tansali paparazzi

Dele Alake’s name is well known in Nigeria’s media and political circles. A former editor of the defunct National Concord, he also served as the Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State during the administration of Senator Bola Tinubu. He is currently the chief executive officer of Continental Broadcasting Service. He reveals to ANNA OKON his other side Some people know you as a print journalist… Yes, but I started my journalism in electronics. I served in the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation, Abeokuta. I was attached to the administration department to cover the management meetings as the assistant secretary while participating in the current affairs news programme, Meet the Press. I also headed the current affairs unit of Radio Lagos until 1980 when we started the Lagos State Television. In 1985, the late MKO Abiola invited Ebenezer Babatope and myself to join the National Concord editorial board. We were members of the editorial board till May 1989 when I was appointed the editor of Sunday Concord, a position I held until 1994. And in late 1995, I was appointed editor of the National Concord. So I spent 10 years as an editor.

There is no contradiction at all between my actions as a journalist and my actions as a commissioner in the government because on both occasions, I was operating from a progressive liberal and ideological standpoint. When I was an active journalist, I was not just attacking those in government for the sake of attacking; I was writing based on principles and based on empirical verification of the issues at stake. As the editor of a newspaper published by the winner of the June 12 election, I was involved deeply in the struggle to actualise the mandate and to restore democracy to Nigeria.

I was in the vanguard of those against the military. I was offered appointment by the military to serve at the state level twice but I declined politely. The reasons I gave on both occasions was that I was one of those actively involved in trying to flush out the military from our political system. It would have been illogical for me to serve the military in any capacity.

How did you meet your wife and what was the attraction?

My wife came in to the university while I was in my last year. We spent one year together in school and courted for about six or seven years before we got married.

What made the courtship last that long?

I left her and went for my youth service, finished service and was working while she remained in the school. So by the time she finished school and went for service, I went back for my master’s and I did my master’s before we settled down.

How did you people stick together for that long without any hitches?

We were compatible. She is just my type of woman; she is very serene, very cool and understanding and she understands me. Only a woman who understands me could have lived with me for the last 25 years. My schedule is very flexible. I have never worked in my life in a nine to five kind of job. I have always been in the media; and in the media there are no public holidays, you work round the clock.

Does she work?

She worked for a few years in a brokerage firm after her youth service and then stopped when we started the family. During our formative years, when my father went out to work, my mother was always around to nurture us. The formative years are years when the children are most impressionable and those are the times when the right core values can be inculcated into them, the parents have to be around to do this. In any case, I and the kids are more than enough work for her.

How many children would you recommend for a family in view of the present economic meltdown?

It depends on the purchasing power of the family. There is no hard and fast rule: if a man is a billionaire, I would not recommend one kid for him. But if a man is a struggling man, then I would advise him to have only one or two. We are blessed with four children: three boys and one girl. The important point is that she is always there to nurture, mentor and teach them. She does everything; she chooses everything I wear. I just go into the bathroom and when I come out, my clothes are laid out on the bed. She does all my shopping because I don’t know how to shop.

Have you never quarrelled or argued over anything?

Of course we argue. How can you live together for 25 years without arguing? That would not be a perfect or normal relationship. Even if there is no basis for argument, if it is too quiet, you must ignite one and then manage it (laughter).

What are the issues that you may not agree on?

There is nothing we cannot agree on; I am very argumentative by nature. My father read history and philosophy, and even as a toddler, I grew up to know him as very argumentative man. I chose journalism as a profession because it gives me the latitude to argue. I cannot work with anybody I cannot argue with because we must argue to arrive at logical deductions and conclusion so as to make progress. That is why I did not join the military because I do not like their command and obey structure. You cannot command me to go and jump in the lake and expect me to obey that. I must question your command. I must reason with you, you must convince me about the logicality of your command.

So she can question you?

Yes, of course she could and she does. Even my kids question me and we argue. This morning my little boy questioned me and we argued for more than half an hour on an issue and at the end of the day he saw my point. That is the way the society can make progress; not that somebody just issues out orders and everybody obeys without question. I and my wife sit down and argue on issues. Sometimes when I am very vehement, she shuts me up by saying, ‘Look, you are not on television o! I am not one of the political audience you are trying to convince.’

You stopped her from working, how does she get the money to keep the home? Do you operate a joint account?

We don’t operate a joint account. She has her own account. The fact that I stopped her from working officially does not mean she is not doing other things like buying and selling.

Would you advise couples to operate joint accounts?

I can support it. It depends on the preferences of individual couples. We are all different: what is okay by you may not be okay by the next person. It does not necessarily mean that what is okay by the next person is wrong. It just means that maybe you don’t prefer it. That is why we have choices. If my wife insists on having a joint account, so be it. I don’t have issues with that because my money is supposed to be hers.