The Editor-in-Chief of Sun newspapers, Mr. Femi Adesina, has been re-elected as the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in Lagos. He is to lead the Guild in the next two years.
Adesina was returned unopposed at the 2015 biennial convention of the Guild by his colleagues most of whom described his tenure as the best the Guild had ever had.
The election which was adjudged by the editors as free, fair and credible saw many members of the previous executive return unopposed. However, the post of Secretary of the Guild was hotly contested between Mustapha Isa of Silverbird Television and Victoria Ibangha, former editor at Champion newspapers who polled 117 votes to Isa’s 103 votes.
The highpoint of the election was the maturity, patience and camaraderie displayed by the editors who by their action showed an honourable path for Nigerian politicians whom they had consistently criticized as too partisan and intolerable.
The Minister of Information, Senator Patricia Akwashiki, who was represented by the Registrar of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Garba Bello Kankarofi, extolled the editors for discharging their watchdog role, but urged them to continue to strive for excellence and to consider national interest above all things in their judgment.
The Guest of Honour, Prince Tony Momoh, who was himself a former editor of Daily Times and former Minister of Information said the duty of the editor as gate-keeper is to monitor governance on behalf of the people. He urged the editors not to relent on this especially at this critical time in the nation’s history when good governance is all that the people desire.
The host governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, thanked the editors for being part of the success story of leadership in Lagos State through their constructive criticisms and agenda-setting roles. He charged them to do more.
Fashola’s charge was corroborated by the chairperson of the occasion, Mrs Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo, who urged the editors never to relent in their watchdog duty especially in a democratic Nigeria, stressing that the Nigerian editor played very prominent role in the birthing of democracy in the nation and therefore show be in the front row in the task of safe-guarding it. [myad]
