By Ayodele Adebayo
How time flies! Its like yesterday. But it is exactly six years that THISDAY’s savvy journalist, Mr. Samuel Famakinwa passed on under a controversial circumstance in Maiduguri, capital of Bornu State.
Famakinwa, then a deputy editor of the high profile newspaper had been invited to Maiduguri by the former Governor of the state, Alhaji Ali Modu-Sherif.
While colleagues and family members of Famakinwa had taken the memory of his good nature and legacies as solace, the fact that the mystery behind his death, six years after, still remains unsolved is a burden. When he died, the Police and government promised heaven and earth that they would unravel the cause of his untimely death. Till date, aside the post mortem report issued in Maiduguri that he died of cardiac arrest, little or nothing has been done to investigate his last days on earth, may be there could be clue or foul play to what led to his death. But it is little comfort that ours is a land littered with too many unresolved murders and deaths.
Sam was said to have arrived Maiduguri, the state capital, from Lagos in an evening flight on a Wednesday, 24 hours to his death and was lodged in the Maiduguri International Hotel by the deputy governor.
Till 11.30pm on the day he was lodged in the hotel, Famakinwa was said to have been in the company of the Director of Press to the then Governor, Alhaji Usman Ciroma at the Lake Chad Club.
The information available on his mobile phone indicated that the last call he made was at 1.02 am on July 26. Besides the last call he made on his mobile phone, several missed calls and text messages: “asking if he (Famakinwa) was okay” were recorded on the two cell phones found on him.
There were also calls and text messages from the Borno deputy governor, his wife and other friends in raising an alarm on the safety and whereabouts of the deputy editor.
A journalist who was present when his corpse was discovered reported that the room was clean, with his shoes neatly placed under the bed. Also, the late journalist was said to be still putting on his dark-coloured native attire even though his watch was carefully placed on his bed side table.
Meanwhile, in an official statement signed by THISDAY Managing Director, Eniola Bello, the management described him as a rare gem in journalism. In the statement, THISDAY said: “We are at a loss as to what happened in the 24 hours between the time he was with Ciroma and the time Borno State officials found his corpse, and why during that period, government officials did not make any efforts to see their guest or contact our correspondent on ground, if not his editors in Lagos.”
Born June 26, 1971, the late journalist joined the services of THISDAY in February 1997 as a reporter after a degree in Microbiology and a diploma in Journalism. He quickly distinguished himself as a business reporter and rose through the ranks to become e-Business Editor, Deputy Business Editor, Group Business Editor before he was appointed deputy editor of the Daily newspaper. As a journalist, Famakinwa put in all his best and worked assiduously to promote the ethics of the profession. While his unique selling points were the fact that he was he was cerebral, intelligent and hardworking, his personality exhumed humility and respect.
Sam belonged to a vanishing breed of journalists, one who used his incisive reportage to ruffle feathers and to expose the under table dealings that had characterised the management of the nation’s economy and enterprises.
Today, as loved ones continue to mourn the late journalist, the question of what killed Samuel Famakinwa is still hanging in the air. May be the answer would be provided in future. May be!
