By Owei Lakemfa
Twenty years ago, I got a message that Uncle Sam Amuka-Pemu, the publisher of the Vanguard Newspapers could not be found. It was his 70th birthday and plans to mark it were in place, but the celebrant was not responding to calls. He seems to have simply vanished.
I placed a call and he picked. I congratulated him and asked him where he was. “Departure lounge,” he responded. “Which airport, Sir?” “…Of the world. Once you are 70, you are at the departure lounge, waiting for your flight to be called.” He similarly dodged the celebration of his 80th birthday.
A few years ago, I baked a birthday cake for him and delivered it at his residence in Abuja. I assumed he would be at his Lagos home. It was received by his house keeper. Next morning, he called saying the cake was quite good and that he personally carried it on his flight back to Lagos. I said: “So you were in when I came to deliver the cake.” He responded: “Go your way, my friend.”
As his June 13, 2025, 90th birthday approached, it was difficult to know if this time around, he could be trapped to mark it. Former Ogun State Governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba revealed at the celebration, that the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN; the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ; and the Nigeria Guild of Editors, NGE; had to combine forces to put pressure on Uncle Sam to allow generations of Nigerians honour him. Osoba, who has been his friend for over six decades, was given the difficult task of extracting a commitment from Uncle Sam. After difficult negotiations, he gave conditions which the organisers accepted.
Last year, I called him on phone. He asked whether I no longer come to Lagos as I had not visited him for some time. I replied that I had no ‘visa’ to Lagos. By that, I implied that the flight ticket to Lagos had become too expensive for me. He asked if there are no donkeys in Abuja. I told him there were. He laughed and said: “Take a donkey to Lagos, I am sure in one month or two, you will get to Lagos. Call me when you arrive.”
Uncle Sam is as free with people and witty as that; he is given to informality. That was how I came to work in the Vanguard Newspapers. In January, 1985, I had gone to the newspaper to see some friends. None was present.
But somebody told me the publisher was in the office. I had never met him and had no appointment. But I was told such things don’t matter to Uncle Sam. I walked into his office; he was on his way out and asked that we spoke on the corridor. He asked where I was working. I told him I had been fired from the newspaper I was working for leading a journalists’ revolt. He said that did not mean I was a journalist; I should send him some current news reports. I did immediately, and left them with his Secretary. Next day, I went to see him, I had been hired!
The Vanguard Newspapers was quite unique, especially in the development of a journalist. In the media, the reporter’s duty was to report news; the features writer, to write features, and that of the elite editorial board, to write editorials and columns. But Uncle Sam, in practice, virtually erased such demarcations. If a reporter wrote a good story, the publisher was likely to ask for a follow-up features material. He had also created a two-column down space called ‘Personal Opinion’ that could contain 650 words. All reporters were encouraged to write their opinions. Sometimes, he would meet a reporter with a good story and suggest he writes an opinion on the story. This way, the average reporter was made to straddle the gamut of journalism. This was how a number of us in the newspaper learnt editorial and column writing.
The newspaper was run like a family, and victimisation was difficult because everybody, from the lowest to the highest paid staff, had direct access to the publisher. There were no protocols. Any staff could stop him anywhere on the premises and discuss any issue. The atmosphere in Vanguard was quite relaxed with a whole structure ‘The Canal’ allocated for canteen and bar. Some of my colleagues drank generously for the rest of us, and if you ran into Uncle Sam, you are likely to get free food and booze.
The Vanguard Newspapers was also one of the freest in the country. Although the governments of the day courted Uncle Sam, and indeed, some, like General Ibrahim Babangida, were his friends; that was never allowed to interfere with the newspaper’s independence. I recall that sometimes when I wrote reports or opinions critical of the Babangida regime, Uncle Sam would say: “Owei, you know IBB is my friend.” He would wink, and I would reply: “I know, Sir.”
The military regimes were so angry with the Vanguard Newspapers that, at least on two occasions, they shut it down. Some of its staff were also detained without trial. It wasn’t just about government, but all institutions and individuals.
Uncle Sam always defended the staff provided he was satisfied that they were professional. I was a Labour Reporter and once, an angry Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, President sent one of Uncle Sam’s classmates, Comrade Paul Epuh, to complain against me and asked that I be replaced on the beat for allegedly being anti-NLC and antagonistic to workers. The publisher called me and said he was confused. He thought I was too pro-labour but here was the Congress President accusing me of being anti-labour. He thought there must be something wrong with the Congress leader.
Fifteen years later, I was a principal staff of the NLC when I got a call from Uncle Sam. He had just gotten off a long call from the then NLC President who piled a litany of allegations against the Labour Editor. The labour leader demanded that the Editor should not just be reprimanded but sacked from the newspaper. Uncle Sam asked for my advice. I replied: “Ignore him, Sir.” He ignored the labour leader.
I left the newspaper a quarter of a century ago to join the Labour Movement. Despite this length of time, I still maintain two weekly columns on Nigeria and international affairs in the ‘Vanguard Newspapers.’ This is partly in appreciation for my professional training, my personal gratitude to Uncle Sam, and the fact that the newspaper remains an independent, fearless and pro-people publication.
I join the multitudes in congratulating Uncle Sam Amuka for becoming a nonagenarian and, his unquantifiable service to humanity.
