps into because he always feels able to share his ready wit with all and sundry. He is also a dispenser of ready smile, the kind of smile that can disarm a lion. And because of his easy manners and unconditional accessibility many people wonder whether he ever gets angry either in his personal or professional life.
He has been a strong pillar of the media, supporting all the media arms, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Nigerian Guild of Editors, the NPAN and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) where he has been a member of the Governing Council for many years now. Journalism is lucky to have a man like Amuka in its fold. There are not many professions where nonagenerians are still active. But wherever there is something affecting the media, Amuka is always there dispensing knowledge, experience and wisdom. That is why he earns the respect of all journalists, veterans and young ones alike.
But Amuka is more than a journalist. He is a nationalist and patriot who along with General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Bishop Mathew Kukah have worked hard to bring sanity to Nigeria’s elections by their exertions in the Peace Committee. His dedication to the work of that committee makes him a quintessential patriot and statesman to whom Nigeria owes a huge debt of gratitude.