BY DAMOLA EMMANUEL
Death, the grim reaper, has visited the house of Nigerian journalism and plucked two of its illustrious practitioners.
Olajide Fashikun, one of Nigeria’s foremost investigative journalists, sports journalist extraordinaire, and Publisher of the Gong News, died in the early hours of Sunday, January 27, from a yet-to-be-disclosed illness. He was aged 54.
Fashikun reportedly made his last contribution to Gong News on Saturday, January 19, 2019, when he posted his last story. He breathed his last at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Airport Road, Abuja.
Nneka Ikem Anibeze, Special Assistant to Minister of Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung, confirmed Fashikun’s passing on her Facebook wall on Sunday.
Earlier last week, precisely on Wednesday, January 23, Chris Edoga, a broadcast journalist with Radio Nigeria, died after being stabbed by armed robbers who raided his home in the night of Tuesday, January 22, in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory.
The Northern City News, which broke the story, reported that Edoga was sleeping in his apartment when the strange movement of the robbers who were carting away his television set and other personal effects woke him.
Edoga’s friend, Kayode Irebi, narrated how his friend met his tragic death in the hands of the hoodlums to the newspaper:
“Edoga was sleeping and woke up to find unknown people ransacking his property; on seeing that he had woken up, the hoodlums attacked and stabbed him with a knife in the head and the stomach.
“He suffered a ruptured intestine and was subsequently rushed to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital on Tuesday, but he was not operated on until 24 hours later. He died during the surgical procedure.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung, has been mourning Fashikun’s demise. According to the Minister’s Special Assistant, in her Facebook statement, Dalung was deeply shocked by the tragic occurrence.
“The Minister of Youth and Sports lamented the death, describing the loss as colossal to Journalism and the Sports industry,” Anibeze wrote.
“It is a very sad day for sports journalists and athletes in the country.
“Jide created a platform to support athletes and stimulate performance through his mobilization of training funds to assist athletes. This made us look forward to a better podium performance in the years ahead. Today, the curtains have been drawn on that project.”
Barrister Dalung, Anibeze reported, ‘paid glowing tribute to the publisher of Gong News who excelled not only in sports reportage but also politics and investigative writing.’
“Jide was a dedicated journalist who went far to uphold the truth. He was a fighter, fearless, thorough and an epitome of investigative journalism while contributing immensely to grassroots sports development. His love for grassroots sports informed his personal effort to raise funds for athletes to train with and prepare for future Olympic Games. Now, Jide is gone. I pray that God will receive him and give his wife and family the fortitude to bear this loss.”
Olajide Fashikun, Anibeze reported, initiated the Nigeria Sports Development Fund to raise funds for athletes to prepare for 5 sports at the Olympics. He was an ex -international in handball and athletics and a stakeholder in all sports.
“Fashikun was a one-time Chairman of the Kwara State Chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Sports Editor of the Herald newspaper, Managing Editor of Gong News, a Senior Sports correspondent at ThisDay and a former lecturer at Kwara Polytechnic.”
Gwagwalada residents, according to reports, have not been sleeping with their two eyes closed for the past two months. No thanks to robbers and hoodlums that have been terrorising them on end with automatic weapons and machetes.
A victim, identified simply as Kehinde, told Northern City News that robbers raided residents of a street in the old Kutunku area, last week, and made away with property and money. She disclosed that the thieves scaled the fence into her residence and raided four apartments in the compound.
“They cut the iron burglary door and stole the 42-inch television set in my living room, the 35-inch television set in the bedroom, my laptop, phones and N15,000. They also attacked the other three apartments, taking away home appliances and other personal effects. I was so scared,” she said.
However, succour may yet be on the way for the besieged residents as the Federal Capita Territory Police Command said they had beefed security in Gwagwalada. But how effective this would be, only time can tell.
