My Binoculars: A tribute to the late Comrade Dauda Haruna, former chair of the correspondents chapel Borno state and Correspondent of the Voice of America (VOA) Hausa service

By: Bodunrin Kayode

I have heard two sudden deaths from protracted illnesses in less than two weeks today. They were both close to me which is why I grabbed my binoculars at least for my former chair Dauda Haruna whom most of my colleagues do not know I had known for a very long time before coming to Maiduguri.

I first came across Comrade Dauda Haruna through the internal radio service of the Daily Times newspaper in 1996. We got talking when I was transferred from the jalingo office to Jos to relieve Chuks Akaeme our senior correspondent who was proceeding on his annual leave. I was the closest relief hand asked to cover Plateau for three months. I arrived Jos from the Taraba office in January ’96 and met an elderly female radio operator who worked with my colleague Oga Chuks. Under normal circumstances, the radio operator should read my reports through the radio to our head office agidingbi near Alausa Lagos. But any time madam Bridget was not around, I do rush to the radio room and call Alpha Golf (Agidingbi )myself to send breaking stories especially when the fax was down. Because there was no radio relief hand and it was during the military regime of Mohammed Mana with lots of reports from his spokes man Mike Omeri, I had to learn to work alone.

First time meeting on radio

Dauda was the the first to reach out to me because everyone heard every other person who was sending his report using codes or Charlie Oscar, Delta, Eco. Dauda Haruna was skilled in his tuff then and he delivered our reports well. That day he asked for his colleague madam Bridget and I said she had traveled to enjoy her holiday. This is Dauda Haruna the radio operator in Borno state. Nice meeting you here. My boss Mallam Jirigi speaks well of you. Thanks I retorted. He is a very good friend. We used to meet at annual editorial conferences in Lagos before it was shifted to kaduna where we met under the supervision of Oga Kangiwa and Dr Farouk Umar who manned the entire north. He sounded warm on the radio. I promised checking on him anytime I was in Maiduguri for any program as it was my professional exposure target to know all the states of the north whether or not my employees posted me there.

The opportunity came and it was when Ibrahim Jirigi had a dastardly car crash which broke his leg. So for me, as a good colleague, I had to create time to go see him that year. On arriving safely in Maiduguri for the first time, I met Haruna Dauda in the house of Mallam Jirigi. After commiserating with Jirigi whose leg was in plaster of paris, in came some top VIPs so I pulled out to chat with Dauda Haruna at close range at the other side of Jirigi’s massive house. He was the organizer of the entire house then making Jirigi’s visitors feel at home. There was no GSM then but we knew each other’s line from the daily times directory. He took me to my hotel afterwards and I left the following day.

From then on we had intermittent calls through the telephone and sometimes if Lagos became incommunicado I radio send my reports to him and he will keep vigil until the coast was clear and send same to Lagos. By the time the papers arrived Jos or Makurdi the following day, my stories were inside. We who were reporters then used to have reliable radio operators whom we called reliables. And Dauda Haruna was definitely one of them. Very dedicated to his job. We worked as a family and if you made certain mistakes in your reports, they will help you amend it like a family.

Transition to international radio

So you can imagine my joy when I later realized that he had gone to mass communication school, broadening his skills and had chosen the voice of America Hausa service which was a similar one to that of his boss Jirigi who was making waves in the BBC Hausa service. I started listening to him not knowing that I would one day be routed to Maiduguri to work with my friend and helper. He would tell me later that he owed a lot to Mallam Jirigi who was his main motivator to join the hausa radio service. A lot of dangerous politics affected the daily times and the paper had to shut down due to mismanagement.

I applied to “the Nation” newspaper for a job and even before completion of the interview process with human resources, the news editor Oga Niyi had directed that there was no option for me but Maiduguri. I was not too happy because of the headlines of insurgency I was reading before arriving. But on arrival, I have had a smooth stay courtesy of chairmen like Comrade Dauda Haruna. I have come to accept that the Maiduguri I visited when himself and Jirigi were managing daily times office was quite different from the Maiduguri of January 2014. I came in joined the chapel and we became colleagues till Sunday that he breathed his last. His humility was one of a kind from the way he spoke to me but I had to remind him that we are now colleagues in the same chapel and that we should continue that way. He accepted and life went on as friends.

Enjoying his tenure as chairman Dauda Haruna of the correspondents chapel

Comrade Dauda was actually a man of few words because he was always looking out for the good in others. He was not a deliberate “fault finder” and never a “control freak” which is why some colleagues thought he was weak especially when he literally refuses to kill a fly with a sledge hammer when the circumstances cropped up. In a controversial chapel like that of the correspondents, where unity is not absolute due to vested interests, he was quite transparent and made sure that he united the chapel each time there was a congress. For some reasons, he understood “straight jacket” people like us and will always hint me of why certain decisions were taken even when i felt otherwise. As for favors, I actually thank God that the entire chapel was favored by way of welfare during his time. The entire reason for the existence of the NUJ is for the upholding of professionalism and welfare of colleagues and he navigated through that with ease.

The last day of seeing him in his lifetime was recently when I took a friend and drove to his residence in 1000 housing estate. We bought a pack of moringa tea and presented as a gift to him. To spice the visit I called for hot water and a tea cup to wash the tea in his presence. The wife brought a big flask with which we poured water into his cup and ours. He asked if I wanted sweetener but I said no I was fine. I had learnt to drink all my teas blank sometimes without cream having contacted diabetes too in 2014. So we were watching each other’s back as time went on.

He had a nice tenure as chair of the chapel and in conjunction with his colleagues in the executive, they actually took some indelible decisions that most of us will never forget. That was why we protected his interest when certain forces dared to go against the norm. He called me that day to thank me for my little role in the stabilization of the chapel. He longed to return to do what he loved best and was almost sobbing in the phone. He then admonished me to take care of myself and hung off. As Comrade Dauda Haruna returns to mother earth, may God grant the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the family the special grace to accept this big void that his demise would create for them. Amen.

My Binoculars: A tribute to the late Comrade Dauda Haruna, former chair of the correspondents chapel Borno state and Correspondent of the Voice of America (VOA) Hausa service