His life was nearly an equal of the Zimbabwean author and creator of “Home of Starvation”, Dambudzo Marechera whose notoriety for opposing the established order has remained undiminished within the African literary world. Earlier than his demise on December 16, 2024, Sam Asowata’s irrepressible devotion in strolling alone over what he believed to be for the frequent good was unshakeable.
Our path first met at LEADERSHIP in 2005 after crossing from “The Punch” to the then newly established medium to imagine the place of the pioneer editor of the Sunday version. Asowata’s mental prowess was simply discernible, simply as his ungovernable character. He cherished the trophy of being Nigeria’s youngest editor at 28. Within the early days of LEADERSHIP going into each day manufacturing, Asowata was a perfectionist whose capacity to make clear copies out of poorly written scripts attracted him to the “Kakakin Nupe” and founding chairman of the newspaper, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah.
The Beloved Sams!
It was not a shock that the 2 Sams took a liking for one another primarily based on what they may supply to one another. The newspaper proprietor wished somebody to wash soiled copies into excitingly readable items, whereas the person who held Nigeria’s youngest editor’s trophy was itching to recreate his editorial abilities he claimed shocked his first employer who would later change into the governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba. Each Sams have been recognized to undertake a perfectionist perspective. Many issues have been fallacious within the early stage of the newspaper’s formation, however only a few dared to strategy the chairman whom many feared may very well be termed as disrespectful.
Asowata’s fame for fearlessness was recognized past the newsroom. Like Marechera whose actions weren’t tempered with current actuality, Asowata was the bull recognized for telling reality to energy. Whereas the media mogul was famous for his dream to be realised inside a short while, Asowata disagreed, insisting that Rome was not inbuilt a day.
Although he was by no means appointed a substantive editor of any of the titles, Asowata bestrode the highest echelon of LEADERSHIP as a colossus. He had his ears to the bottom and by no means didn’t warn treacherous characters of going to level the chairman to errors within the newspapers. There was a specific prime editorial workers member who was well-known for pointing errors to the chairman. When eventually the newspaper proprietor was satisfied he was competent to change into an editor, taking into account his experience in figuring out errors, the previous identifier of errors couldn’t final two months as editor.
To drive editorial workers to fulfill deadlines for manufacturing, Asowata was appointed normal supervisor of the Newsroom. His duties have been merely to remind reporters on deadlines and suggested them to both “shift in or ship out” in the event that they adhere to not deadlines. In some instances, he reportedly stormed the chairman’s workplace to demand for the “Final Phrase” column written by the newspaper’s proprietor. Just like the chairman, Asowata was not keen on laptops and costly telephones; he most popular engaged on papers.
E book Editor
Some 4 years in the past, I contacted him to edit my first ebook that’s but to be offered to the general public. His modifying abilities weren’t doubtful, however we might argue over appropriateness of phrases or phrases. He was in love with easy sentences and was an skilled in slicing down lengthy and windy sentences for readability. Even when expressions weren’t towards guidelines of grammar, Asowata would discover a approach of enhancing readability. He detested fallacious spellings, particularly names of individuals, and deployed each effort in avoiding misspellings.
A couple of weeks earlier than his demise, I approached him to undergo the ebook he edited some two years in the past. In lower than two weeks, he known as to tell me that he had completed going by way of. Going by way of among the pages, I noticed some purple ink.
“As an editor, your writings have to be devoid of clichés and ought to be a bit tight. Nothing extra. Please, make sure you look by way of and make sure the corrections are executed,” he mentioned. I promised to do this. I by no means knew it was the final time I’d share a second with him.
Asowata was by no means afraid to stroll alone. He dared the place even the angel dread to tread and had a number of brushes with the Akwa Ibom State authorities beneath former governor Godswill Akpabio now Senate president. In line with his Fb wall, he was arrested 13 occasions and jailed twice. He abhorred the Nigerian system and rejected any try to play alongside. Within the twilight of his years, he fully insulated himself from the maddening crowds of apologists that he as soon as described as unworthy of a nation with a conscience.
Lover Of Competence
He had no respect for a system that sacrificed competence as a way to enthrone mediocrity. It was apparent that he had given up on Nigeria even earlier than he died. Not like Marechera of Zimbabwe, our Asowata discovered peace struggling in silence over horrifying injustices unleashed on residents in a rustic that holds a lot guarantees, however nothing concrete in enthroning justice and fairness for its ethnic nationalities which are mutually distrustful of each other. Like somebody rightly mentioned, he by no means tried to interact in altering public notion of what he was; however these near him knew he was an important character and a humanist who was alarmed by the wickedness of the system devoted to the service of Mammon.
When he lastly succumbed to the chilly arms of demise, it was distant from the gang. He lived in accordance together with his dream and crossed over to the opposite aspect to fulfill different nice souls who lived true to their conscience.
