By Shereefdeen Ahmad
Up to this moment, I still cannot not believe that the Shereefdeen-led administration has reached its destination. Today, The News Digest Press would witness another set of sailors to sail the affairs of the media platform.
Just like the administration before it, my era as the editor-in-chief has maintained the pure cardinal principles of journalism which the press outlet is known for. Over the months, we have ensured that our page was filled with contents capable of feeding the hungry brain with knowledge; updating the curious mind with information on campus and entertaining the boring souls with our drollery stories.
From time to time in those months, we have unveiled what those in power wanted veiled. While telling the truth no matter whose ox is gored, we built a journalism that reports beyond press releases and ordinary words of people who always want their name to be well at all cost.
And we have carved journalists who appeared as ‘lions’ to those that derive pleasure in seeing our dear Danfodites
in despicable conditions in Usmanu Danfodiyo University’s hostels.
But sadly, even the community we serve do not seem to appreciate our existence on campus. Perhaps, they are not seeing the immediate impact of our stories.
Or maybe they have forgotten the roles of journalists. Or they expect we can take action beyond uncovering what has been covered. We believe other appropriate quarters should take care of the rest.
For instance, just two months ago, we Published an investigation that dug out the horrible act of a gang of men(ghetto) assaulting and inflicting fear at students on campus.
However, despite airing out the activities of these men who are in one way or the other threatening the peace of our peaceful university, everything is still silent like a graveyard.
Then imagine in a world where the truth is abhorred, where the work we do comes with significant risk of threat and even with abusive names, you would be forced to question the essence of our writing and existence again, when our stories are not reflecting the purpose we all aimed at; when in an attempt to actualize change all hope was butchered.
Well. We have found the answer in late professor Pius Adesanmi’s column titled ‘injury time.’
In the column, the Nigerian Professor said: “I write basically these days for the purposes of archaeology. A thousand years from now, archaeologists would be interested in how some people called Nigerians lived in the 20th and 21st centuries. If they dig and excavate, I am hoping that fragments of my writing survive to point them to the fact that not all of them accepted to live as slaves of the most irresponsible rulers of their era.”
Just like Adesanmi, we will keep writing with the believe that perhaps, in the next 100 or 200 years to come, some archaeologists would come to the area known as Danfodiyo varsity. They would excavate and find the existence of life, we hope our writings survive.
We hope they see that the New Digest Press did not just look and watch as the
voiceless suffer. We hope they find out that we unravel some anomalies aimed to pieces the peace of our peaceful campus.
And we hope they defend our journalism and tell people that there was a campus blare that voices out for the voiceless. And with their pen, they spoke for the Danfodites.
Meanwhile, my sincere appreciation goes to the entire members of the press board who ensured that this administration witnessed a prosperous twilight. I say a very big thank you. May the almighty God reward you all.
Shereefdeen Ahmad, editor-in-chief, 2022/2023 academic session.