Come on, what crime is in service? I shudder to think of what the public will make of this contribution. Mr. Jonathan Ishaku’s capacity to fight for himself has never been in doubt. Knowing him as many of us who have worked with him have come to; he would be the last to accept any form of publicity. In fact, he has always maintained that journalists should publicize the activities of people not of themselves. You may not believe it, but a meeting with one of Nigeria’s cerebral editors and mentors of reporters, you may get to know why he abhors personal publicity. He has insisted: I have this belief that newsmen shouldn’t be newsmakers. I always draw the line; if I have anything important to say I express it on the opinion pages of the newspaper like everyone else. I thought it was incestuous to be both a news reporter and a news maker. As a matter of fact, I am afraid to know of what description he may have about this publication. However, I am breaking that rule because we are involved in what has happened to him also. Whatever the ‘General’ would say about my breaking the rule, good or bad; I have made up my mind to carry the cross rather than allow the man who has tirelessly slaved for the state without being paid his gratuity. Sir I pray you pardon my indubitable indulgence about your person and principles. Those who know his condition may have expressed their opinions in various forms; some critical of government, a number resorted to the Almighty for healing. That I am expressing mine in these words does not reduce those others; who perhaps know him far more better than I and feel the impact of what he is associated with over the years; and who should be left to carry this cross. There are several millions of such people and organizations out there who may have over the years benefitted in more ways than one in matters of his wizardry in journalism, teaching, public relations, independent researching and the management of men and resources. Not to forget in a hurry, his dedication to writing of books in his later years of his career did not only confound most of his readers; rather, he opened to the world issues into the ‘phenomenon of rising insecurity and violence in Nigeria’. So far in his journey to the investigations, progressive scholarship received enormous addition with the following books in several homes and libraries: Boko Haram (2010), The Road to Mogadishu: How Jihadists Terrorism Tears Nigeria Apart (2012), Janjaweed in the Middle Belt (2015) and Boko Haram & Armed Herdsmen Violence (2018). These collector’s items were churned out during some of the most trying periods of our development as well as of him as a person. Despite his failing health, he would have resorted to self pity and other such characteristics associated with the frustrations of life. He wouldn’t have that mentioned close to him; rather, he chose humanity to benefit from his deep reservoir of knowledge. What you are reading is been made public not because the man in question cannot fight his ‘wars’, but for the fact that the pains he has been made to go through could happen to anyone who is serving; has served and retired. Should we not if given this circumstance, fight the ‘war’ for him? I thought it should be done with a dispatch that fits his person. For those who do not know the subject matter and or may have just heard about him; it is important to know that by 1986 he had become the Editor of THE NIGERIA STANDARD after a stint as a lecturer at the School of Preliminary Studies, Keffi. Those were the glorious years of the institution; at least I was once a student at that period. It was about that time that he had been fired by the Military Governor of the state. But long before the action was finally taken, he had written elsewhere, he saw the action coming: My General Manager, Mallam Rufai Ibrahim and I had been at loggers head with the predecessor governor over issues of governance. ‘The government thought we should tone down our editorial without any effort to correct the wrongs these editorials have raised. So when it finally happened we were not surprised; perhaps the surprise was that it was taken by an entirely new governor! Soon enough the new governor discovered why his predecessor never carried out the threat himself; for no soon had he carried out the dismissal did he find the entire state rising in a cacophony of condemnation. ‘We became aware that the governor was making frantic efforts to reach to us, so we went underground. We decided to turn the issue into a political fight to make a point about the bankruptcy of military rule; to tell the people that the euphoria which routinely greeted changes of baton were pyrrhic and that the military would always look after its own; to press the point that the misjudgment of the new governor was a pointer to the fact that he was not different from the last etc.’ Ten days before his wedding Jonathan’s second dismissal was announced on the 4 o’clock national news. It was in this most difficult time that he chose not to postpone the wedding as it would be difficult to imagine starting a home without a job. That union produced Beji, a lawyer and Gamji, sociologist turned banker. Whatever may be revealed here is as a result of several things I have known about him and what he stands for: I was at the School of Preliminary Studies from 1981-83 while he was lecturer. I followed him conscientiously while reading him on the pages of newspapers he worked at. I wanted to join him at Champion in 1988 or there about; and while it didn’t work, he sent me to Chris Mamah at the Punch and Toye Akiode, Vanguard and Emeka Izeze, Guardian in Lagos to consider me for appointment as a Reporter. While waiting, I got employed by the Federal Civil Service Commission, Lagos and posted to Calabar. It was as if God had destined me to be Journalist, for after about four years, I resigned to start a career in journalism. But one of the things which he influenced our generation of Reporters is his consistent defense of the state. While several negative reports were churned out by different newspapers depending on their perspectives about Plateau State, he stood as a guardian angel defending the state without being paid a penny for the services. When the regimes of Governors Joshua Dariye and Jonah David Jang (and indeed Governor Simon Bako Lalong) came under a barrage of media attacks, he ‘offered’ though unofficially to put certain records right about the state and its people. Those who remember the media war between him and Mallam Haruna Mohammed cannot easily forget the patriotism attached to this encounter and why he should not be treated shabbily. Regrettable, it was the Jang administration that gave him the hardest knocks. He was relieved of his appointment in circumstances that are today still questionable after setting the titles he has built over the years to what they should be. He defended the government on various media wars meant to speak ill of its people. No one offered him any explanations, even when it was apparent that government’s part of the bargain to put certain infrastructure on ground for the digital printing press it had acquired were not in place. On November 5, 2017, I wrote an article with the headline: ‘Justice may be late, it does come’. I never in my wildest imagination thought after passing through over 30 years of continued deprivation by government he would be made to use the media space available to him to ask for his entitlements. It was not prophesy; but reading through, you may understand why his struggles have been tortuous and not deserving of anyone who has served the state to the best of his abilities. Justice is food for all no matter the degree of what one has gone through in the course of working for government of even private organizations. The fact is that, ‘we may have ended military dictatorship but arbitrariness; impunity; injustice and misrule are still with us’. They all defeat the essence of service and conduct of any worker willing to put in his or her best for productive purposes and growth of it. The court which was presided over by Justice Gandu on Wednesday, October 25, 2017, has also asked the Plateau State government to reinstate and pay him all his entitlements. He was sacked by the Ibrahim Babangida regime in 1987 when an editorial by THE NIGERIA STANDARD was adjudged as critical by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. The newspaper has consistently stood in the gap for the downtrodden. As at the time of his dismissal (then) Col now General Chris Ali, who later headed the state of emergency government in Plateau State in 2004 when Chief Joshua Dariye’s administration was suspended, was the then military governor of the state. Despite Jonathan Ishaku’s fight and plea to successive administrations, both military and civilian fell on deaf ears for his reengagement into service. He went on to ply his trade his talents to productive use in the services of several newspapers and magazines in Lagos. Of particular note are Champion Newspapers, Daily Times, THisDay and as head of the Interim Management Committee and later Managing Director of the Plateau Publishing Corporation, publishers of THE NIGERIA STANDARD newspapers. When it was apparent that justice was being delayed he had proceeded to the NIC, knowing that one day, justice may be served. In the judgment, the presiding judge gave November 2016 as the terminal date for his disengagement from service. He had told a source after the judgment that all these years instead of reinstating him, various governments in Plateau State had preferred to give him one appointment or the other, adding that it had not deterred him from fighting for his rights. The struggle for liberty has been at the forefront of Ishaku’s campaigns. His love for the Middle Belt is infectious, just so as they are points of reference for students of history, politics and peace studies. Talking about injustice, Mr. Jonathan Ishaku represents in many respects one of the consistent voices to have spoken about it here. Hear him: ‘Injustice is one of the highest forms of provocation known to man; a society which perpetuates injustice in combination with violence is a society on the brink of war’. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. This is no mean feat, if you do not like the other titles, anyway. All these do not come easy! But he is not one to be proud of titles, anyway. He has seen it all; from the News Room to the Boardroom, they are familiar tuff for him in his career that has seen him a teacher and molder of opinion in various media houses. But for me, one who thoroughly does not enjoy the company of any lazy reporter. Reprieve or would you say justice was finally served when the National Industrial Court sitting in Jos declared that his unilateral sack was null and void. Those who want justice would naturally feel happy for him, but the ‘only pain in the heart is the fact that it’s not those who meted out the act of injustice that are paying for it. Granted that government is a continuum but I wish that the perpetrators would be made to regret for their misdeed. Thank God you are alive to right the wrong. My prayer is that the settlement would be reasonable to assuage the pains you have carried for the past 30 years’, wrote someone about the feat. The settlement is landmark in a number of ways. The ideals for the fight for justice are absent in the system that allows for victims to suffer untold hardships , who in the end perhaps may die in the course of the struggle and or very few acknowledging the fact that they deserve to be heard in the first place. Not many workers who go through such treatment may be ‘fortunate’ after the long and excruciating experience of neglect. The settlement may not be the point to celebrate, it is the fact that justice was indeed served to one who has committed his life to teaching and mentoring reporters for over 30 years. And indeed promoting the ideals of building peace and communal relationship, he is not deserving of the treatment he has gone through, much less anyone. Of course this victory is not pyrrhic. The justice system has a responsibility to promote victims to be steady and resilient by ensuring that the judicial processes are beneficial to all parties; but above all, the system can be made to be accommodating as well as shorten so that no one suffers for a long period. To be candid, even in normal times, Mr. Jonathan Ishaku has always served as an inspiration and motivator even at the darkest moments. While he is thanking God for justice, perhaps it should not be forgotten that this long and dogged fight was not directed at the government as may have been insinuated in some quarters, rather, it was to serve as an inspiration; and more importantly ensure that no matter how long it might take or it is delayed, justice may arrive. No matter how long injustice walks in the system, the truth would surface for correction to be taken for others. It is interesting to note that it was the knowledge of knowing one’s rights that is at the center of any struggle. Those who may not know, there are many who perhaps could have gone through this treatment and fell by the way side. The rights of workers have continued to be trampled upon by employers over time. Truth cures always, but lie does not. They say good things come to those that wait. The wait was tortuous in many respects as it must be energy sapping. I do not know of the loses he went through, but it was not to deter him from rising as reporter to the pinnacle of his career and molding many to like the profession that has opened them many doors. We are all waiting for the day for the thanksgiving, sir. Your victory will answer many questions for the struggle in any one’s life. It will encourage someone out there on the need to be steadfast, brave while fighting for a course. A few days ago, on his Facebook wall, he posted what you are reading below. It caught several friends and admirers off-guard; however it served as a reminder of the hard fact what workers go through after serving government for the years of their service. His post: I may go blind-a personal issue This is not a public appeal. Nor do I seek Government assistance for treatment. I want to treat myself, if I can! A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with an eye problem and recommended to undergo an operation. But since then my gratuity has remained unpaid, inspite of several appeals. Then I sought the attention of His Excellency, Gov. Simon B. Lalong, for the payment of another debt: he graciously assured me of the payment. That was over a year now! But early this year, on an official courtesy call, I had a chance to remind him. He appeared surprised I wasn't paid but assured me it will be paid. It is over four months now. I sympathize that the Government is hard pressed with the raging pandemic; however, I have to make open appeal because my ordeal appears to be getting worse. For all I know, he may be under the impression that I have been settled and undergoing treatment as I have informed him. My situation is complicated by the fact that as a publisher, this is how I earn a living; I am constantly exposed to computer screen light. Please, let me repeat, I don't seek public donation. Thank you for indulging me. God bless you. Reading through the above, the questions that should be asked by any sane person are: Is this what any worker should go through after serving the state and or any organization for that matter? Does the worker not need to transit seamlessly from his official status to private life without any difficulties? There are several questions requiring answers. While we may not get answers from anyone except government, we all know that she has a responsibility to all who have served her. They do not need to go through sad experiences that reduce efforts put in the service of the state. In the case of Nde Jonathan N Ishaku, I am not making a case for him; rather we set out to reiterate the fact that we should not make those who have slaved to advance the cause of the state to be treated in a manner that belittles their patriotic contributions. He may not be alone in this league; we also speak for those who are in the line to retire from service or may have retired and are facing difficulties of accessing their gratuities. If his case is resolved, it is to the benefit of hundreds of others still on the queue and who do not have anyone to speak for them about their travails. Justice is the soul of living. .